Prime Minister Imran Khan made an important revelation in an interview to a Turkish television news network Friday that the government is in talks with some factions of the Taliban. The talks are being carried out in Afghanistan, the prime minister said, adding that the militants can be forgiven if they lay down their arms. PM Khan said that he has always been against a military solution and has advocated for political settlement and talks, especially in neighboring Afghanistan. The same approach is to be carried out with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP, and other terrorist groups.
In an initial sign of the ongoing peace talks, a faction led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur has announced a twenty-day ceasefire in North Waziristan. Officials say other groups are expected to join in soon.
Official quarters say that the negotiations will be within the confines of Pakistan’s laws and constitution. The military operations have been successful and have achieved the desired results, a senior security official said. “It is time now for the next stop to bring this conflict to an end through political means,” the official said.
The peace talks will be held from a position of strength, officials here assert.
The desire to maintain peace and do away with any possibility of bloodshed is, of course, noble and praiseworthy. But there is a need for caution and deliberation, as we have been down this road before.
The country has earned peace after a long and protracted battle with the militants. The Pakistani army fought the terrorists valiantly and managed to wrest a large swath of tribal regions from them. It lost its finest officers and soldiers in this battle. The Pakistani people also bore the brunt of terror attacks and faced them defiantly when the militants tried to make them cower and subdued.
The successful military operations in the former tribal regions were hailed to have broken the proverbial backs of the militants. We were told that the militants cannot regain their footholds and their lethality had been neutralized. The decrease in terror attacks over the past few years speaks of the gains made against the militant groups. But they were obviously not totally eliminated and with the takeover of the Afghan Taliban, the militants in the country have reemerged and feel emboldened. The recent spate of attacks in the country’s northwest and southwest regions is a troubling development.
The experiences of talk and negotiations with the militants don’t provide much hope or optimism. Almost all peace talks and agreements with the militants resulted in them being further strengthened. Just last month, the TTP rebuffed the amnesty offers by President Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The TTP vowed to continue with its armed ways unless its demands were accepted and their version of the religion implemented in the country. The militants don’t accept the Pakistani constitution or the democratic system. A middle ground between both sides is hard to reach, given the stark differences and disagreements over the fundamentals.
Talking about peace talks with the militants casually is akin to being almost indifferent and insensitive to the sacrifices and pain suffered by the people. It also rings a bit hollow when state officials keep hammering at the international stage that the country’s sacrifices of thousands of lives in the war against terrorism are not acknowledged.
This is not to suggest that effort toward peace through talks is not worth trying. But there needs to be a more calculated, cohesive, and all-inclusive effort at the national level. The news about ongoing talks with the Taliban factions should not have come through a news channel’s scoop but through a national consensus, a debate in the parliament, and with the acceptance and willingness of the large majority of the people.
P.S. TTP released a statement late Friday that there is no division within its ranks and affiliated groups and it has not ordered any ceasefire. A spanner in the works has been thrown already.