Khawaja Umer Farooq says big powers find dark conspiracies whenever Pakistan tries to negotiate with militants to restore peace in areas badly hit by violence. At the same time, he says, they do not find anything wrong with Afghanistan government and foreign forces trying to strike deals with Taleban. I don’t think we can compare these two cases. Afghanistan was invaded by the US-led NATO forces. As an occupying power, they have been striking deals with warlords from day one. They also turn a blind eye to poppy cultivation etc. Pakistan’s case is different. Pakistan is not an occupied country with an outside force. We are dealing with home grown militants. And this can’t be achieved by persuasions and negotiations. We have seen results of such deals in the past; these were used by the terrorists as a breathing space, to regroup and rearm and then strike at their choice of place and time.
If Pakistan is facing the wrath of Taleban and other associated groups, it is only because these groups, recruited and trained by Pakistan to cause mischief in the neighborhood find themselves abandoned. Pakistan has no choice but to strike hard on militancy, to annihilate them once and for all. How can a nation strike a deal with militants who have waged a war against the state and endangered its territorial integrity and sovereignty? Ordinary Pakistanis will not comprehend the proposal that Pakistan should negotiate with people who continue to kill civilians, police men and soldiers, destroy infrastructure, bomb schools, colleges and hospitals,attack mosques and other places of worship.
MUHAMMED JAMIL ATHER
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