Talking to the Taliban
December 13th, 2011
Whether the government is actually holding peace talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or not — the TTP’s deputy chief says it is, while the group’s spokesman and Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik say they aren’t — the fact remains that negotiating with the militant outfit is a profoundly unwise idea. If there is one thing previous peace agreements have taught us, it is that the Taliban use them as a ruse to regroup and then return to action as soon as they have regained a position of strength. To allow them to do so, once again, would show that we are unable to learn from previous mistakes. What makes speculation of peace talks even more disturbing is that they are accompanied by Taliban claims that the government has released 145 militants as a goodwill gesture. If true, this is indeed very worrying. Goodwill gestures need to come from the TTP, in the form of a complete halt to violence, not the government.
It is true that there has been a reduction in the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year but that is no reason for us to be lulled into a false sense of security. We should be especially wary of any Taliban peace overtures at this time of the month. There is no way of knowing if the sudden desire for negotiation stems from a genuine desire to compromise or a need to survive the harsh winters of the tribal areas.
It is also very counterproductive that we would be so conciliatory towards the TTP at the same time that we are taking an increasingly hard line against the US. Not only have the Americans been forced to vacate Shamsi Airbase, the military leadership has now given orders that any drones flying in Pakistani airspace should be shot down. If talks indeed are taking place, it would clearly imply that we now consider the US to be a far greater threat than the Taliban. Equally clearly, that is a mistaken impression that we need to rectify before it’s too late.
PML-N rally in Larkana
December 13th, 2011
At a time when the PPP government is clearly vulnerable, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif decided to venture into enemy territory. His rally at Larkana, transparently meant to challenge the PPP on its home turf, was loaded with symbolism and rhetoric, but was woefully inadequate in presenting a positive case that would convince even the most disenchanted Sindhi to switch to his party. Decked out in Sindhi topi and ajrak, Nawaz audaciously tried to claim the Benazir mantle for himself, forgetting that the two leaders had been at each other’s throats for the best of two decades and that the Charter of Democracy he signed with her was a marriage of convenience designed to get the two exiled leaders back home. He also said that President Zardari shouldn’t be leading the PPP since he wasn’t a true Bhutto, a claim which, if indeed Nawaz believes to be true, seems to imply that the PPP should be the personal toy of the Bhutto family. It would have been smarter politics for Nawaz to denounce the PPP co-chairman as a hereditary leader who usurped and then sidelined diehard jiyalas who had tirelessly given their all to the party.
Equally curious was Nawaz’s claim that on his first day in office he would have the killers of Benazir arrested. Since this means that he obviously doesn’t buy into the narrative that Benazir was assassinated by militants, Nawaz might want to spell out who exactly he plans to incarcerate. The case against former president Pervez Musharraf has always rested on negligence, not on ordering the trigger pulled. Nawaz also blasted the PPP government for only giving flood victims Rs20,000 per family, and not Rs100,000 as he had wanted. The sentiment is an admirable one, but it comes crashing against financial realities. The PML-N has made a lot of noise about rejecting US aid and doing without IMF bailouts, so he will have to explain where this money will materialise from.
The reason Nawaz Sharif had to rely so heavily on the Benazir card in Larkana is that he knows that Pakistan’s politics are provincially entrenched. One speech on its own, no matter how impressive the turnout, will do nothing to change that. For the PML-N to have a shot at competing in Sindh, it will require months of campaigning and organising on the ground.
Another road crash
December 13th, 2011
There has been another terrible accident involving the explosion of a CNG cylinder installed in a passenger vehicle — the second in a week. This time, the disaster took place when a minivan travelling along the National Highway crashed into a tractor trolley near Vehari. Seventeen passengers on board the minivan died; most were burnt to death. Seven other persons were injured. The tragedy took place after the van driver, while attempting to overtake another wagon, lost control of his vehicle and hit a trolley laden with large cans of oil and ghee. The driver of the trolley has said that he had no way of avoiding the crash. Of course, we have a situation where those in charge of driving public transport vehicles are not trained in road safety; there must also be some question as to whether all drivers possess valid licenses. This is something that needs to be looked into, so commuters travelling for work or pleasure can be kept safe in a time when the roads are increasingly used to take people from one part of the country to another. But there was, as has happened before, another factor in the accident. The exploding CNG cylinder appears to have contributed to the number of deaths and the explosion which followed the collision. The safety of CNG kits is also something that must be looked into. We do not know whether those installed in vans and buses are of sufficiently high quality or if measures can be taken to make them safer.
The main issue though, is that of the manner in which public transport is run. The value of life has little meaning to those operating such services across the country. Highway police have played a part in improving the situation to some degree at least but obviously they cannot stop all unsafe driving, especially when those at the wheel are untrained and perhaps overworked. The safety of people on the roads has to be secured through wider measures and a review of the existing situation concerning CNG-fuelled vehicles carried out with urgency.