Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Pakistan: Ignoring cries, pain at home

PTI chairman Imran Khan will write a letter to the prime minister asking him to form a comprehensive anti-terrorism policy to rid the country of this peril. Condemning the bomb blast in the KPK that killed 17 people, he says the whole nation will have to fight against terrorism and devise a joint policy to eradicate this menace for which he will ask the premier to convene a meeting of all stakeholders in the province and the army chief to discuss a comprehensive strategy to end terrorism. The PTI chief Imran Khan has rightly opted to remind the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to do more for the safety of the people of the KPK, facing bombings every now and then. The blood of the innocent people is consistently going down the drain. Yet non at the helm of the affairs is bothered to say a word about the plight of the people in Peshawar and Quetta. The federal government is keeping mum over the situation as if there is nothing doing. The lack of urgency on the part of the federal government in joining hands with the provincial administration to curb terrorism is being felt and perceived as the continuation of the previous regime with only difference of some change of faces in the Prime Minister House. Against all hopes that the federal government and army will sharply react to the deadly terrorist attacks and come up with new strategy, the National Security Adviser elderly Sartaj Aziz seems more concerned over Afghan peace process, on Monday he had floated the concept of an Afghan power-sharing arrangement between Kabul and the Taliban as part of a peace talks but he did not say a word about the TTP attacks. Peace in Pakistan, to some extent, may be linked to the peace in Afghanistan. Yet the recent clashes, amongst the TTP and pro-Pakistan militant groups along the Afghanistan border, give ample evidence for the Pakistan to open their eyes that Islamabad has to deal with the TTP terrorism phenomenon on its own—no body especially from its allies will come to its rescue. Participants of the Doha Talks from either side deemed it fit to go into the peace talks without Pakistan that many perceived it as dumping of Islamabad from the Afghan initiative. Even then putting forth any suggestion by Pakistan or from the office National Security Advisor cannot be a welcome suggestion and it has duly attracted wrath from the Kabul regime. Pakistan should concentrate hard on ways and means to curb the TTP insurgency at home rather than joining the diplomatic warfare that Americans have unleashed in the region. Blindly following the end-game of the Americans will take Pakistan no where. Islamabad needs to show far more seriousness to look after its own country and its people crying over loss of the innocent lives rather than feeling for others. The federal government’s silence over the internal situation is nerve-breaking. Leaving aside Afghan peace phobia, Islamabad must feel the pain of its masses.

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