Dealing with Pakistan’s extremists Talban

WHO is aware of what Pakistan’s 2 most powerful men spent 3 hours talking regarding once the military chief traveled to Lahore to pay a visit to Nawaz Sharif, the country’s incoming prime minister? however if they mentioned schemes for taking up the cluster referred to as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), they seem to not have united on however best to contend with the most important threat to the country’s domestic security: militant Islamists hellbent on falling the state.

Mr Sharif has long advocated a soft line. The TTP’s supply of talks with the govt. ought to, he aforementioned recently, be taken seriously. Why not “talk to the Taleban to create our country peaceful?” he asked. Later Mr Sharif’s officers asked associate degree aged extremist, Lappish ul Haq, the pinnacle of a madrassa close to metropolis, to act as associate degree envoy.
It is unlikely that Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the military chief, approves of any of this. Last year he declared that the complete country ought to take part a “war against political theory and terrorism”. when the final election on could eleventh, he congratulated Pakistanis for selection in Brobdingnagian numbers, despite threats from associate degree “insignificant and misguided” TTP.

Diplomats United Nations agency recognize the final ar convinced this is often not simply rhetoric. Despite decades of support the military has given to militant teams fighting for what it perceives to be the national interest in Asian nation and Kashmir, Mr Kayani looks convinced that robust action is currently needed to bring the Pakistani Taleban to heel.

Last year the military began preparations for military operations in North Waziristan, the foremost troubled of Pakistan’s seven “tribal agencies” close to the Afghan frontier, following the tried murder by a TTP gunman of a lady, Malala Yousafzai, United Nations agency overtly defied a Taleban edict that faculty is merely for boys. nevertheless the onslaught ne'er came, maybe as a result of public disgust over the crime before long pale.

Although some progress has been created in re-establishing the state’s legal document in some agencies, North Waziristan remains lawless, a haven for jihadists from everywhere the globe. the sole opposition the militants face ar overhead drones operated by America’s Central Intelligence Agency. On could twenty eighth one such reportedly killed variety of militants, together with Wali-ur-Rehman, the TTP’s deputy. The Pakistani authorities once offered a bounty for his arrest or death, therefore it'll be arduous for them to criticise America’s drone policy currently.

For all General Kayani’s robust speak, Mr Sharif is decided to not be bossed around by his army chief. He can handle the defence and foreign portfolios himself, 2 areas historically seen because the army’s preserve. Some observers believe Mr Sharif’s entails peace talks ar the way to shop for time so as to target fixing a decrepit economy and also the country’s dire electricity shortages. simply probably, however, his overture to the Pakistani Taleban can be a part of a crafty decide to lay the bottom for a military response, once he has once and for all evidenced that seeking peace with the Pakistani Taleban may be a fool’s trip.

More seemingly, says Hasan Askari Rizvi, a security analyst, Mr Sharif’s need talks may be a reflection of the country’s muzzy pondering the TTP. Despite its cutthroat campaigns round the country, the movement is wide considered an obvious reaction to the American-led war in Asian nation. several members of Mr Sharif’s own party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), hold this read.

Ejaz Haider, a commentator, believes that formal negotiations would bestow Brobdingnagian status on the TTP, whereas proving the impossibility of giving the cluster what it needs, namely, associate degree finish to the Pakistani state in its current type. Overwhelming counterforce, sooner or later, is also the state’s solely remaining choice.