Pakistan
has faced a spate of terrorist attacks since last November when the
Pakistan Army chief who held up the previous hybrid regime stepped down and the
Pakistani Taliban restarted their campaign against this country. After the horrible
bombing in Peshawar that killed a 101 people, 90% of them policemen on
30 January, the PML-N government wanted to call an all party conference.
The
PTI, the previous government, did not respond and kept attacking the current
PML-N government in the face of the horrific bombing that had happened and the
calls for unity against the Pakistani Taliban. Imran Khan, the PTI’s leader’s, pro-Taliban
rhetoric has been well known at this time, along with his unwavering characterisation
of the PML-N which runs Pakistan now as thieves. Whatever. The Taliban are
murderers. Basic morality would dictate uniting against murderers. But no. The
PTI would not climb off its high horse over the mere issue of a 101 charred and
crushed corpses of policemen in Peshawar. So here we are. There is no direction
to Pakistan’s attempt to counter the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) campaign
against it. The PTI would also not cooperate, because its actions, in welcoming
the overthrow of the previous Afghan government next door, that had imprisoned
the TTP members who had been captured in Afghanistan, and were now freed by the
Taliban, to the crazy idea in which it resettled (!) those TTP members in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts they had previously terrorised, had also
contributed to the problem of the TTP’s resurgence.
In
the face of the PTI’s intransigience, I think it is time that the PML-N
government of Shahbaz Sharif make a move that strengthens democracy, rather
than privatising it among an alliance of parties, and calls a session of
parliament to discuss the issue of terrorism, the TTP’s resurgence and how to counter
it. It would definitely be more democratic, clear the air as everyone gets to
have their say and would be more within the ambit of the constitution than an “All
Parties Conference.” There's something about not having this debate in parliament that strikes me as anti-democratic. I know also that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is essentially a far-right
man and strengthening democracy is never front and centre with his plans, but in
the face of the pointlessness of engaging with those who ignore or make excuses
for the Taliban like the PTI and its leader, and the resurgence of the TTP, we
are left with no choice but to have parliament debate how to deal with these
terrorists.
And
hey – Ali Wazir’s free and he will get to have his say! I’m up for it.
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| Ali Wazir, MNA from South Waziristan and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader, has been released from Karachi prison. PHOTO: TWITTER/@mjdawar |
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