Viewpoint: Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the ones who think differently
written by Shafqat Aziz, a socio-political analyst based in Islamabad
Thursday June 13, 2013
So they want to talk to the Taliban. The fact doesn’t make them uncomfortable that the Taliban have killed thousands of innocent civilians and members of law enforcing agencies, have bombed hundreds of schools, and have been responsible for torturing Pakistani soldiers and for slitting their throats in a gruesome manner.
It also seems not a problem to many that these Taliban thugs do not accept the constitution and the law of the land and they intend to impose their ‘Shariah’ by demolishing all democratic institutions through a reign of terror.
It is also evidentiary that the real decision-makers actually cannot toy with the idea of eliminating the product they call their ‘own people’. The sympathy for their ‘own people’ perhaps owes to a shared version of religion, which could be termed s ‘state-sponsored’ brand of the faith. It may be a valid reason but not the only reason.
For instance, various stories about lucrative international drug business have just been surfaced and tell volumes about the reasons behind the unending trouble in tribal areas. Also, the fancies regarding a possible role and bargaining power through the proxy warriors in Post-US Afghanistan have not been forsaken by the concerned quarters. Thus, the puritan gangsters need to be protected and facilitated through the old but very useful (for them) ploy of ‘talks’.
As far as the possible outcome of so-called ‘talks with Taliban’, save the well-established and deeply ingrained lobbyists of the deep state in the media, is evident to all. It is basically a non–starter idea. For the first, Taliban are not a single entity. It is almost impossible to hold talks with mutually-homicidal freemasonry.
Secondly, it is equally hard to determine a framework for the talks. The Taliban are not up in arms demanding distribution of local wealth or resources, asking for jobs quotas, or some regional autonomy. Rather, Taliban have taken arms against the state with an intent to impose Shariah and that too, the way they deem it fit. Their agenda is to take the control of the polity called Pakistan and then to use it as a launching pad to inflict endless ‘holy-war’ against the rest of the world.
Of course, these ideologically motivated killers or ‘soldiers of the God’ would not be laying their arms and start living as peaceful law-abiding citizens by way of any dialogue. The only option that the state may have to placate the Taliban, temporarily,is to forgo its writ over certain areas (of course with a chunk of population) in the favour of Taliban so that they could be happily ‘engaged’ through their popular sports i.e. public hangings, floggings, and beheadings.
There are indications that the new government in ‘Nia Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ has already presented a roadmap for the ‘talk agenda’ by outlining its plan of withdrawal of military from Swat. It is the same area of the province that was handed over to the Taliban by the MMA government a few years back and the people of the area still recall with horror the dark days under the Taliban.
Unfortunately, instead of dealing with the issue objectively, the submissive media and some political sharks are on a role and hence both state and society seem to be victim of never ending confusion about the real enemy. This is a perfect recipe for defeat and disaster. Ironically, the state and society that are extremely intolerant in the case of peaceful dissent,are always ready to negotiate with the Taliban.
One hopes, as some analysts have pointed out, that the PML-N leadership, despite its apparent similarity of stance with PTI, might have something different in mind i.e. curbing the terror activities tactically including the option of ‘financial blockade’ of the rogue elements. In any case, it is a high time for the state to consider the progressive segments of society as its ‘own people’ and focus on the protection and mainstreaming of its vulnerable population instead of giving life to hatcheries of outmoded ‘dinosaurs’.
Will the state managers do that? Nobody can answer definitely.
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