Daily Times

Mian Nawaz Sharif is showcasing yet another mega-project in offering a dialogue to the terrorists, and is showing patience and perseverance to wheedle out their acceptance and get the process rolling. The move was obviously made to reach an understanding with the Taliban to end the bloodbath they have unleashed while trying to turn Pakistan towards the fundamentalist medieval culture idolised by their anachronistic cohorts. The gamble to offer them a conference table to convince them to cease their murderous ravages and embrace a peaceful political course for their views may seem like a balm to certain delusional people but the exercise and unfolding events are sufficient to undermine the semblance of a democratic dispensation, deference to the constitution, or policies to embrace and interact with the contemporary world. The evidence for this lies in the timing of the talks, the composition of the dialogue committees, Taliban tactics, the conditions being floated by their intermediaries and the continuation of terror even as talks are ongoing.

The composition and gravitas of the government committee unfortunately signals an abject surrender to the dominance of unelected rightist conservative elements sympathetic to the militant movement. Devoid of any eminent or renowned democratic parliamentarians, it flaunts a milder foursome of Taliban talking to a proxy of their more militant cousins. Led by a journalist known for his mediocrity, irrational regressive writings and allegiance to the Mian clan, it includes a former army major dubbed the ‘Midnight Jackal’ for his conspiracies to oust an elected premier, and a former ambassador who shows a similar pro-Taliban tilt. Rahimulllah Yousafzai is indeed the only interlocutor with expertise in reporting about the Taliban in the world media but even he has emphasised that the interior minister should have been included on their team. In fact, even the Taliban committee is merely a conduit to the government and is actually guided by the instructions and decisions of another nine-member monitoring committee comprising hardcore Taliban commanders and their confidantes.

The team representing the Taliban, despite its cordial overtures, is implicitly sceptical of the government committee and has openly asked to see the premier, army chief and the ISI hierarchy to seek assurances for the implementation of any accords reached by them. These intermediaries also include entities known for their fervid and persistent politics for imposition of the fundamentalist faith. Maulana Ibrahim is a senior Jamaat-e-Islami ideologue, Maulana Samiul Haq heads the seminary that initially trained the Afghan Taliban, while Maulana Abdul Aziz acted as a mastermind for the mayhem and massacre at the Lal Mosque. Imran Khan, who excused himself from his nomination to the Taliban committee, is touted as Taliban Khan for his ardent support for their cause and criticism of predator strikes.

But the discord in the deliberations of this intermediary Taliban contingent has torpedoed any traction the talks might have with the militant group’s patriarchs. The key moment was when Maulana Aziz’s plea to enforce sharia as an essential precondition for any parleys was miffed during the opening session, and the joint briefing to the media following it declared that the dialogue would be conducted within the ambit of the constitution. Even if some overoptimistic circles prefer to ignore his later rant, the 15 points laid down by the Taliban have raised memories of the Zia days concerning the compatibility of the current constitution with the Quran, Sunnah and the concept of Islamisation. The demands, besides pressing for reduced government jurisdiction over the tribal territories and compensation for the losses of drone victims, also seek to substitute the democratic system with an ostensibly Islamic system, introducing sharia in the courts, abolishing the ‘interest-based’ economy and renouncing all relationships with the US. This should be sufficient to demonstrate the impossibility of bridging the gulf between the Taliban worldview and the dictates of democracy, development or even the survival of a country in the contemporary world.

The Taliban have not of course, yet elaborated on the details of the so-called ‘Islamic’ imperatives for governance and justice that they seek but their dissatisfaction with the present system evidently proves that it would be no different than the public executions, flogging, stoning, female segregation and repression that we saw in Swat and Afghanistan. General Zia already tried enforcing this formula once, using the same tactics of martial might, munitions and his mullah minions. The people of Pakistan, led by the MRD alliance composed of political parties of almost every colour, defeated Zia and have evidently grown out of this panacea of sharia potions. No elected parliament, including the two that Nawaz himself led, ever ventured to re-enact those clauses. Nawaz must also remember the bitter backlash that decimated his dreams to reign as an Amir-ul-Momineen (leader of the faithful) in 1998.

However, the dialogue strategy has ignored this traumatic past, preferring to base itself on some utterly unrealistic and naïve assumptions instead, like how the Taliban will somehow soften their stand on their much flaunted sharia version, that the people and state will once again submit to this version and that the country — already torn by ethnic and regional strife — will somehow survive the shocks generated when the more than 70 Islamic sects begin scrambling for superiority and state authority.

Fantasies like the interest-free economy are also equally irrelevant for a country surviving on aid and donations. Aid and donations come from industrial and financial giants operating through a well researched and meticulously modulated interest-based system. Renouncing the relationship with the US likewise means rejecting the industrial and economic resources, research excellence and innovations that it and countries and conglomerates allied to her have come to symbolise.

Flushing out the forces bent on precipitating this stark scenario through a swift surgical strike should not need monumental wisdom. The authorities have instead initiated a dialogue that is once again fueling the endless controversies about Islamising the constitution while reactionary Taliban sympathisers like Maulana Abdul Aziz once again swamp media screens to publicly denigrate the constitution. These rambunctious rounds of doubts and the drive to inject the delusions of a fundamentalist militant minority in the constitution could actually drown our fledgling democratic dispensation and turn this country into a new Afghanistan.

The writer is an academic and freelance columnist. He may be reached at habibpbu@yahoo.com