TTP talks: Legitimising terror
The annual report of Human Rights Watch (2013) on Pakistan reads exactly the same as the ones published before it. Only the brutality of those involved in the killings and the apathy of those observing has increased tenfold. Apart from that, the report has nothing ‘positive’ to report from Pakistan.
The reason why there is nothing ‘positive’ in the report reflects the fact that our state continues to move backwards, learning nothing from past mistakes.
If learning was the case, the recent offer of talks by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who have single-handedly ruined thousands of lives in Pakistan, would have been refused by the state immediately.
As it is, we are already in a state of war with the Taliban, who continue to attack children, students, teachers, journalists, minorities, and any one who does not accept or follow their brand of Islam.
To be precise, it is progression and a progressive mindset that the Taliban and likeminded groups are against. I felt it necessary to spell it out because it is important to understand, that militants are against each one of us, including every ideology or sect that they feel threatened from.
In 2012, militants killed around 325 people from the Shia sect, shot a student Malala Yousafzai, apart from torching over a hundred schools in different areas of Pakistan. This is not all, as there are countless other incidents where shrines have been attacked, apart from the ruthless targeting of the Pakistani police. Verve and confidence are not lacking in these people at all, as after every attack that destroys a home, a family or a school, the militants have openly taken responsibility for their actions.
And now they want to hold talks with the government and have chosen guarantors, whose selection does not come as a surprise either.
What is surprising, however, is the meek response of the state. For years our country has been dangling in the middle about how to properly negotiate with the Taliban. But the question that arises after what our society has gone through over the decade is: do we really need to negotiate with the Taliban? If yes, then on what basis?
It would be better for the state to acknowledge once and for all that we are at war with militants and work towards eliminating the menace, rather than appeasing them.
In this context, it would be better to look at how Sri Lanka dealt with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). From its formation in 1983 till 2009, LTTE was known for its massacres over ethnicity, suicide bombings and guerilla warfare.
Seven years before being defeated by the army in May 2009, LTTE was running a mini-state in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Though the war took over a hundred thousand lives in Sri Lanka, the country’s military defeated one of the most ruthless insurgents.
Counter insurgencies are always ugly in practice but is it uglier than what Pakistanis go through on a daily basis?
The writer is a reporter at Dawn.com
Negotiating with TTP is tantamount’s to accepting their devious mindset. The fight needs to be taken to the last until they run out of leaders and finances.
Agree. It is not the government’s place to pardon TTP’s attrocities on behalf of the oppressed. It is tantamount to a denial of justice and a derailment of our right to believe in and practice progressive Islam. It also sets a bad precedent. If you’re a small time murderer, you get life imprisonment or capital punishment. If you are a mass murderer, the government will honour you with “talks”. Shame.
In response to a question posed earlier about why the US is negotiating with the Taliban:
First of all, the US is not negotiating with the TTP, the Taliban outfit that is active mainly in Pakistan. The US is negotiating with the Afghani Taliban which has been responsible for the insurgency being waged against NATO forces. The reason behind the negotiations is quite simple; the US has a deadline to pull out of Afghanistan by early 2014. Therefore, in order for them to save face when they leave, Afghanistan needs to have a viable government that can prevent the country from fracturing into a chaotic mix of warring factions. Unfortunately, the way things are now, that is simply impossible without the Taliban’s support of some form, since the Karzai government is inefficient and weak and its security forces are a joke. Hence, they have to negotiate with the Afghani Taliban
That is NOT the case in Pakistan. The TTP is not present in some other nation where its only victims are military personnel. Its victims are us, us being civilians, such as the children who will never get an education because their school was blown up, or the women who didn’t wear a burqa, or the Shia who made the mistake of practicing his own religion. They will not rest till Shariah law is implemented all over Pakistan, till anyone who does not think like them or does not agree with their ideology is dead. WE therefore, have no choice but to continue fighting them and other militant groups like them. Ours is a war of survival not saving face. I sincerely hope that our government takes heed from what Saher Baloch has said in this article and does not fall back into its much-trodden path of appeasement towards these groups.
It is a typical response and is expected. Pakistan is as usual willing to keep snakes in its backyard with the “hope” that it can use them on India – actual history, not withstanding. So what is average Pakistanis pay the price. They are just cannon fodder for the generals.
It is very honorable for Dawn to take a stand on this for the betterment of the people of south asia.
One always has to negotiate with enemies. It’s easy to say that we will not negotiate with terrorists from the comfort of our living rooms. It’s the common man who suffers at the hand of the terrorists, in this case TTP and I am sure the common man will welcome a settlement. If TTP can be hunted down without risking the lives of Pakistani citizens, poor or rich, then that is what must be done. Fact of the matter is that Pakistan does not have the counter intelligence needed to defeat this menace by force. Perhaps we can integrate them into main stream…slowly.
Globally, 128 nations have a national law explicitly stating that they shall NOT deal with terrorists – ideology/religion/economic strata based or even others.
Does Pakistan know that? Or is it a Middle Class which inside supports the brave romanticised bearded macho “mujahids” as against the reality of brain and heart dead, brutes and animals clothed in human clothing who kill, irrespective of reason?
Army and government are reluctant to take any action against Taliban as they may be held accountable by courts two or three years down the line. Don’t forget what Laal Masjid brigade did. How media demanded action against them and how courts are now blaming everything on the then government.
Asking Taliban to talk, is a civilian approach after the army refused to eleminate them. It also places Pakistan at a weaker position.
To every one opposing talks with Taliban.. Can you guys please put some light on why the US is negotiating with the Taliban?
US is talking to Taliban since they have decided to leave Afghanistan. Should we also leave Pakistan and give the country to Taliban?
Agree with You Naseer and agree with your comment on Lal Masjid also. we have a very short memory, and we cannot compare with US it has its own interest and we have our s and our sis in Only total Elimination of these BUGS called Taliban.
in case you have REALLY missed the point – Karzai wanted them to. Please read, re read and understand the reconciliation and rehab mission which Karzai insisted on will help him build a longer tenure. The US went along as it was a cheaper option which also allowed them to pull more troops out as per their own set timeline…..
There is no way to negotiate with the Taliban. Let me guess Taliban’s negotiating terms.
1. Let us continue knocking at doors to get your children into our school of thought, so that if you dare to change your mind later. We will instruct your children to kill their parents.
2. Let us kill the minorities without anyone judging us.
3. Women should not be allowed to get education and we need to change the culture so that every man should get up to 4 wives (just like the Arabs and implement Islam in it’s true form).
4. Oh yeah, we need to enforce the Sharia law except for homosexuals and murderers who did jihad anyone in the name of Islam.
5. Lets legalize begging because working and education is Western agenda to liberalize people to go against Islam.
6. We need to destroy all the Sufi Shrines because it is shirk. Even though the Sufis did all the conversion of South Asian’s to Islam, they taught the wrong form of Islam.
7. Every Taliban should have Amnesty when he performs any action against humanity in the name of Jihad.
8. 50% of every Pakistani’s earning should go to the Taliban.
9. If you disagree with any of our terms, we will continue killing people by placing bombs in buses, schools, shopping centers.
And don’t forget, as a first step all kinds of vaccinations are banned. Next step would be to ban all English named medicines and all western made medical equipment. Also no education that takes any thing from western research or institutes. Airplanes and trains will be banned as these were invented by Americans, we can only use camels and horses. Cars and bikes also did not exist in the prophet’s (PBUH) time, so these are also biddat. No Xrays, blood tests, etc, they are against Islam.
Yes but all these Rules of-course do-not apply to Taliban leadership, they can have Foreign Western Trips and have all the luxury of the world, so they can effectively tell their followers the evils and harm they cause, they can also watch all kinds of movies so they can tell everyone not to watch them.
Propoganda nonsense of a bankrupt mind.
I really hope the Pakistani people will not fall into trap of faceless terrorist. These guys have no morals, values, trust, and self-respect. They will kill their own mother for money and power. The only way to negotiate with them is destroy them. Talibans and Al queda has to be eliminated if peace has to be established.
To be precise, it is progression and a progressive mindset that the Taliban and likeminded groups……….
Apart from a small minority of younger generation of middle class, there is no evidence of progressive mindset. Your bureaucracy is inept and corrupt, your political parties are mafia gangs that rob the people while playing the democracy game. Your drug companies sell fake medicine, the milk you buy and give your children contains water, detergent and indigo, your butchers are selling donkey meat, your police is there to make profit from crime, the entire society is rotting in the cesspit of immorality and utter lack of ethics. There is no civic society, the concept of common good is totally alien.
Completely agree with author. There can be no agreement with butchers who are killing innocents on daily basis. They must be eliminated like pest from our beloved country. Talibans belongs to stone age & will drag everyone with to it.
Why do we need to talk to the terrorists?. We need to kill them all and their sympathisers as well. That is the only way out. They are a menace to our lovely country. ERADICATE THEM.
Unfortunately the problem with our nation and specialty KPK (as I am from KPK) is that we blindly and openly trust any person or group who has trade mark of Islam and can exploit our religious feeling. Our first mistake was that we welcomed initial inflow or religious group what ever name you give them who ENFORCED Islam to that level which was not accepted by common man. Political parties had their own agenda and didnt had honest motive to do the job. I strongly believe that military had muscles to crush them by extreme measures but they also had some sort of agenda to play hide and seek game. The worst thing is that we developed a fake theory of ‘Good Taliban and Bad Taliban’. Whats the worst we can do is considering the one fighting for Islam with NATO as Jihadi and the other inside as Terrorist while Pakistan is giving logistic, intelligence and ground support to NATO. What kind of double standard game is that. I believe good and bad Taliban are all incurable cancerous virus has no room in the our country. After all both have same ideology but are siting on different sides of table.
The Taliban has more sympathizers in Pakistan than in Afghanistan. When US / NATO leave Afghanistan in 2014 the Afghans who have tasted freedom will fight to preserve their freedom. However the Taliban would find fertile ground in Pakistan to further their ideology and make a run for power. The Taliban has supporters within every Institution in Pakistan and that is where the danger of a silent coup lies, unlike in Afghanistan where they have been weeded out of the Power structure. Better to go after them now and wipe them out, else when the wolf is at the door no country will come to help.
Very logical and seemingly correct assessment. Good reply.
I sincerely hope that Taliban do not come to power in Pakistan . It will be very bad for India if they get hold of Pakistan’s nuclear assets . This is the biggest fear which most of the Indians have.
Dear Feroz, which world do you live in Taliban has emerged from Afghanistan, and that is where they have the highest number of supporters, frankly speaking Afghanistan is the biggest problem.