Aye or nay: Dialogue should be first option, says Imran

Says the idea of Waziristan operation frightens him.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief, who until recently favoured use of force against militants not amenable to talks, took a step back on Wednesday and said the idea ‘frightens’ him.

Speaking in an Express News programme Imran said the “idea of an operation in Waziristan frightens me with pictures of bombing and attacks on more than 0.7 million people. Therefore dialogue should be our first option.”

“But I am afraid that those who want the talks to fail are achieving their targets. Such talks may take years and even decades but here the process stopped just after a few meetings. It seems that we are heading towards operation,” he added.

The PTI chief blamed the pro-US lobbies for pushing the country back into war repeatedly. “This lobby also confuses issues with the matter of implementing Sharia even though Sharia is already the law in tribal areas.”

Imran accused former president General Pervez Musharraf of creating Tehreek-e-Taliban by initiating an operation in Swat. “There were a total of 15 suicide attacks till 2006 but between 2007 and 2013 about 360 suicide hits took place. There were no Taliban in Pakistan until we sent army into Waziristan. Then we heard the word Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP for the first time,” he said.

The PTI chief accepted that the country could not prosper unless terrorism was controlled. He said that the state should try to hold dialogue with the groups that accept the Constitution.

“Taliban are a loose coalition. They have different stances. Dialogue would help you identify those who want to talk to you and who don’t,” Imran stated.

He said that it were the Mehsud and Wazir tribes which mattered and are spread over large areas. “It is people like Mullah Fazlullah, Mohmand group and others sitting in Afghanistan who martyred 23 of our FC men, Imran said, adding that these tribes were bankrolled from abroad.

The PTI chief maintained that the operations had so far borne no fruit and the government should pursue its peace initiative. “I would lead the dialogue if I were the PM because terrorism is our biggest problem. Even our efforts to bring investment will fail.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2014.