Pakistan’s new friends

Amir Zia
The writer is editor The News, Karachi.

A clear majority of the local Taliban fighters are ‘not the enemies of Pakistan.’ This ‘good news’ was shared by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on the floor of the National Assembly on March 6 as the government announced direct talks with the Mullah Fazlullah-led outlawed group.

Wow! This was one official statement the nation has been waiting to hear from a government stalwart. Going by the logic of the interior minister’s statement, if the Taliban are not enemies of Pakistan then they must be friends.

Should this priceless disclosure lift the spirits of this beleaguered nation and give comfort that the country remained a victim of friendly acts of terrorism all these years? Should it give clarity and confidence to our soldiers, policemen and all the security personnel that so far they have been fighting not with the enemies of the state? And if yes, then does it mean that they had been sacrificing their lives in vain.

If the interior minister is to be believed then the beheading of our soldiers by the Taliban should also be taken as an act of friendship. So should be their ghastly game of kicking around the heads of our martyrs. The attacks on the military headquarters and other defence installations – from Karachi to Peshawar – were also not carried out by the enemies of Pakistan. The interior minister believes that the Taliban are ‘not anti-Pakistan’. Then should we say that the pro-Pakistan Taliban executed all the bombings and suicide attacks, killing thousands of men, women and children? If this is not Orwellian double talk, then how else can it be described? 

The next best thing our interior minister can do now is bestow a certificate of patriotism to these Al-Qaeda inspired militants, who openly declare the armed forces as their number one enemy and never hide their intention that they want to dismantle the state called Pakistan. 

Our elected government continues to live in a state of self-denial. Many of its misfiring big guns, from the interior minister to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, continue to give confusing signals about the nature and scope of the challenge Pakistan faces from within. And by doing this they are giving legitimacy to all the shadowy bands of non-state warriors whom we usually lump together under the common and simplistic definition of the Taliban. They are strengthening the internal enemy and damaging Pakistan.

Today these protectors and defenders of militants are entrenched in the echelons of civilian power structure, in the media and in the mainstream religious parties. They twist facts, tell half truths and even blatant lies in their zeal to shield terrorists and avoid doing what the nation expects them to do: defend Pakistan, its people and help establish the writ of the state. 

But political expediency, narrow self interest and lack of moral and intellectual courage never allows them to call a spade a spade. Instead, they give us mumbo-jumbo of all sorts of conspiracy theories including that some foreign hand is fomenting these acts of terrorism. No wonder many Pakistanis are disillusioned and depressed with the democratic setup as they see no ray of hope at the end of the tunnel. The plight of Pakistan is manifested through all the disorder and lawlessness that we see all around us, the crumbling of its institutions and the erosion of the state authority. 

The interior minister has taken the dark comedy played in the name of peace talks too far. His statements – such as the one on March 6 – indeed seem like a cruel joke. By declaring the majority of the Taliban as friends, he has ridiculed and insulted all civilian and armed forces martyrs and their families and friends.

And this was not the first time that Chaudhry Nisar came out on the floor of the house to defend the Taliban. He has done this on countless occasions both inside and outside parliament with conviction and passion. When a US drone strike killed the former Taliban chief, Hakeemullah Mehsud last November, our interior minister’s display of grief and emotions rattled even many of the treasury members – not because of his melodramatic performance, but because they could see the fallout of his sayings on the country. His brash statements and soft corner for militants expose his political acumen and underline his insensitivity towards all those who died, wounded or lost their near and dear ones by terrorists.

Seen as the main architect of the policy of peace talks with militants, Chaudhry Nisar is defining and articulating it on behalf of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. And the way the interior minister is doing his job, he is putting the entire system at stake. 

This government will be remembered for giving legitimacy to a ragtag band of terrorists and bringing their narrative into the mainstream. This decision to appease and hold talks with militants has been taken and owned by a coterie of friends and families of the prime minister. Even the input of all the treasury and cabinet members was not taken while deciding to extend an olive branch to the enemies of the state.

The voice of smaller provinces articulated by the Pakistan People’s Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Awami National Party, and the Baloch nationalists is also being ignored. The concerns of the civil society and the armed forces on treading this dangerous course are also not being taken into account. 

The Sharif government let the foreign and local militants off the hook when the Pakistani armed forces had put them on the mat through successful airstrikes following a spate of recent terror assaults. The Taliban have warded off the pressure by announcing the ceasefire and retaining their capacity to fight another day. They managed to buy crucial time when the last days of winter restrict their fighters’ movement. They have again been able to give centrality to those issues that should be non-negotiable – supremacy of the constitution and state’s undisputed writ on its territory. They offered the bait and the Sharif government fell for it hook, line and sinker.

With rulers such as Sharif, does Pakistan need ‘a foreign hand’ to destabilise it?

Now our civilian masters want the Pakistan Army to be part of the farcical dialogue process and take the brunt of their follies that threatens Pakistan. Mercifully the indications are that the army is not in a mood to oblige and has declined to jump into the pit where Sharif and his key team members have placed themselves.

Trying to push the armed forces directly into talks with the Taliban is indeed a trap for the country’s last line of defence. The peace deals brokered with militants during the former military-led government are not justified examples when the country is run by an elected government. Today, the civilians should take responsibility of all such actions with the past knowledge that all those deals were violated by none other than the militants. 

The onus of imposing this internal war rest solely on these Al-Qaeda linked militants. The state institutions remain justified in trying to stop the use of Pakistani territory as a safe haven for global and local terrorists and fomenting violence and terrorism around the world.

The days ahead are indeed tough for the country as the US/Nato troops start their drawdown from Afghanistan. This will embolden the militants and allow them freer movement on both sides of the Durand Line. Another round of internal strife and war stares at Pakistan, but this time it will be messier and bloodier. Unfortunately for us, there is no courageous and visionary civilian leadership in sight that can steer the country out of this minefield.

The time is running out fast. The indecision and policy of appeasement is costing the country dearly. The time for taking a decision on fighting the twin spectre of terrorism and religious extremism was yesterday, but our rulers seem to be waiting for a tomorrow that will never come. Are there any saviours who can stand up and fight for Pakistan? The nation awaits a miracle.