Pakistan is going through yet another crisis. Although Pakistan has been in a state of perpetual crisis, ever since its inception in August 1947, most times it has managed to fight back and tide over these crisis. It has shown remarkable resilience in the face of severe odds and threats. But at times, it has not been able to tide over some crisis and that has had devastating effects. One such crisis was the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. Another one stares it in the face now, namely that of dealing with the monster of terrorism.
This is another existential crisis that Pakistan is facing now, in the form of religious and sectarian terrorism and has not been able to devise a cohesive policy to deal with these monsters. The crisis facing Pakistan this time is severe and cant be just wished away. But unfortunately the response of the Pakistani State has been far from convincing. It has been dithering on this. The previous Govt led by PPP also showed cold feet when it came to dealing forcefully and convincingly with the monster of terrorism. The current dispensation led by Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N is seen to be more sympathetic towards the extremists. Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, PTI is generally being dubbed as the Taliban Khan, for his vocal support of holding peace talks with the TTP, rather than dealing with them militarily.
In this backdrop, peace talks have been proposed between the Pakistan Govt and the TTP. The intent, ideology and the goals of TTp are very clear. They are at war with the state of Pakistan. They consider the Pakistan Army as their enemy no one and do not mince words in saying so. Compared to its earlier days, the TTP is a more deadly force now. It is not only adept at using the deadly violence to achieving its goals and engaging the Pakistani Army and security forces, but during the last few years it seems to have learnt the art of the propaganda war and seems to understand the political lexicon as well. It has spread confusion and chaos among the Pakistani public by using its proxies in the media effectively. To that end, it is exploiting the call to Sharia effectively. It is going into these peace talks as if its only motive is implementation of Sharia in Pakistan. That maybe the stated goal and it is using the weapons of propaganda to deadly use. But the real motives behind TTPs seeking peace are more sinister. It wants Pakistan Army out of FATA and also some kind of administrative control in the tribal areas.It wants to carve out a State within a State. In-fact it played a political master stroke in the run up to the general elections in Pakistan last year. It specifically targeted parties like ANP, MQM and PPP, which it deemed unsympathetic to its cause. They could not canvas freely in their election campaign. But on the other hand, it did not target the two Punjab based political parties PML-N and PTI, both of whom are seen to be sympathetic towards them and who do not favor a military action against TTP and other religious extremist groups operating in Pakistan. It seems both the parties are repaying that debt to TTP now.
It will be in place here to mention that both the political parties i.e PML-N and PTI want to be the dominant players in Pakistans most populous province, Punjab. They know well that the road to Islamabad runs through Punjab. It might be pragmatic politics, but Pakistan, in its hour of extreme crisis, needs something more than that. It needs a statesman who can think beyond petty party interests and who has a clear way forward towards redeeming Pakistan. Unfortunately Pakistan doesnt have someone of that stature in its current leadership.
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