The missing elephant of terrorism from aisles of parliament

Amir Mateen Tuesday, September 17, 2013 From Print Edition News ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Nisar is not the guy that you can identify with your next door friendly neighbour. He generally comes across as an elitist snooty politician who may not like to mix up with ordinary mortals. We can accuse him of more grievous charges - the most dangerous being that you cannot approach him through a direct dialing telephone. Imagine the head honcho of the country’s internal security refusing to change his life-time habit of interacting with the world through an operator. But one thing that we cannot accuse him of is laziness. He showed a glimpse of his hardwork by answering queries related to interior ministry in his usual confident way. It was good to know that under his great tutelage we have the best immigration officers posted at airports; the extortion gang in Islamabad’s fruit market was busted; Nadra was extra vigilant that the dubious foreigners should not get fake identity cards. Obviously, he had done his homework, which cannot be said about most ministers in the PML (N) Cabinet. However, there was a touch of irony in his grand articulation. Something, somehow was missing - perhaps an elephant in the room. The interior minister talked about everything under the sun but not the biggest issue that ails this country - terrorism. And this after a fortnight that saw hundreds killed from Karachi to Torkham. We expected the government to give some contours of its elusive national security policy on the opening day of the parliamentary session. Everybody seemed rattled over the martyrdom of the high-profile army officers in Dir. This happened a day after the KP government announced army pullout from Malakand. The area was supposedly stable enough to be handed over to civilians. We wondered if the latest killings would change the pullout decision. Imran Khan, who returned to the Assembly first time after his recovery, was seen rubbing shoulders with Chaudhary Nisar. This stirred a hope that the two parties might have something important to announce on the Taliban issue. Imran Khan later condemned the Taliban killings outside the Parliament. This was obviously not enough. The PML (N) and the PTI got votes on the plank that they will bring peace by negotiating with the Taliban. They need to explain a lot more now. The APC, it seems, left more questions than answers. Our Press Gallery gurus continue to argue whether the APC was worth the effort; why did the State acknowledge Taliban as an equal entity? What are the pre-conditions for talks and who will talk to whom and how? Obviously, this perpetual polemics on ‘what if’ scenarios will not get us anywhere. The country and its polity remains confused and divided over the nature of the ‘enemy’ after having 50000 people killed in a decade - welcome to Pakistan. To be sure, the Taliban are using this delay in retrenching their power. “We might not be able to do it at all if we did not do it now,” ANP’s Senator Zahid Khan was heard saying in the lobbies. “We can’t afford to have the action against Taliban coincide with the final endgame that will start with the US withdrawal in Afghanistan.” The foremost query was: what next? The question becomes more relevant in the light of the latest figures that Chaudhary Nisar shared in the Parliament. More people have died in the last eight months than they did last year. Law enforcement agencies have taken the biggest hit with 425 people dead in the last eight months as opposed to 347 last year. For all we know that the political parties seemed disinterested in what should be the biggest issue for anybody. It was not just the government that was out of synch with the harsh realities outside. PPP leaders continue to be haunted by the corruption cases arrayed against them. Naveed Qamar was found explaining the corruption charges against the leader of the Opposition, Khursheed Shah, in his absence. Nafeesa Shah‘s speech about the long-gone president and his even more forgotten address seemed absolutely out of times. One could not blame the MQM for being messed up in its problems. Its reaction to the Karachi operation was as expected today as it was when it sought the army rule in Karachi. The latest pronouncement by the Scotland Yard about the Imran Farooq case seemed to have jolted it further. Whatever the case, the Parliament seemed to be the last place where politicians wanted to discuss the major issues including terrorism. We can only make conjectures about what happened inside the APC. We can understand if the intelligence agencies ask for closed-door meetings. Why should politicians hide who stands for what? Even the Cicero in Mehmood Khan Achakzai seemed to have compromised. It was not too long ago that he said that political parties give importance to the Parliament when they are in opposition or when the government is in trouble. The Prime Minister takes the lead by not showing up in the Parliament. The example is followed to the hilt by his Cabinet. Chaudhary Nisar at least was honest about the omission and, once again, promised to take up the issue with the PM. Well, the present session will be over by the time the PM returns from his Turkey and New York visits. Tail piece: One wonders if the recent hostage drama in Islamabad got mishandled because of Chaudhary Nisar’s aversion to direct dialing phones. What if his operator could not get hold of him. But then this seems as untrue as the rumour that he takes yoga lessons to be friendlier.