The transfer of the Peshawar corps commander, the sudden execution of TTP leader Omar Khurasani, the re-emergence of armed TTP men in former Fata and KP, and renewed violence in the region all remind Pakistanis of a time that they’d rather forget. Yet, for some reason, instead of preparing to nip the evil in the bud, before it grows into a bull that must be taken by the horns once again, why is the government of Pakistan still pursuing talks with a declared enemy of the state, responsible for killing more than 80,000 innocent people?
Things would be a lot clearer if the PTI, which rules KP, weren’t so confused about what is going on. Chairman Imran Khan smells a conspiracy here too, which means outside forces are allegedly beefing up the Taliban to undermine the PTI in KP.
The KP CM’s media advisor, on the other hand, pointed out that the TTP could not have been responsible for any of this because it is engaged in peace talks with the government at the moment. So, who is right? The conspiracy theorist or his man’s media advisor? Also, how come the TTP disassociated itself with these incidents, a few of them through press releases, because this is hardly ever happened before?
Meanwhile, the latest from the talks is that the militia is not very happy because it wants Fata to be detached from KP and its former status restored, besides the right to form government there and implement its laws. Yet the government keeps sending delegations to Afghanistan to soften their stance, which seems like an exercise in futility to almost everybody else; especially people who lost loved ones to TTP’s terrorism.
The new argument is that Khurasani’s departure might tone down TTP’s demands a little bit since he was the toughest of the negotiators and an open enemy of Pakistan.
But all this is still conjecture and will remain so, till the government clears its position about the fate of these talks.
