Pakistan: No talks with Taliban

As these lines are written; seventy-eight Christians, including children and women, are dead and over a hundred and forty reported wounded in the two blasts taking place in a hundred and thirty-year old All Saints Church, the second oldest in the city, in Kohati Gate area of Peshawar. While the fact is that the terrorists do not distinguish between the cast, colour and creed of the innocent Pakistanis they kill, it still is a source of solace that all sections of the population across the country have expressed their outrage and solidarity with their Christian countrymen. The Christian community, undoubtedly, knows that mosques belonging to various Muslims sects filled with worshippers have been blown up through the length and breadth of the country. Some questions need to be asked of the concerned government in the aftermath of the blasts: Why no special security arrangements were made on the occasion when Sunday congregations at churches are a regular feature of the followers of the Christian faith. Why did it take two to three hours to shift the critically wounded victims to the hospital when the delay might well have, and may have, resulted in the deaths of some of the injured? It took hours for the medical staff to come to the aid of the injured even after the blast victims had been shifted to the hospital. Where were the senior doctors? The tragedy has also left many questions regarding the political fallout on the proposed peace talks: It is no secret that Nawaz Sharif government became serious to take substantial steps towards holding talks with the Taliban only when the TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud undertook to unite about the sixty odd militant groups for peace dialogue. Hakimullah also vowed to fight the terrorists groups who tried to sabotage the peace process. The blasts in the Peshawar church can clearly be defined as an act to sabotage the efforts towards peace talks with Taliban. The people, the political leaders and agencies of Pakistan may be guessing as to who is responsible for this act of terrorism but the terrorist group responsible for the attack on the church cannot be hidden from Hakimullah Mehsud and leaders of other terrorist groups who supposedly want peace talks. Is it even possible to think that the TTP leader will take action against his terrorist brethren of other groups? Will Hakimullah Mehsud ask his men to raise arms against the terrorists who openly oppose efforts for peace talks? Hardly, anybody in Pakistan believes so. The Frontier Post has all along held the view that the militants lack the ability to be peaceful; violence is their only way to settle issues. Secondly, attacking and killing innocent Pakistanis because the US drones are attacking the militants is just a pretext for committing violence against us; their actual aim is to destroy Pakistan. But even hoping against hope if the talks with Taliban are to be successful, Hakimullah has to prove that he has the ability to control all the terrorists groups under his control. Without show of this control and without the commitments that terrorism will not happen in Pakistan during talks or the actual talks are going on, the process cannot be continued. Hakimullah has failed in showing control or committment. The incidents of terrorism after the All Parties Conference, has convinced the ordinary people that a peaceful solution to terrorism is not an option anymore. The fact that Taliban are faceless enemies may have been true in the past but not anymore. The names of even the second tier of TTP leaders and of many Taliban groups are now well known to many. Our forces can target them and make the Taliban on the run. The sooner we understand that Taliban will continue with their terrorist activities against us; talks or no talks. Our civilian population, our troops and our installations will forever be targeted by terrorists and the sooner we decide that the only way to end terrorism is to end the terrorists the better. Except in Swat, where we met tremendous success; there never has been a dead serious effort to totally root out terrorists from anywhere else in the country. We have always been deceiving ourselves by creating the myth of \\\'good Taliban\\\'. When we decided that there were no good Taliban in Swat, we were able to clear Swat of them. We have to decide there are no good Taliban anywhere in Pakistan and go after them. If our troops can drive them from the high mountains, steep valleys and dense forests of Swat, we can defeat them anywhere. As for the activities of terrorists in our urban areas, the example of Karachi is a very recent example. After a serious action against criminals in Karachi, hundreds of Taliban have left the mega city and gone back to their safe havens in Waziristan. If we end their strongholds in Fata, including Waziristan, and act decisively against all criminals in the rest of the country, the menace of Taliban will end. Though it is easier said than done, it can, however, be done. It has to be done!