War and peace

Can we really continue to sit at a table, sip tea and talk to people hell bent on killing us, and particularly mowing down members of the armed forces who attempt to defend us? Army chief General Raheel Sharif made his thoughts on this quite clear as he met the prime minister on May 8, hours after a roadside bomb in North Waziristan had killed nine FC personnel and injured others. General Sharif stated without mincing words that dialogue with terrorists could not take place even as they killed and the act of provocation would not go ignored. The military, of course, cannot afford to ignore it; doing so would only weaken the state further and play into the hands of the Taliban, who some argue may already have gained from a protracted talks process that seems to be headed nowhere.

Since March this year, when government negotiators and the Taliban shura met, the talks have gone nowhere. While Taliban prisoners have been released, it is unclear if any concessions at all have been extracted from the Taliban. Certainly there have been no visible ones, with abducted persons, including the sons of Salman Taseer and ex-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, still held by militants and attacks continuing on troops.

General Sharif has made it clear this will not be tolerated and that there will be retaliation. This is expected to come in the form of massive air strikes and possible action on the ground in North Waziristan. Whether this will scupper peace talks once and for all is yet to be seen, but it seems likely this may happen.

With Mian Nawaz Sharif accepting the army stance, it is important his government consider how to proceed next. The army and the government need to work together. Perhaps the focus on defeating militants should combine armed action with development activity carried out by civilian authorities, as a means to push back militancy and give people in conflict zones something else to look towards, so that a bigger front against the militant threat can be built. This eventually may be the only way to demolish it and save people from the calamity they currently face.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2014.

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