Tragedy turning into strength
PAKISTAN has been weeping since last Tuesday. We have wept many rivers of tears in just a few days. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced it would organise more attacks the very next day after the brutal massacre. Taliban militants proudly released pictures of seven militants who killed 133 young students in Army Public School Peshawar, including their principal and some teachers, on December 16. TTP declared that “seven soldiers of Islam took the revenge of our children who were killed by the infidel army of Pakistan.” Common Pakistanis are not ready to accept the justification given by TTP. They want quick action against those who gave a bad name not only to Pakistan but also to Islam. Sacrifice of young students is becoming a turning point in the history of Pakistan. This national tragedy at least forced the government and the opposition to form a united front against terrorism.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened an All Parties Conference in Peshawar on December 17, which was attended by all the major political parties of right, left and centre. Liberal parties like PPP and ANP were surprised to see PTI Chief Imran Khan sitting next to Nawaz Sharif in this conference. These parties used to call Imran Khan 'Taliban Khan' due to his soft stance on the Taliban. A few months back, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province announced that they would provide a political office to the Taliban in Peshawar. But the black Tuesday of December 16 forced PTI and its ally Jamaat-i-Islami to join hands with all other political parties that want decisive action against terrorists.
Three important decisions were taken in the Peshawar meeting. PM Nawaz Sharif informed the meeting that his government would cease to discriminate between good and bad Taliban and would ensure the elimination of all terrorists. He also formed a committee headed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to devise a plan in just one week for the elimination of terrorism. He also approved the removal of the moratorium on death penalty in terrorism cases.
The decisions of All Parties Conference in Peshawar were hailed all over Pakistan. But the question is, will Nawaz Sharif deliver? Army Chief General Sharif has already claimed that his forces are taking action in North Waziristan against all the good and bad Taliban. Will Nawaz Sharif ask his army chief to take action against those militants who don't use the name of Taliban and who are active in Punjab and Sindh provinces?
The army chief rushed to Kabul on Wednesday and shared some evidence with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani about the mastermind of the Peshawar attack, who was reportedly operating from Eastern part of Afghanistan. Some Urdu newspapers are claiming that the mastermind of the Peshawar attack Mullah Fazalullah was getting money from Afghan and Indian intelligence but sane voices in media are demanding some credible evidence. I think that a baseless blame game at this point of time will destroy the public sympathy Pakistan got last Tuesday from all over the world. There is general consensus in Pakistan to bury the past policies of dictator General Ziaul Haq who had created private militias in the name of Islam. Will Imran Khan support any move to at least disarm all the private militias operating in different parts of the country in the name of Islam and Pakistan?
Imran Khan did one good thing on the evening of December 17. He called off his sit-in, which was started 126 days ago in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad to protest against rigging in the 2013 election. In the Peshawar meeting he assured Nawaz Sharif that his party would support a national plan of action to combat terrorism. The Peshawar tragedy is now turning into national strength for fighting terrorism. The whole world is standing with Pakistan. Common Pakistanis are pleasantly surprised that, from India and Bangladesh to US and Canada, the whole world is expressing solidarity with them. This is a golden opportunity not only for Pakistan but for the whole of South Asia to unite and strike the enemies of humanity without any distinction between good and bad.
This is the right time for the leaders of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka to sit together again and again, and formulate a joint strategy for combating terrorism. Let us stop our dirty double games with each other. Let us start playing fair with each other in the memory of all those innocents who lost their lives in terrorism incidents.
The writer works for Geo TV Pakistan and tweets at @HamidMirGeo
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