FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

It was probably more journalistic than political instinct of Ayaz Amir, a PML (N) MNA from Chakwal, which generated a stir in the power corridors when he proposed that there is a need of having "national consensus policy" to tackle militancy and extremism in the country.
After listening to some observations made by the parliamentarians, the government indicated that it would take the national legislature into confidence in framing or redirecting war on terror policy. It was for the first time that the government in one way or the other gave in to the peoples' representatives.
Before going into details of the proposal of Ayaz Amir, it is imperative to discredit the interior advisor Rehman Malik for this change of heart taking place. The advisor always comes up with ready-made response without giving weight to fine and good suggestions of the parliamentarians. He looks to be serious in taking notes, but when it comes to respond, he always speaks stereotypes.
If one cannot give credit to former FIA man, who leads, manages and administers the "war on terror" then who else in the government should be praised for the wind of change as it will be the first time that parliament will be taken into confidence on the issue in which the government considers itself to be more responsible to Washington than to the people. The previous government bypassed the national legislature on war on terror and almost the same was the case with the present government, so far.
But it was a changed tone of the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who deserves to be praised. He spoke like a true statesman and asserted that this Parliament should guide us which policy the government should adopt to tackle the menace of terrorism and extremism. "The challenges we are facing are too big. We tried to talk to people in FATA and in some parts of the NWFP in the past. Despite having some peace agreements, the militants challenged the writ of the government again and again.
But after hearing the lawmakers, I leave this issue to the Parliament. The government would take action in accordance with what the peoples' representatives decide," said the Prime Minister after his advisor on interior narrated the merits of ongoing operations against militants in FATA and Swat and the government relief measures to the people displaced from Bajaur agency mainly due to aerial bombardment.
MNA Ayaz Amir, who is also a prominent journalist, spoke from his heart asking the government to review its policies. "The term 'war on terror' is used only in the US and its 'loyal servant' Pakistan. This term has become obsolete in the rest of the world," he said. This very fact is not known to our rulers who say time and again that war on terror is our war.
Due to wrong Afghan and FATA policies, the war is now coming inside. It is knocking at our doors. Wah cantonment where two suicide bombers blew themselves on the gate of military controlled ordnance factory is not too far away from the federal capital. The army is caught in quagmire. It needs to be guided in right direction, said Ayaz Amir.
The former interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao was also critical of the government policy though he followed almost the same policy when he was incharge of the campaign. But it is always easy to criticise than doing. Let us leave what he did in the past and write what he said in the National Assembly on Thursday. "There are no Chechens or Uzbeks warriors in Bajaur. The Pukhtuns blood is being shed, but the government is least interested to take note," he added. JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman also called for parliamentary debate before taking any action against the militants.
The National Assembly passed two unanimous resolutions on Afia Siddiqui- a Pakistani doctor detained in US and demanded her immediate repatriation and on publishing of blasphemous caricatures by a leading Indian newspaper. The two condemnation resolutions were passed in accordance with aspirations of the people. Let us hope that Parliament would also adopt a national consensus policy on war on terror with the same spirit.