Pakistan: Leadership inertia

More than 150 people have died so far in three different attacks within a week in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). A new pattern of behaviour has emerged of late in the terror groups. As soon as some faction of the Taliban accepts responsibility for the attack, the main body, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), distances itself from the group taking responsibility, as had happened in the All Saints Church incident in Peshawar, when the TTP refused to acknowledge Jundullah as its affiliated outfit. This ambiguity is being created deliberately to confuse the already perplexed government, who could not decide what to do so far with those waging open war against the state. It is the people of the country who are paying with their lives while the government appears to be suffering from business-as-usual inertia. The attack on Kissa Khawani Bazaar, Peshawar, has killed 42 people. Scores of people have lost their businesses that they might have created putting in years of sweat and blood. For many it could have been the only source of livelihood. That anyone could wipe out the dreams of others so easily is horrendous, to say the least. The bomb that ripped the bazaar apart was attached to a vehicle and exploded by remote control. That a city that is in the eye of the storm could be left poorly guarded speaks volumes of the seriousness of the provincial and federal government to address what has now become a bleeding ulcer. The government, both of Imran Khan in KP and Nawaz Sharif in the Centre, wants to give the terrorists a chance by conducting a peace dialogue with them. Imran Khan even went as far as asking the government to allow the Taliban to open an office in Pakistan. Of the many All Parties Conferences that had been held till now, the last one saw the killers being called stakeholders. All the appeasement and words of caution have however failed to bring a notch of difference in the attitude of those who have a singular agenda to ruin the country unless it becomes a state of their choice. The country is being blown to pieces and we do not know what the government is up to. The final draft of the so-called National Security Policy has yet to see the light of day. No organizational arrangements are in sight for the implementation of security plans envisaged in so many meetings conducted by the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. The Joint Intelligence Centre, the creation of which the interior minister promised on the floor of the National Assembly, is yet to be set up. The National Counter Terrorism Authority that was to become a coordinating hub for law enforcement and the intelligence agencies is still nowhere near finding its feet. In short, no infrastructural development or strategic planning specifically targeting terrorism has been done. How many more attacks and loss of innocent lives will it take to shake the government out of its policy of appeasement of the terrorists, both in KP and at the federal level? We have had stories about the Punjab government taking on the madrassas, flagged for their extremist approach. No movement to that end could be seen either. If Karachi could be handled, as is being done, with a well-planned and coordinated operation, why cannot other parts of the country? If Punjab can remain calm, terrorist-free, why cannot KP? Is it lack of political will again at play? Is the government scared of the blowback if they dare touch the hornet’s nest of terrorism in some parts of the country, especially where it is entrenched in safe havens such as in Punjab? There is complete ambiguity about what the government is planning to do. Nawaz Sharif was angered by the fresh attack in KP, and has resolved to do something substantial once he returns from New York. The hope is that this is not the usual course of our leadership, showing anger and some new resolve against the enemy, albeit only temporarily. Perhaps the situation is not that simple as is still being perceived by our leadership. The county needs action on the ground. Is there anyone who could realize and understand that we have already crossed the red line?