An upshot from the Corps Commanders' conference held last week at the GHQ was its reservation over sluggish, if not reluctant, implementation of the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP). The military top brass was also surprised over the political parties' failure to mandate revival of military courts, which it believed have effectively delivered on the task assigned to them. What the ISPR had then conveyed as observations made by the corps commanders through mass media has now been conveyed to the government in a face-to-face encounter, and definitely in greater detail. On Monday, the army leadership, led by CoAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had a lengthy closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his civilian aides. At the said meeting, the government seemed to have conceded to what the corps commanders had earlier observed, and readily expressed willingness to expedite implementation of the National Action Plan. At the meeting, it was "reiterated unanimously that elimination of terrorism and extremism is a policy imperative for Pakistan's security." The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, agreed to "further energise efforts" on implementation of the NAP and also "ensure better implementation of NAP by federal/provincial governments". The other issues discussed included the situation on border with Afghanistan and how to secure it as well as the much-awaited legal reforms. Interestingly, only the chief minister of Punjab was part of this high-level caucus, as if only Punjab is beset with the incidence of terrorism and extremism. The other provinces are not safe either - a fact reflected from quick departure of General Bajwa for Peshawar from there to join the KP apex committee's meeting. Is it then the case that while the armed forces hold an over-arching federal stance against the menace of terrorism the provincial governments nurture individual outlooks and would like to tackle it in their own particular ways?
To a discernable mind a kind of mismatch on the question how to eliminate the curses of terrorism and extremism from the national soil has come to obtain. Not only has the civilian side failed to introduce much-needed legal reforms, it is also double-minded on the revival of military courts. Now that the government has introduced in the parliament a constitutional amendment bill for extension of military courts it is also in talks with the PPPP. The PPPP is sticking to the position that it would support the bill only if its nine-point proposal is included. But the reality is that you include these points in the proposed amendment and the jurisdiction of the military courts would be not very different from that of the ordinary courts, and the diehard terrorists would be treated just like ordinary criminals. Some others want the removal of words 'sect' and 'religion' from the text of the proposed constitutional amendment, and thus secure a kind of exemption from scrutiny of religious seminaries, which constitute their power bases. And frankly speaking, the PML (N) government is not in great hurry either - were it so it would have moved well in time to ensure continuation of the military courts, which became dysfunctional at the expiry of the sunset clause. Sometimes one gets the odd feeling as if fighting terrorism is the exclusive responsibility of the military. That should not be the case. The inordinate delay in reviving the military courts tends to suggest that the fight against terrorism is bereft of the civilians' support. Such a perceptional mismatch is what the enemy would figure out as an indication that its pressure is working. No surprise then that as military courts went out of business there was this upsurge in the incidents of terrorism. It would have gained greater strength and momentum in the absence of Raddul Fasaad.