Since the victims were mostly children of Armymen, how fearful now are Pakistani political leaders about another military coupIJ Driven by these fears, will the leaders change their policy towards terrorismIJ
The Bible says, “All who draw the sword, will die by the sword”. Pakistan reared the Taliban and other terror groups in the hope that the latter would do their bidding. It forgot the old story of the lion who came to live at the cat’s feet to learn her tricks and cunningness. later, when he was hungry, he wanted to eat the cat — that way, nobody else could learn her tricks. The cat jumped and climbed the nearest tree. The lion was furious at the cat who had claimed to have taught him all the tricks of the trade. He claimed that she had misled him by not teaching him the art of climbing a tree. The cat said that she had to keep something up her sleeve to protect herself against the lion’s dirty tricks.
This is exactly what has happened in Peshawar, Pakistan when the Taliban killed 148 persons including 132 school children earlier this month. Most of the children were shot point blank in the head. The Pakistani franchise of the Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has taken responsibility for the attack. The group said that the attack was in response to the military’s offensive against the militants in Northern Waziristan. The Peshawar massacre has sparked condemnation worldwide and led the Pakistani Government and military to reaffirm their commitment to defeating the group that has killed thousands since it began its insurgency in 2007.
Pakistan clearly did not expect this level of brutality from the Taliban, who have otherwise been busy playing the Official Pakistani Games against Afghanistan and India. An incensed Pakistani Army has continued with its bombing campaign in North Waziristan where it claims to have killed more than 59 Taliban militants the day after the attack in Peshawar. This is typical of short-sighted Pakistani policy-making. Successive Pakistani Governments have failed to realised that the terror groups they nurture will turn against them, as the TTP has done. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned Pakistan some years ago that if it nurtured snakes (terrorists) in its backyard, it cannot expect those snakes to bite only its neighbours (India and Afghanistan).
Shaken by the Taliban terror attack in Peshawar, the Pakistani Government announced that it will come up with a national plan to tackle terrorism soon. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proclaimed, “Our aim is to clean this region of terrorism. Not only Pakistan and Afghanistan, but indeed this entire region should be cleaned of terrorism,” he told an all-parties conference in Pakistan.
“We announce that there will be no differentiation between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban, and resolve to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated,” said Mr Sharif, thereby burying any possibility of a having peace talks with the terror group, at least for the time being. In another important decision, the Government of Pakistan also lifted a self-imposed moratorium on death penalty in terror-related cases.
After the attack, the Pakistani Army chief, General Raheel Sharif, also travelled to Kabul to seek the extradition of the TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, who is reportedly based in Afghanistan. Gen Sharif sought the Afghan military’s cooperation for “a joint operation to counter terrorism and eliminate militants hiding inside Afghanistan”. Pakistan so far has been hunting with the hounds and running with the hare — and for this, it has paid a heavy price.
Several terror attacks have bloodied Pakistan’s contemporary history and politics. For example, on October 19, 2007, at least 139 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade in Karachi. The former Pakistani Prime Minister had just returned home from eight years in exile and was preparing to run for office again. She survived the bombing, only to be killed in another terror attack two months later. On December 27, 2007, Bhutto was shot dead in Rawalpindi. Explosives were also detonated near her car which claimed the lives on 16 others. In between the two attacks, on November 24, 2007, on the eve of Mr Sharif’s return from exile, two suicide car bombers killed 15 people in Rawalpindi.
Even the Americans have given full support, in terms of money and weapons, to the Taliban when the latter were ‘freedom fighters’ in Afghanistan, fighting against the Soviets. When the Soviet Union collapsed and its forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban were no longer strategically important to the Americans. But the war had left behind battle-tested men with plenty of weapons who had no place to fight. So, they went to work for Pakistan who deployed them in Kashmir. The clout of the TTP in particular can be seen from the fact that former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had signed a peace deal with the group on May 21, 2008. At that time, the TTP had demanded that the Pakistani Army withdraw from the tribal areas and that sharia’h law be imposed in the region.
In Pakistan, killing has become a sport that is tolerated by the public. But now things have out of control. It is difficult to gauge Pakistan’s long term response to the Peshawar attack. For example, since the victims were mostly children of Armymen, how fearful are Pakistani politicians about the possibility of a military coupIJ Driven by these fears will the politicians change their policy towards terrorismIJ Or, will the Peshawar attack eventually topple the Sharif GovernmentIJ
The easiest way for Pakistan to end terrorism is to stop encouraging and participating in it. Don’t be terrorised by the terrorists, finish them off. Half measures and statements alone won’t do. The state itself is based on power. Mao Tse-tung was right: Power comes out of the barrel of a gun. An honest enemy is always better than a friend who lies. Pay less attention to what people say and more attention to what they do. Their actions will show you, how far you can trust them. India should follow the policy of trusting God and keeping its powder dry. I am reminded of a Punjabi saying about a dog owner, who wanted the tail of his dog to be straight. Hence, he covered it with a pipe. When he removed the pipe after 12 years, the tail was back to its original shape. I have the same apprehensions about Pakistan.
(The accompanying visual is of Pakistanis holding up posters to condemn the December 16 Taliban attack on an Army public school, in lahore on December 21. AP photo)