PAKISTAN continues to be in crisis. Its leaders in Islamabad had come to the conclusion that the only way to handle the Pakistan Taliban was to begin a dialogue. But the Pakistan army has now stood up against it. Two top military officers were killed recently by the Taliban in the federally administered tribal area. Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has made it clear that the Nawaz Sharif government should not be submissive to the aggressive Taliban. The civilian government appears to be in high disfavour. It has shown a tendency under Nawaz Sharif to be unduly complaisant to the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. But the fact is that the military establishment in Pakistan has long been guiding the country’s policy on the Taliban both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It is the army, however, which had planned to retain some of the al-Qaida affiliated Taliban fighters who had escaped into Pakistan during the US operation in Afghanistan. It was this that spawned the Pakistan Taliban especially in Waziristan. This faction is also in perpetual hostilities with the Islamabad government which is considered un-Islamic and pro-American. It has systematically resorted to bombings, assassinations and kidnappings. It gave the Pakistan army sufficient leverage to discredit the civilian government. It also opposed clamping down upon counter-terrorist activities while making a subtle distinction between good and bad terrorists. The fact that the army is faced with Taliban violence on Pakistani soil is to some extent due to its hostile attitude. The main problem in Pakistan is the separation of powers between Islamabad and Rawalpindi with the resultant conflict. If the civilian government and the army do not sink their differences’ stability in the country will be hard to achieve.
