Daily Times

Hakeemullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed by a US drone on November 1, 2013. He was killed along with a group of Taliban fighters while returning from attending a meeting in North Waziristan. Mehsud was subject to a three-year manhunt by the US intelligence agency, which had declared a bounty of five million dollars for information leading to his death or capture. He was suspected of masterminding a number of attacks on US interests in Afghanistan. Mehsud was also allegedly involved in the abortive bomb attack in Times Square, New York, two years ago. His group, the TTP, has been locked in an armed conflict with the Pakistan army for the past several years.

The news of the death of Mehsud has created a mixed reaction in the region. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack. The Interior Minister raised the question whether the US wanted peace in the region as he felt the assassination might derail the peace initiative. Imran Khan, whose party now sits in the government in the bordering province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, threatened to block the supplies of essentials to the US military in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also condemned the assassination of Mehsud and termed it as untimely.

Since the TTP under the leadership of Mehsud has been responsible for the killings of a large number of the military and civilians, the people of Pakistan are divided on the assassination of the fugitive. They felt that at last justice has been done to a person who became their number one enemy. TTP is also believed to have tried to kill Malala Yousafzai as she defied the ban and attended school in the Swat valley. The drone strikes in the past had killed civilians along with the targeted militants and raised a public outcry. They became very unpopular and the government lodged protests several times for violating the country’s sovereignty. Prime Minister Sharif, during his recent visit to Washington, demanded a halt to drone strikes as they were fuelling anti-Americanism in the country. Malala, in her meeting with President Barack Obama, requested an immediate suspension of drone strikes. She argued that drone strikes were counterproductive and doing no good at all to counter insurgency in the troubled region. Within the US Congress, the opposition to drone strikes is getting louder and the administration is under increasing pressure to cease the practice.

Mehsud was killed along with his four senior colleagues. His deputy Latif Mehsud was nabbed by the US army last month in Afghanistan. Thus, within a month, the TTP lost top leaders and seemingly, the movement would be in disarray for some time. The TTP has, however, chosen Mullah Fazlullah as the new leader, who is apparently as ruthless as his predecessor in confronting rivals. Fazlullah has dismissed the idea of further talks with the Pakistan government. It is unclear whether he would engage his cadres in a retaliation spree before deciding his next course of action.

Given the number of casualties suffered during the past 10 years, it is only reasonable for an elected government to explore all options to bring an end to hostilities and restore peace in the country. The TTP could not have been defeated militarily even by deploying the well-trained army with superior firepower. The TTP being a homegrown insurgency, casualties suffered either by the army or the TTP brings shock waves in the country. Since the militant group could not have been defeated during the past 10 years, it is only prudent to try and neutralise it. This will be a costly experiment, but there can be no guarantee of success. The insurgency in Northern Ireland was not won militarily. Protracted negotiations with Shin Fein for years paved the way for power sharing and brought peace to the province. Conversely, the Tamil secessionists in Sri Lanka opted to fight and repeated calls for dialogue were overturned by the LTTE high command. The consequence did not augur well, as the leaders were annihilated and the people paid a high price.

The Taliban were created out of the chaos and anarchy in neighbouring Afghanistan. Thousands of adult students from the madrassas, mostly from the tribal areas, constituted the fighting force and the mullahs took the leadership. In the process, it adopted a special brand of sharia, outlawing girls’ education, women’s employment and movement. It rejected science, education, banking and almost all aspects of the advanced way of life. Nowhere in the Muslim world such a serious impediment to modern education and women’s empowerment was experienced as in the Taliban-controlled societies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ironically, a section of society was gradually won over by the orthodox rendition of the sharia and the Taliban grew stronger. The military onslaught following the 9/11 episode dislodged the Taliban from Kabul but the resurgence of warlords and corruption in Afghan society brought them back. The Afghan-Pakistan border remains well drawn on the map but not on the ground in the tribal areas. This allowed the people from both sides of the border to freely move both ways, ultimately establishing a safe passage for the militants. This made the task of the military on both sides of the border extremely difficult in the neutralisation of the Taliban.

It is not surprising that the new TTP leadership has rejected further talks with the government, presumably on the protext of drone strikes. It might even resort to a retaliation spree. The government should take this into account but should not leave peace talks on the back burner. A military response cannot be a solution to a political problem. Nawab Akber Bugti had sought fairness and justice for the people of his province, and he should have been invited to a dialogue; instead, he was bombed to death in a cave in the hills of Balochistan.

The government should seize this ‘no-talk period’ to appoint a commission to look into the root cause of the growth and expansion of the Taliban movement in Pakistan. A commission with divergent minds would most likely bring into light much malaise that would be of interest to society and policy makers. In my previous article, I argued in favour of upgrading the syllabus of the madrassas by injecting lessons of science, history, literature and IT, which would go a long way to realign the mindset of the young pupils. The teachers of the madrassas, in batches, should be brought to training and their pay scales should be reviewed. In other words, the madrassas would need total overhauling. This will be time consuming and costly, but would still fall cheaper than snipers and bombs. The governments of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, which are concerned over the resurgence of insurgency, might be interested to extend financial help to undertake comprehensive reforms of madrassa education. The government can take advantage of Malala’s international popularity in mobilising funds to undertake a comprehensive reform in madrassa education. Educated youth, equipped with advanced knowledge of science, technology, literature and religion, would be a far better deterrent to fundamentalism and all types of extremism.

The challenge posed by the suspension of the peace initiative is enormous. The proposed draw down of western troops from Afghanistan in 2014 would only compound the already tense situation. In the absence of a charismatic leader who could unite Afghan society, there would be a risk for Afghanistan to slide into chaos again. This will bring no dividend for Pakistan. The Pakistan government, in concert with political parties, therefore should strive to evolve a trajectory that would restore peace at home as well as in the region. Time is running out fast.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations