Resolve beyond rhetoric

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s political and martial leaders locked themselves in the Parliament building for many hours on Tuesday for a detailed discussion on the challenging security situation and amplified attacks on law enforcement and security personnel and state infrastructure in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The in-camera huddle of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security took stock of the grim reality and underscored the need for complete national unity to respond to the menace of terrorism with the “full force of the state”.

A post-meeting statement reiterated “its unwavering support for Pakistan’s armed forces and law enforcement agencies, the committee acknowledged their sacrifices and commitment to national defence and said that the nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces, police, Frontier Constabulary and intelligence agencies in the war against terrorism”.

Preferring to remain vague about the perpetrators, the statement added that “no institution, individual or group working in collusion with hostile forces will be allowed to harm the peace and stability of Pakistan.”

Addressing the meeting, the Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir said that Pakistan could not afford to remain a soft state any longer and must improve governance in order to become a “hard state”. As if to remind the participants of the congregation that the country had toyed with capricious and impulsive tendencies in the last few years, the army chief said, “there is no agenda, no movement, no personality greater than the security of the country. For sustainable development, all element of national power will have to work in harmony.”

Ironically, the opposition alliance – Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), that was sending mixed messages until Monday evening about attending the PCNS meeting, decided to miss the event citing the absence of incarcerated former prime minister and leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Imran Khan. A couple of senior PTI leaders spoken to, said they would have joined the meeting of “national importance” had they been allowed to meet their jailed leader of guidance.

The News spoke to a few significant “observers” who sat through the meeting in the visitors’ gallery in order to know the pulse beyond the rhetoric. They claimed that Tuesday’s event was a mere “formality” as “major decisions” have already been taken in a previous meeting between the federal and provincial governments and the establishment that took place in Quetta regarding the future actions.

Incidentally, the same observers had witnessed the Quetta get-together and consultative sessions as well. They confided on the strict stipulation of anonymity saying that not only the timeframe of future course of action has already been settled but assignments have been ascribed as well, adding, «Action will possibly be taken within days or weeks not months».

Yesterday’s meeting was also critical of the enhanced use of social media platforms by terrorist outfits to fan fake news and propaganda. Multiple “news” websites have cropped up in the last few days to that are amplifying the narrative and faux claims of the banned terror organisations like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Those who attended the meeting were critical of disgruntled Pakistani social media “influencers” for cherry picking fake and frivolous “news” to criticise the present government and security leadership. But they remain unsure how potently such propaganda would be controlled or rebutted.

It may sound ironic but Pakistan has been here before. Terrorism has become an established part of daily life in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for decades. So is the government rhetoric – the proverbial resolve to deal with the terrorist with an iron hand. One wonders where are those iron hands been cast.

Hundreds of soldiers and thousands of ordinary citizens have been lost to this unending scourge. Multiple programmes with innovative titles were launched and floundered. Let’s hope the current resolve to deal a definitive blow to the planners and executors of terror – within or without the country’s boundary – succeeds.