Pakistan is not against the Militants

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Despite going all out against militants, Pakistan’s commitment to curb terrorism remains under question. The fight against terrorism has always been largely based on the assumption that there are good militants and bad militants. The latter were seen as the enemies of the state, who must have to be crushed while the former were regarded as misguided souls who were to be separated from the bad ones and not to be crushed. Militants are not good and bad, militants are just militants.

Actually Pakistan is the major creator and exporter of militants. Taliban have been grown and trained in Pakistani Madrassas. Pakistan has always used them as an instrument of Strategic Depth in Afghanistan, India and elsewhere. As a matter of fact, Taliban is actually our production. It was also Pakistan who supported Taliban’s Regime in Afghanistan. The blind Pakistani support for Taliban is both ironic and perplexing. The irony becomes even more glaring when Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy is brought together against the country’s National Action Plan for defeating terrorism and extremism. Does Pakistan continue to be guilty of hunting with the hounds and running with hare in this war on terror? Pakistan is against terrorism but not terrorists.

The government in Kabul wants Islamabad to force Taliban to join peace talks. At the same time, it would also like Islamabad to crush the militants, in case they are reluctant to become part of peace process. The basic point of contention between the two sides is Afghanistan’s insistence on drawing a line between good and bad Taliban followed by a commitment for joint action against the bad ones and Pakistan’s reluctance to do so.

The Pakistan’s support for Taliban has never been good for us. Pakistan itself has paid much more price for supporting Militants. KPK and the tribal belt, located in close proximity with Afghanistan has been the worst sufferer from terrorism and militancy. The US congress has blocked $430 million on the sale of eight F-16 air crafts to Islamabad, on allegedly discriminating among the militants. It is better for Pakistan to stop supporting militants and sent out a message that its soil will not be used for cross-border terrorism. Moreover it is also needed to be sure that the military operation ZARB-E-AZAB in North Waziristan is against all the militant outfits.

 Zafar Ullah, Lakki Marwat

THE PASHTUN TIMES