Page 10 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019
P. 10

P10  –  PAKISTAN LINK  –  MAY 17, 2019                                                                                                OPINION
                                                 In Crisis, Some Promise and Hope
             n By Mosharraf Zaidi                                                                                               dress international concerns about

                hat lies buried beneath                                                                                         various non-state actors such as the
                the rubble of broken   only to benefi t the already-rich is                                                     Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muham-
        WPTI promises and the         going to threaten to tear this coun-                                                      mad and Haqqani Network.
        shattered hopes and aspirations   try’s already fragile equilibrium                                                         Despite all this, somehow, Paki-
                     of quick-fi x be-  apart. Terrorism, both from foreign-                                                    stan is in a unique position to help
                     lievers in Imran   funded terrorists leveraging ethnic                                                     forge  a generational  moment  that
                     Khan?   Promise  identity and home-grown Daesh                                                             could initiate and sustain a long
                     and hope.        and pseudo-Daesh extremists across                                                        spell of peace and stability for the
                         First,  some  the urban landscape, will attempt to                                                     region. If this hope and promise
                     balm for the de-  dismantle morale within the police,                                                      can be actualized, Pakistan’s cur-
                     spair. Sadly, there   the intelligence services, and among                                                 rent leaders, (including members of
        can be no quick fi xes. Th  ere never   paramilitary and military troops. To                                            the political opposition), will have
        are. Still, it is important to remem-  top it off , a clumsy and unsustain-                                             achieved something few have  ever
        ber that the world is not ending be-  able eff ort to silence dissent, and                                              even had the chance to.
        cause a new IMF program has been   lock up all potent political opposi-                                                     Let’s fi rst defi ne what the prom-
        agreed. Th  e world did not end on   tion, will spur besieged mainstream                                                ise  and  the  hope  really  is.  It  is  the
        November 24, 2008, when the PPP-  opposition parties to adopt an even                                                   possibility of a sustained peace and
        led coalition signed off  on an IMF   more shrill political discourse. But                                              stability between Pakistan, and two
        Standby Arrangement, and it did   taken  together or  taken separately,                                                 of its most vital neighbors: Afghani-
        not end on September 4, 2013, when   none of these challenges has check-                                                stan and India.
        the PML-N government signed off    mated Pakistani survivability and                                                        Afghanistan is entering a cru-
        on an Extended Fund Facility. Since   resilience before.    ers across the spectrum, including   Imran Khan, thought they could   cial phase in its history. Despite the
        1990, Pakistan has signed up to ten   Remember, Pakistan has seen                         talk to the TTP. It is easy to forget   shrill rhetoric from many Afghans,
        other IMF programs. Since then, the   worse horror fi lms. In 2008, under   Ramadan is the month   now because the Pakistan Army   the facts have always been clear: the
        country has tested nuclear weapons,   the PPP-coalition government, in-  of miracles. Amidst the   went out and won the war – but the   destinies of  Pakistan  and  Afghani-
        had one military coup, enacted con-  fl ation topped 20 percent (the fi rst               journey here has been bloody and   stan are intertwined. Th  ere is much
        stitutional reforms through the 18th   and only time it topped 20 percent   gloom of Pakistan’s return   expensive. It is the blood and trea-  bitterness on both sides of the bor-
        Amendment that everyone used   since the post-1971 economic crisis   to crisis, there shines the   sure that were shed on this path that   der separating these two great na-
        to say would never happen, and   of the mid-1970s). Complicating   hope that a responsible   makes a return to crisis such an epic   tions – but there is also much shar-
        through it all became the only coun-  that government’s eff orts to manage   handling of relations with   fail for Pakistan.  ing of the burden. For 40 years, the
        try to win a post-9/11 counter-in-  the crisis? A full-scale terrorist in-                    Ideally, the PTI era in 2018   people of both countries have suf-
        surgency and counterterrorism war.  surgency that began in the summer   Afghanistan and with   should have been one of consoli-  fered together. If the Zalmay Khalil-
            One of the reasons for Paki-  of  2007  and beheaded  the  PPP  in   India may yield a historic   dating the gains from the previous   zad brokered peace plan can deliver
        stan’s remarkable buoyancy is also   December that  year before engulf-  peace and stability.   decade of democratic governance   even a few months long window of
        one of the reasons for the country’s   ing the entire country in 2008 and                 and strong economic growth. In-  peace in late 2019 and into 2020, it
        perpetual return to crisis. Pakistan   2009 (the worst year of terrorist vio-  Pakistan has survived   stead, clumsy political engineering,   will set the stage for a longer, more
        is located at a geographic crossroads   lence Pakistan ever saw, and indeed   crises in much worse   myopic and selfi sh leadership from   sustainable peace in the region.
        that make it both the subject of great   among the worst any country ever   conditions than today. The   Nawaz Sharif, and a mind-numb-  Putting the Taliban on a table
        speculative economic hope, and the   saw). Th  e PML-N government that   promise and the hope now   ingly ill-prepared (and vindictive)   with Khalilzad was the easy part for
        victim of legitimate security para-  was elected in 2013 managed to sup-                  PM Khan have conspired to strip   Pakistan. Th  e harder part is coming.
        noia.                         press infl ation, aft er it topped out in   is that those conditions   away many of Pakistan’s advantages   Pakistan will have to do two things
            Crisis is upon Pakistan again –   late 2013 at above 10 percent, but it   themselves can be made   at a crucial time for the country and   to enable a longer-lasting peace in
        GDP growth is slowing down, infl a-  also waffl  ed on the question of ter-  much better    the region. Perhaps worse than all   Afghanistan. Th  e fi rst is to enable
        tion is going to rise, and the nega-  rorism until the Peshawar APS mas-                  this has been the security infrastruc-  economic activity between Afghani-
        tivity of a young population being   sacre on December 16, 2014. As late                  ture’s inability to adequately assess   stan and all other nations
        poorly served by a system designed   as the spring of 2014, political lead-  then PM Nawaz Sharif, and now PM   the cost of continued failure to ad-  HOPE, P28





























































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