Fearing for our future

Talk to the Taliban. This has been the message conveyed to our government by the leadership of all mainstream political parties. In the last APC held to deliberate the issue, the government was mandated to take this dialogue forward. Two missiles have seemingly scuppered this process. The missiles that killed the TTP leader have been seen as a statement of intent — the US does not believe this dialogue process is in its national interest.



There has been much uproar over the timing of the drone strike. I am surprised that there is surprise. The US had put a bounty on the TTP leader and so, apparently, had our government. The US will always act in pursuit of its own national interest. It could have chosen to kill Hakimullah Mehsud at any time, but acted when it thought most opportune. That the drone strike came so soon after our prime minister publicly conveyed to the US, Pakistan’s views on the matter is indicative of how faint a voice Pakistan has in Washington’s corridors of power.

Although the ‘peace process’ has been suspended, our leaders have rightly decided that we must continue to move forward. As a senator, I hope that we will also see more parliamentary involvement in this process. Clearly, there are some discussions that need to be held in camera, some cards that must be held close to the chest, but it is unfortunate to read of developments in our peace process through the media. By making announcements in London rather than Islamabad, our leadership has created the impression that the UK has a bigger stake in the peace process than our parliament. Our reaction to events has been quite predictable, a combination of the same old threats with the added spice of an unseemly debate on who is and is not a martyr.

Senior opposition leaders rushed to outdo one another to be the first to propose blocking roads to Nato traffic. They know fully well that it will not result in an end to drone strikes. There have also been calls to go further this time and shoot down the next intruding drone. Clearly, this will mean taking the US head on and will have very serious repercussions. It is for our government to decide which of the above steps, if any, are in our national interest. At a time when our population is closing in on 200 million, when there are 25 million children of schoolgoing age not in school, when there is a shortage of 6,000MW of power, when we are running out of water, recent events were the last thing we needed. But doing nothing is not an option.

Despite having studied in the US and despite my many American friends, as a Pakistani and a Pashtun, I feel intensely the humiliation of not being able to react to repeated blows to my country. But a war with the US in not an option, nor is it in our national interest.

Amidst all the noise, let us also ask, whether in the pursuit of peace, we want peace at any price. Those fighting the state have come out openly with their objectives and preconditions; our government has remained relatively silent. We have not been told what is negotiable and what is not. Is the fundamental nature of the Pakistani state and Constitution up for discussion? There hangs a beautiful picture of the Quaid-e-Azam in the Senate hall, and indeed, in halls across our country. If the government is embarking upon a path that will lead to a state unrecognisable to the founder of this nation (it may already be unrecognisable), then we should take down each and every portrait of the great leader, so that we can at least escape the charge of hypocrisy. All of us in parliament, government and opposition alike, as well as our colleagues in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, need to realise that our children are going to ask what we did for our country during these dark days. How we act today is going to determine whether we receive their prayers or, God forbid, their curses.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2013.

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