Any hopes that one might have had about this year being a better one for us than the last have been quelled in just the first couple of weeks. In the face of our nascent counter-terror resolve, the other side is equally determined to take this fight to the very last round. So, just as closed educational institutions are opening up after ramping up their security measures, new threats have been issued for attacks on other vulnerable installations and state personnel. Moreover, in anticipation of the coming purge, religious institutions have also taken guard, and some are even brazenly challenging the state. While there is a sense that the worst is yet to come, just last week, another attack in Rawalpindi woke all of us up to that one inescapable reality of fighting a domestic insurgency: this year is going to be a very long one.
Peshawar might be in our past, but it is a tragedy that will never be forgotten, for the ensuing reverberations will be felt for a long time to come. The Pakistan Army is leaving no stone unturned this time around to exhibit its commitment towards the eradication of terror within the country. Many feel that such a clear initiative could only have come from the armed forces, and it is not difficult to see why. The political parties took no time in showing their discomfort with the counterterrorism proposals but most of them have been brought to the agreement table in one way or another.
The result is that the Constitution itself has been amended to allow for the creation of military courts to dispense with counterterrorism cases in a speedy fashion. How this step will contribute towards civilian liberties remains to be seen but in these unusual circumstances, perhaps we ought to give the benefit of the doubt to the newly established courts. Still, the fact that there is no right of appeal even in the Supreme Court (SC) against judgements handed down by the military courts is too bitter a pill to swallow. However, the final verdict on the courts will have to wait till the first wave of trials has concluded and we can at least assess the impact of punishments handed out by the military courts towards the eradication of the terrorist threat.
In the wake of such developments, when the real locus of power now resides elsewhere, the powers that be have decided that the ruling regime of the PML-N is at least going to be the public face of the refurbished policies. The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lost a lot of its legitimacy through the doubt cast over its mandate by the protests last year, and whatever was left of it has now also been taken hostage by the exigencies of the circumstances. Additionally, important questions are being raised over the cosy arrangements the party has carved out with several militant outfits within Punjab. Furthermore, the beating around the bush vis-à-vis the establishment of a judicial commission will once again make the protestors return to D-Chowk, and the prime minister is indeed going to feel even lonelier in his political pursuits afterwards.
Talking about political parties, the PPP — once a national powerhouse — seems to be further turning inward amidst its internal rifts. Asif Zardari is making full use of his political acumen in making amends within the party’s ranks to shore up defences for the next elections but it is too little, too late for that now. Imran Khan’s PTI has gladly taken over the role of being the party of and for change, and is all set to take an even bigger chunk of the votes in the next electoral exercise, whenever that might be held.
On the other hand, the MQM has shown itself to be more resilient than ever in current times. Ruling with an iron fist, the party supremo, Altaf Hussain, must be thanking the heavens for the National Action Plan, and rightly so. While the call for action against the antics of the Taliban in Karachi might feel a little rich coming from the MQM, the truth is that the militant networks in Karachi have to be dismantled if we are ever going to have a real shot at peace. In a somewhat predictable twist though, the religio-political parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat-i-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have wiped their hands clean of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. At a time when battle lines are getting clearer than ever, the religious parties have proved where their true loyalties reside. However, this might just be a good thing. I say so because perhaps this is an indicator of the clear resolve of the military to actually make no exceptions in their counterterrorism measures and act wherever necessary, even against their former associates.
But, besides all this, there is another front where the war for Pakistan’s survival must be fought and that is within the public and private lives of the ordinary citizens of Pakistan. Gone are the days when confusion about who the enemy is could be allowed to fester but, even then, the divide between the conservative sections of society and the liberal-secular community is wider than ever. Over the years, the very space for dialogue has been crowded by fear mongering and rhetoric, and one can only ever dare to opine in whispers. The days to come demand a new resolve. Quieter might have been louder in the past but now we need to speak up and be recognised. The armed operation and the military courts can only contribute so much, since the responsibility to object to hate speech around us is ours and ours alone. The truth is that we are faced with our own reckoning right now and in such a crucial situation it is important that we, as citizens, take charge of our own destiny too.
The author is a freelance columnist with degrees in political science and international relations