In June a meeting on national security attended by the civil and military leadership, decided that the talks with the proscribed TTP would be held only under the framework of the Constitution. It was also decided that an in-camera briefing would be held on the matter and later the Prime Minister would take Parliament into confidence. However secrecy continued to prevail regarding agreements reached with the terrorist network. A number of incidents led to conjectures that the TTP had been offered safe passage back to Pakistan from Afghanistan in exchange for unspecified measures to be taken by the militant network.
That senators from both sides of the aisle sought a briefing by the Interior Ministry explaining the rationale and information behind the latter’s heightened risk of terrorist attacks by the TTP means that satisfactory information on these dangerous developments is still either missing or not being conveyed to lawmakers and the people they represent. Recently terrorist attacks have taken place in Swat, Mardan, North Waziristan South Waziristan and parts of Balochistan, like Harnai, bordering Afghanistan. Questions therefore continue to be raised about the TTP’s resurgence. The administrative control of these areas has been in the hand of the provincial government that has been in power there for the past 10 years while the security has been predominantly the military’s domain.
Politicians of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf have taken to releasing video messages cautioning the rest of the country about the rising threat of militancy. However, the sheer chutzpah of Swat MNA Murad Saeed Khan speaking out about the same is undeniable. Fellow MNA Mohsin Dawar, during each of the few times the previous Speaker gave him the microphone on the floor of the House, consistently warned against the regrouping of the Taliban in the north. Though the PTI legislators, by and large, ignored these pleas, Murad Saeed Khan was one of the few who angrily denied these allegations and, in fact, took to personal attacks against the PTM leader.
There needs to be a more concentrated and inclusive effort around understanding the threat where all stakeholders are abreast with the past, present and future strategy to deal with the TTP. The country is in no position to deal with another crisis while also grappling with the effects of one of the worst natural disasters it has witnessed in decades and an economic catastrophe that is waiting to happen.
