After trying to talk peace with the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, TTP, the Pakistan Govt finally woke up to the reality that it was going to lose far more than what it would gain from talking to TTP. The evidence in support for a negotiation with TTP was quite weak even before the talks had resumed. During the few months when the Govt mistakenly thought that TTP was serious in coming to the negotiating table, it was proved wrong many times by the brazen acts of violence by TTP. The attack on the Karachi airport recently which was claimed by the TTP proved to be the last nail in the coffin of these unwarranted negotiations.
The Pakistan army has already begun the ground offensive against the TTP and its allied organizations on the rugged and difficult terrain of North Waziristan. No doubt the menace of terrorism has taken strong roots in Pakistan and most Pakistani establishments have treated these terrorists with kid gloves and have been ambivalent about dealing with them. Successive Govts have shown policy flip flops but now it seems the Pakistan Army is serious in taking them on militarily and the civilian Govt has also shown some resolve at last to allow the Army start an offensive.
The peace talks that the Pakistan Govt and many other political forces especially the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf led by Imran Khan had pushed through and pinned their hopes on it, was bound to fail. Not only was the Pakistan Govt talking from a position of weakness and vulnerability, but it was trying to talk peace to an entity whose ideas are absolutist. Their ideology clearly states that they would have no truck with the Pakistani establishment and hence their agenda has always been not about the State accommodating them but bowing to its command.
Now that the Pakistan Govt has given these elements a long rope, they have become well entrenched and battle hardened. They know the terrain pretty well. What compounds Pakistan Armys problems is that the American troops are on their way out from Afghanistan and it will be easier for these terrorists to sneak in and out from the porous Afpak border. Also the fluid geo political situation developing on account of the recent advances of ISIS in Iraq will encourage the TTP to dig in. Some other terrorist organizations like Boko Haram have also been in news recently for the violence they have unleashed. All this does not augur well for the Pakistani establishment given many of these terrorist organisations around the globe are on ascendancy.
Pakistan will also have to deal with the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs who are migrating after the Pakistan Army started its ground offensive. There have already been certain issues with the IDPs given that some provincial Govts showed their displeasure in accommodating the influx of IDPs.
Given the precarious economic situation that Pakistan faces, coupled with this migration of hundreds of thousands of its people, the Pakistani State and the Army needs to go that extra mile to nail the menace of terrorism in the bud. It will be a long drawn battle, but one which Pakistan needs to fight for its own survival.
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