Prime Minister Imran Khan’s interview to CNN, telecast on Sunday, showed a facile approach to recent history, which indicates that he does not have any real solution to the problem of terrorism still facing the country. Holding the USA responsible for invading Afghanistan and thus producing more terrorists does nothing to help Pakistan solve the issue of terrorism continuing in Pakistan even though its ‘candidate’, the Taliban, has taken power in Kabul. Mr Khan was right to mention that 80,000 Pakistanis did die because of Afghan terorism during the US occupation of Afghanistan, but he was unrealistic not to mention that the deaths continue.
He also did not take account of the fact that the Pakistani military rulers, Gen Zia ul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf, eager perhaps to win acceptance for their regimes, and anxious as well to secure US money, cooperated with the USA in both of its ventures into Afghanistan, with terrorism being one of the natural consequences. Following Imran’s logic, they can equally be blamed for terrorism in Pakistan.
It could be argued that his government’s attempts to negotiate with militant organizations, like the Tehrik i Taliban Pakistan or the Tehrik Labaik Pakistan, has encouraged extremism. To decry the USA for talking to the Taliban seems somewhat hypocritical coming from the head of a government that talked to the TTP, and only successfully concluded an agreement with the TLP at the cost of releasing a large number of its cadres.
Mr Khan needs to understand that while a private citizen might be as wrongheaded in his analysis of the situation as he likes, lack of realism in a head of government means that he will make wrong decisions. The present example merely shows this. Mr Khan argues that there is no alternative to the Taliban. However, blaming the USA will stop him accepting Pakistan’s own role, and lead to the mistake being repeated. The belief in the Taliban’s irreplaceability should not blind him to how they are not stopping the TTP from carrying out acts of terrorism all over the country.
