Pakistan: Terrorism revisited

That there is no easy solution to the problem of militancy once again became obvious on Thursday when blasts in all the provincial capitals of Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar rocked the country. In Karachi, three suspected militants mishandled an explosive device and ended up only killing themselves; in Lahore one person was killed when an explosive device placed in a restaurant in Anarkali detonated; in Quetta the worst happened when six people lost their lives and 42 were injured in the main shopping centre; and in Peshawar there was yet another explosion – although with no casualties this time. Anyone who thought that the prospects of peace talks may lead to a brief respite from the unceasing violence now has to confront the reality that the militants are not going to ease up on us. That much was obvious in an interview that the TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud gave to the BBC where he said that that the Pakistan state as it is currently configured does not follow the dictates of Islam. Mehsud has basically reiterated that he is not at war against just the government or the US; any of us who do not want to live in a country ruled by him and his ideology are legitimate targets in his eyes. At the same time, Mehsud did say that he was open to the prospects of talks with the government although he absolutely ruled out accepting any preconditions to come to the negotiating table. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, even if he did not know before, should now be absolutely clear in his mind that we are facing an enemy that will remain violent and with whom almost no common ground can be found. This does not mean that he should abandon altogether the idea of negotiations with the TTP, as decided by the All-Parties Conference. But he should go into the talks understanding that there is only a limited amount talks can achieve. And since the militants refuse to stop attacking us even when the government is willing to talk, the prime minister should be under no obligation to cease law-enforcement and even military actions against the TTP. As it is, we face enough problems with prosecuting suspecting militants. That was pointed out by Nawaz Sharif in a visit to Peshawar where he said that even judges are too scared to take action against militants. The prime minister also reiterated changes in law enforcement that he had earlier proposed, including setting up a separate counterterrorism force and improving our intelligence capabilities. As the four blasts on Thursday showed, we are still a long way from being able to pre-empt attacks and will need major improvements in our terrorist-fighting capabilities. The only way talks with the TTP will yield any breakthroughs is if we have the strength and capacity to actually scare them into compromise. Right now, they are continuing to operate with impunity and that simply cannot be allowed to continue.