Pakistan: Imran Khan’s embarrassment

The inclusion of Imran Khan’s name in the committee announced by the Taliban to negotiate on its behalf with the government has proved deeply embarrassing to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and its leader. Imran’s critics had already characterised his emphasis on peace talks and his campaign to stop NATO supply routes out of Afghanistan as betraying his pro-Taliban leanings, with some going so far as to dub him ‘Taliban Khan’. The inclusion of Imran’s name in the five-member committee nominated by the Taliban certainly shows that he is among the ‘trusted’ as far as the terrorists are concerned. The PTI’s core committee has decided to reject Imran Khan’s inclusion in the committee, ostensibly, the party says, because it is beneath his stature. Others are of the view however that this decision was dictated more by the potentially even more embarrassing ‘labelling’ of Imran Khan and his politics had he chosen to go along with the Taliban’s suggestion. Imran Khan has thus put some distance, but perhaps not sufficient, between himself and the Taliban. The refusal came despite fellow committee nominee Maulana Samiul Haq’s pleas to Imran Khan to accept the offer. The damage to Imran Khan’s image, despite the refusal, will not go away easily.

As far as the actual process of the peace talks is concerned, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar sees the announcement of the Taliban negotiating team after the government had created it own negotiating team as positive, but he still had questions about the mandate and powers of the Taliban’s committee and whether the Taliban would accept and follow its decisions. That may be jumping the gun since the refusal of Imran Khan and Maulana Abdul Aziz for different reasons has left the committee short of two members. Whether they will be replaced by the Taliban with new names is not yet known. JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman, despite his party member being nominated on the Taliban’s committee, is not satisfied and is raising the question why the jirga process is being ignored for the purpose of restoring peace. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has in the meantime assured full security to the government negotiating team wherever the talks are held. Given the Taliban’s obvious reluctance to hold the talks where the government has complete sway, the likelihood is that the venue will be one of the Taliban’s choosing.

On balance, the announcement of the two negotiating teams has thrown interesting light on their composition and possible effectiveness. As far as the TTP is concerned, they have announced what many believe to be the ideal team from their point of view: all pro-Taliban or at the very least sympathetic to them. There is also the added tactical shifting of onus onto those who believed peace was possible. They are now being asked to put their money where their mouth is. However, the question remains: will any decision arrived at by the team be acceptable to the Taliban without demur? Unlikely, and therefore the talks process promises to be long and complicated. The government’s committee is composed of right-leaning personalities who are essentially ‘technocrats’ without experience or skills in negotiating conflict. The absence of any weighty political figure in the government’s team suggests that its ‘suggestions’ will not amount to more than that and it is the government that will take the final decisions, should any be arrived at in the first place. The entire process appears on the face of it to be mired in so much uncertainty that the euphoria over the very fact it may start may prove premature.