By: Muhammad Imad Abbas
One thing that is wrong with history is that it keeps repeating itself. And whenever it repeats, it comes in the form of a tragedy. The same is currently happening in Swat valley. Once again, Swat is falling into the grip of hot waters and this time the amibitions are more broader than they were back in 2009. In the gorgeous Swat valley, thousands of residents flocked to the streets to protest against the infiltrated extremists endangering the peace and stability of the area. Seeing the hue and cry, the people of swat are reluctant as they don’t want to fall back again into the hand of militants, the way they were back in 2009 during Mullah Fazlullah’s time, famously known as “radio Mullah.”
Since the last couple of months, despite reiterating by Mohsin Dawar and the incarcerated Ali Wazir that the militants are once again regrouping in the northern region, they fell entirely onto deaf ears and was followed by a wait-and –see attitude of the government. Consequently, we are seeing the rise of miscreants in the swat valley, which is becoming quite precarious for the place security. Just like the change in the weather patterns, people’s thinking and perspectives also change with the change in time. Similarly, the same Murad Saeed, while in power, completely ignored the rhetorics of Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir. While now, when they have stepped down, the same Murad Saeed vociferously attacked the federal government as a scapegoat that led to the rise of miscreants in the swat valley. Even in these critical times, no one is in a hurry to bury their hatchets and work unanimously to ameliorate the deteriorating situation of Swat. And this marriage on the rock between the government and opposition would continue in perpetual cycles.
During the Afghan Taliban’s reconciliation process, it was decided that the TTP would return to their native villages as a gesture of the good will, giving them a fig leaf, but no such agreement has been reached so far, ostensibly. Therefore, it is pretty unclear and uncertain how the militants were successful in gathering at Swat, despite the plethora of security forces. Geographically, even if militants have come from Afghanistan, they still had to cross through the Dir. District before reaching the Swat. The question here is why they weren’t stopped beforehand, despite no deal between the parties.? This time they are said to be far more armed than they were. Once again, the question arises of how they successfully transported their weapons, despite the presence of a large army?. One has to ponder our these questions. The security of the borders falls under the capacity of the federal government. Hence they would have to spill the beans before the general mass.
Politically, notwithstanding that an unanimous decision should be taken to tackle this predicament through consensus, every single party, digging their heels, is in a hurry by tiring to mold the issue for their vested interest. The incumbent government has criticized the PTI-led government for its negligence and failure in the reconciliation talks with the TTP. While on the contrary, PTI is accusing PDM. And this perpetual cycle would continue. Everyone is politicizing this issue, but so far, no critical measures have been taken to sabotage the future ambition of the TTP that has brought them once again to the valley of Swat.
One thing is quite clear from this resurgence of TTP that the failed talks with them have clearly emboldened them and their aims. Being strong has clearly given them an edge to put their demands while giving a no-second option to the state. Meanwhile, if steps are not being taken, it might have a cascading effect on the other outlawed groups and embolden them for their future goals , making it a kiss of the death for the state survival.
Without the political government, both federal and provincial, taking charge of overseeing and, if not designing, at least approving the design of the anti-militancy policy, rather than leaving all of this in the hands of a secretive and impenetrable military bureaucracy, there is no way that the larger situation can be resolved. This is how the cookie breaks everywhere in the world. It should be our goal to treat the disease as a whole, not simply its symptoms.