PAKISTAN IS ABOUT TO TALK WITH TALIBAN
Pakistan is now
about to talk to Taliban from a position of weakness. The latest offer for
talks extended by PM of Pakistan which is the third in the last two months. As
the previous ones carried no weight with the militants. Moreover no headway
could be made owing to the fact that there was a discreet silence from the
military authorities whether they are willing to back the initiative or not.
This was despite the fact that almost the entire political intelligentsia had
endorsed the initiative for a dialogue with the Taliban, irrespective of not
knowing as to whom to talk to and as to where the fulcrum of power lies as far
as the militants are concerned. At the same time the crisis hit countrymen are
made to bleed as hundreds are killed in acts of sabotage and terrorism,
incidents that were owned up by the Taliban. The armed forces were also not
spared and their convoys were attacked twice in the last one month. With the
reclusive Taliban leadership having hinted at considering the talks offer a new
list of ifs and buts seems to be in the making. The militants had earlier
called for ending drone strike and releasing their jailed compatriots to take
to the table. If such preconditions are set this time around, the dialogue
initiative will fail well before it can take off. The government is literally exhausted
as it keeps it fingers crossed whether to hit back with full force or take the
flak as terrorism surges.
As a result this
moreover important because militants from the bordering areas of Pakistan
easily find refuge in the southern provinces of Afghanistan and the present
line. This nexus is what the Pakistan army and the coalition of the willing in
Afghanistan want to dismantle, before they depart from the war weary neighboring
country before the year end. That would mean a deadly blow to the regrouping al
Qaeda and the likes on both sides of the divide. But Islamabad’s political
administration is destined to play the talking game till the military unmasks
its guns.
