To the extent that a face-to-face meeting between the negotiators of the government and the Shura of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has taken place it's indeed, to borrow Professor Ibrahim's words, a "huge milestone" in the peace process. Do the media-reported deliberations at the 7-hour meeting inspire any hope that at long last an end to Taliban-engineered terrorism is in sight it is not there. The Taliban committee members' usual 'good news for the nation soon' assertions juxtaposed with the government side's bureaucratic discretion the picture that emerges from the event remains blurred, inviting expected cynicism about the future of peace talks with Taliban. From the government point of view, at this initial stage of the peace process the Taliban Shura must undertake to ensure uninterrupted cease-fire. But the Shura is said to have conveyed to government interlocutors it would be possible but only if some three hundred non-combatants 'in the custody of security agencies' are released. The issue of exchange of prisoners is believed to have dominated the marathon meeting, and some reports say the government side gave certain names that should be released by the Taliban as a confidence-building measure. As to who are allegedly in the safe houses or internment centres of the agencies no names were named except for the omnibus expression 'women, children and the elderly'. If continuation of peace process is exclusively conditional to the release of prisoners then it had it from day one: the army says it doesn't have any Taliban prisoner of the said category. But in actuality that's not the case; these talks have got to succeed; otherwise they would not have begun. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan appears to be gradually conceding space. Instead of sticking to its demand for a peace-zone venue in North Waziristan for meeting with the government emissaries the Taliban Shura members met them at a village named Bilandkhel in Orakzai Agency near garrison town of Thall. Taliban also realise that drone strikes have ended and there is 'considerable decline in killing of TTP prisoners in jails'. So, one would tend to believe that the make-or-break demand for release of prisoners is essentially posturing, a normal practice on the part of negotiators. And, quite conspicuously the Taliban are no more loudly talking of sharia-based governance and army vacating tribal agencies.
However, the Taliban haven't given any clue as to who this Ahrarul-Hind outfit is which claimed attack on Islamabad district and sessions courts, and only promised to investigate the issue. But a vicarious kind of elation is expressed by pro-talks lobbies over this ambiguous TTP position. Describing first-ever the face-to-face meeting between the Taliban Shura and government delegates a 'victory already under the belt' Imran Khan says 'we know today which of the terrorist groups is for peace and which is impeding the processes'. Maybe he was given a special post-meeting briefing on the Taliban groups' loyalty to Pakistan. If so it would certainly help the pace of peace process, but at the same time it can prompt the left-outs to turn the heat on to establish their credits as worthy of government move for similar peace talking with them. Professor Ibrahim is confident exchange of prisoners will begin shortly, cementing continuity of cease-fire. But it would take time for complete normality to obtain given the fact the challenge of terrorism is many years old. Though, so far so good, the ultimately outcome of the peace process between the government and the TTP appears to be not only issue-specific but also area-specific. But on the other hand, there is the hope that peace in Fata would trigger prospects for larger countrywide peace with other militant and extremists groups too jumping on the bandwagon. Let's hope and pray others too in rest of the killing fields give up on their appetite for innocent blood and offer to be party at this nascent stage of peace process.
Comments
Comments are closed.