Sir: The death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakeemulllah Mehsud in a recent drone strike has polarised the nation as it is being considered a deliberate attempt of the west to sabotage peace talks, as per the interior minister of Pakistan. Where Pakistan stands on this issue is a mystery. Right from the beginning, government officials have been paying lip service to protests and misguiding the public but have secretly been supporting the strikes to eliminate the extremists and, in spite of being a nuclear power, could not take retaliatory action to gun down any drone. The obvious reason seems to be our total reliance on US aid. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to the US got our military aid restored. We begged to get loans sanctioned from all possible sources, requesting the US to stop drone strikes, which was one of the conditions of the Taliban to initiate peace talks. Rather than honouring the request, the US targeted the Taliban leadership.
Even if the talks had gone as scheduled, one fails to understand what Pakistan could have achieved. Accepting Taliban demands would be tantamount to surrendering to them for turning the nation into a theocratic society that does not tolerate minorities and is not compatible with the secular world. Imran Khan’s declaration to stop the US and NATO supply line is very premature due to provincial and federal jurisdiction for logistics, established on a memorandum of understanding and not by legislation. Ongoing extremist attacks can only be stopped if we condemn their activities, eliminating them by talk or by force. It is pretty sure that peace talks will not bring a fruitful outcome, leaving only one option, which is to use force and eliminate the Taliban for the betterment of the people. In pursuit of this, Pakistan can negotiate to get relevant information regarding their hideouts to take military action. If the US does not agree with this approach, then this trend will continue and Pakistan will not be able to do anything as we rely on the US for our survival.
MOHAMMAD ASHRAF
Winnipeg,
Canada