Remixes have a Short Shelf Life The latest article dated October 2, 2013 by Imran Khan is a special effort to rationalize the negotiations process although some of the examples quoted are totally out of place for example; US negotiations with the Vietcong and the Afghan Taliban. Also, the article ignores that hostilities and negotiations go hand in hand in most conflicts. But why focus so much on rationalizing dialogue at a time when the APC has given the mandate to get on with it and make it a success. All the people want is peace. The most glaring omission in the article is an emphatic policy statement about bringing to justice those responsible for killing innocent civilians under PTI watch even if it means recommending to the federal government to take punitive actions against militant groups operating out of FATA that continue to resort to violence despite the negotiations. Also, even if those responsible operate out of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, an area out of the domain of the KPK government, without handlers and facilitators inside the KPK province, acts of mass killings of innocent civilians in KPK by any militant faction is not possible. So questions about the steps the KPK government intends to take to improve the provincial police, intelligence, and coordination with federal agencies to ensure the arrest of those that aide and abet terrorist attacks inside KPK also remained unanswered in the article. The demands made in the article reflect an opposition leader’s mindset, conveniently forgetting that PTI is now in power in KPK and in a position to take partial if not wholesome peace initiatives. For example, in the article Imran Khan writes ‘it is incumbent upon the federal government to inform us about the structure of the talks,’ instead of taking the lead in proposing a structure for dialogue. The attempt to justify his demand for opening TTP offices to ‘structuralize the dialogue process’ makes little sense. The demand for a TTP office could have come at a later stage if the negotiations had progressed with society recognizing the fruits of it, and that too from the militants and not Imran Khan. On the one hand, Imran Khan creates the perception of a spokesperson of the TTP by demanding opening of their offices and in the same breadth he labels them as enemies by stating ‘we should know the nature of the enemy - there are 15 big Taliban groups and around 25 smaller ones, some of whom are funded by our enemies.’ The cross thoughts the article generates could be a reflection of contributions to the article by many and as they say ‘too many cooks spoil the broth.’ Leaving aside the seriousness of the federal government, to promote a negotiated peace process, has the PTI made any serious proposal to ‘structuralize’ the dialogue initiative by defining a step by step approach? The irony of it all is that, as late as a few days back, some PTI office bearers who have no clue about FATA, were desperately searching for interlocutors in the PTI Central Office. The article concludes by stating that ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is deliberately being targeted by those forces who do not want to see peace and stability restored in Pakistan,’ without making any attempt to identify those forces and the underlying reasons of destabilizing Pakistan? Why is the PTI reluctant to identify external forces stoking our internal fires? For the simple reason that Imran Khan is eternally reluctant to publicly accuse India of funding secessionists in Balochistan and Taliban groups in FATA for fear of losing popularity in India that he cherishes. Test me on this score. The latest article attributed to Imran Khan is a poor remix of the time barred PTI policy. It is defensive in nature and lacks clarity of thought to meet the challenge of militancy and terror in today’s context with PTI in power and not in the opposition anymore.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 11:02:13 +0000
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