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Tuesday, November 12, 2013Peace talks can’t progress if drone attacks continue: govt
* Nisar tells NA some elements in TTP still want talks with government
* Any controversy related to armed forces is ‘more dangerous than poison’
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The government told the National Assembly on Monday that the dialogue process with the Pakistani Taliban cannot move forward if drones attacks continued unabatedly.
Speaking on the floor of the House, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan stated: “If drone attacks continue, the talk of dialogue would merely be an illusion.” However, he remained silent on the issue of blocking the NATO supplies if drone attacks continued. This has been a demand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, and he reiterated it in the House later when he took the floor.
Nisar said that the dialogue can also not be pursued if the government works for it vigorously and the other side, an apparent reference to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), keeps on refusing to it. “This cannot happen if we devote ourselves to talks and the other side escapes from it,” Nisar said. He claimed that there still are elements in the TTP that are in favour of talks with the government despite the fact that United States’ killing of Hakimullah Mehsud has severely damaged the dialogue process.
The interior minister admitted that the atmosphere is not ripe for dialogue after the killing of Mehsud, but he added that the government would strive to move forward on this front. “Now we have to pick up the pieces,” Nisar said, adding that the government would have to analyse how the next four to six weeks turn out to be. He said that for the sake of the country, the political and military leadership have to get on the same page.
The interior minister also touched upon the debate triggered by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief’s statement regarding martyrs and termed it damaging at this critical time. “Any kind of controversy related to the armed forces is worse than poison for Pakistan,” he remarked. Showering praise on the armed forces for rendering sacrifices in the war against terrorism, Nisar said that the morale of the army should not be lowered by such controversies.
Criticising former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s “misuse of the army”, the minister said the armed forces are not an individual, but an institution, and in the case of talks with the Taliban, the military had exercised great restraint and created an environment conducive to talks, despite ongoing terrorist attacks. Taking the floor, Imran Khan invited all the political forces to join him to block NATO supplies on November 20 as a mark of protest against drone strikes, receiving only the support of Jamaat-e-Islami and Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.
“We are not waging a war by blocking the NATO supplies but only exercising our right as a mark of protest against these strikes,” Imran said. The PTI chief expressed disappointment over the public reaction on the drone strike that killed Hakimullah Mehsud, saying that he was hoping the entire nation, including the media and opposition, would be on the same page and that we would show a stern reaction to America. However, he noted that this did not happen.
Imran blamed the United States for what he said was “droning” of Pakistan’s peace process when a drone strike took out Mehsud hours before dialogue was to commence. “I felt dejected when people called me the supporter of terrorists when I termed the attack attempt to sabotage the (peace) process,” he said. Imran underlined the need for Pakistan to present a united front so that drone strikes are discontinued. He opined that the attacks had only served to divide Pakistanis.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk