Sir: Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif has said in his address that he is very interested in finding a solution for the Taliban insurgency problem. Here I agree with him that it is difficult to find the real culprits and convict them in the courts of Pakistan. I would like to suggest a logical solution for this problem. Since living in Peshawar for the past five years, I have come into contact with a number of Taliban fighters, seeing that Peshawar has been attacked almost daily by rockets and suicide bombs. I have realised that most of the Taliban belonged to groups of 250-300 paid fighters. Each fighter was getting Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 a month along with daily food, new weapons, daily ammunition and cars with fuel. They were mostly local, poor Pakistanis led by multinational mercenaries. The biggest difference between the mujahideen fighters of the Afghan war and these local Taliban insurgents is their weaponry and tactics. While the mujahideen used old weapons and followed the Pashtun tradition, the Taliban insurgents all had brand new weapons and followed the propaganda tactics of insurgents.
Therefore to end the power of the Taliban insurgents, the PML-N government should end the flow of finances, weapons, food and fuel to these groups. Without being paid and giving them free food, the insurgent fighters will eventually start deserting their groups, ending this security problem in Pakistan. Mian Nawaz Sharif should also realise that such finances mostly came from international sources. In 2010, the Pakistan Army realised this and stood guard on the border of FATA and Balochistan, stopping most of the international funding for the Taliban fighters. However, now these enemies of Pakistan have started using local financial services to get their funds. Therefore the government has to now not only stop the financial income of these insurgent groups, but also stop or slow down the supply chain of weapons, fuel and food to these groups. Only than can Pakistan be rid of these gangsters who use our religion to commit their bad deeds.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar