Last week we witnessed the unsightly spectacle of government negotiators virtually pleading with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) negotiating committee to agree to a ceasefire and end violence across the country in the wake of numerous suicide attacks and at least one massacre. The TTP initially deflected blame for the incidents on dissident groups and a mysterious ‘third force’ working to scuttle negotiations. When denials became untenable, particularly after the execution of 23 Frontier Constabulary personnel, a TTP statement claimed the attacks were in response to security forces’ actions against their members. The group claims the government is hunting down their operatives in various parts of the country and that several of their members were killed in police encounters and in custody, but the evidence for any of these claims remains scanty. In fact, it is almost comical that TTP denials of violence finally gave way first to tacit admissions, to now slinging accusations to justify their continuing butchery. The media, which covered the negotiations extensively, would hardly miss an opportunity to investigate allegations that actions against the TTP continue, but the evidence simply doesn’t exist. However, there is evidence that the tables are turning on the TTP in their attempt to browbeat the government and that their reason for continuing with talks is because they sense a tactical advantage in doing so. Yesterday TTP negotiators urged the government to continue negotiations, saying they are ready for a ceasefire, will ‘moderate’ their demands, and remove preconditions. However, from the government’s point of view, the demands don’t look very different: withdrawing the army from the tribal areas, a ground reality that hurts the militants and limits their movement, is not on the cards since it would practically cede a portion of the country to terrorists. If the last two weeks are any indication, the ‘pause’ would only buy a temporary respite, if that. The release of TTP prisoners, similarly, needs reciprocity in the release of TTP-held hostages such as Shahbaz Taseer and Ali Haider Gilani. The alleged demand of TTP spokespersons for the military to release ‘women and children held in illegal custody’ reeks of tragic irony, coming from an organisation that views women as subhuman thralls.
Throughout this process the military maintained a stoic silence, which only broke yesterday with a curt statement from security officials that 114 military personnel have been killed in terrorist acts since the All Parties Conference last September. More telling was a late night raid by Pakistan Air Force jets on militant hideouts in Waziristan and Khyber Agency, which reportedly killed the mastermind behind the February 13 attack on a police bus in Karachi and destroyed a bomb-making factory. COAS General Raheel Sharif held a meeting with US Central Command General Lloyd Austin, in which he specifically requested help in eliminating terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan. The meeting signifies growing awareness within the military of the threat the TTP poses to the country as a whole. The gravity of this threat is measured in Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar’s statement that the country’s urban areas face severe terrorism from cells of different organisations, and that the federal capital Islamabad is in perhaps the most danger. The violence that may follow any attempt to subdue the TTP is of course frightening. However, the prospect of violence won’t decrease by allowing the militants breathing room or acceding to even a limited number of demands. The government’s tougher stance pushed the TTP into asking for a ceasefire. While any further actions must carefully take the human cost into account, it is clear that only by positively pursuing the option of the mailed fist inside the velvet glove can the government expect any positive results. *