No more peace deals
By Saba Imtiaz, Karachi, May 7, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010 - 10:36 AM
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The key lesson from the Faisal Shahzad case so far is that Pakistan
severely needs to address the fact that the country has become a convenient
go-to place for anyone who has the slightest desire to turn toward militancy.
Whether it's the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan,
Jaish-e-Mohammad, or any of the other groups operating in south Punjab and Waziristan, Pakistan
needs to address these problems now. (However, we should still be cautious
before jumping to conclusions about whether these groups were actually
involved.) Pakistan is lucky
that the United States after
9/11 and India
after Mumbai did not bomb the country into oblivion. But at some point, some
country that is the target of an attack by a terrorist group that was trained
in or received support from Pakistan
will react.
Jumping into another immediate military offensive might not be the best idea,
however, given that there are still problems in the areas that were supposedly
cleared, and the ramifications of the refugee crises created by operations in
Swat and South Waziristan still linger, but Pakistan needs to move toward
serious military action. Creating more truces and "peace deals" with militants
in North Waziristan will only plug the hole in the dam for so long.
Saba Imtiaz works
for the Express Tribune, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan.
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