Daily Times

Federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani came under a second terrorist attack when a roadside bomb hit his convoy in Bannu area near the North Waziristan Agency on Thursday, November 26. Earlier, he had survived an attempt on his life in 2007 when he was the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latest attack that left two people dead and three others injured is being perceived as a retaliatory act by the militants in response to the ongoing military operation in the restive tribal areas of the country. So far, no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but leaders from Durrani’s Jamiat-i-Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) party have been targeted by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in the past. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been previously targeted thrice in suicide attacks.
Akram Khan Durrani is one of the seniormost leaders of the JUI-F, a party famous for its role in creating political alliances with whichever party happens to be in power. The JUI-F chief and his party remained junior coalition partners of the national government during different regimes from 1988 to the present government set-up. The JUI-F has played a controversial role in national politics and is widely held responsible for creating and installing the Taliban in power in Afghanistan. After supporting the government of Benazir Bhutto, the JUI-F considerably influenced and assisted Benazir Bhutto to help shape the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 1996. The party remained actively involved in securing a lobby for the support of the Taliban. It is alleged that the JUI-F’s seminaries and their followers have played the role of the facilitators of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) too. It was the JUI-F that acted as a facilitator of talks between the government and the Taliban in 2013, which remained inconclusive. The party’s head, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had provided mediators from his party for the talks between the militants and the government at that time.
Despite all these favours, now the JUI-F itself has become a target of the TTP. It is a real irony that the Taliban have no respect for their mother party. It is a reminder to the leadership of the JUI-F and likeminded parties as well as the rest of the political forces in the country that the Taliban are not trustworthy. With the passage of time, they are posing themselves as more threatening and dreadful. In their lust for power, they do not abide by any principle and have no regard for humanity. No talks can be successful with these barbarians who have no regard for human life. They do not distinguish between friend or foe. The only solution to tackle this threat is the extermination of these militants who are waging a war against humanity. The JUI-F should learn a lesson and clear its misconception about the Afghan Taliban and its offshoot the TTP. The policy of treating the Taliban as strategic assets is no more applicable. Rather, it is proving more destructive and bringing horrific results. The Taliban are not only posing a threat to their creators but also the whole world. Waging proxy wars by using the Taliban is no more a good idea. The time has come for the federal and provincial governments to have a clear policy regarding the threat of the Taliban and their supporters. The Taliban militants are still operating throughout the country and attacking at will. There is a need to take a coordinated action against these monsters. All political forces should take a united stand against the Taliban. There is a need to stop all those channels that extend them any kind of help. Mere condemnation of attacks will not work unless a united stance is expressed by all political forces against these barbarians. *