Swat deal and western pressure

Excerpts from a letter to the editor:

The West in particular and some people within Pakistan are opposing the pact with the TSNM, saying we should not stop fighting the militants. First, Soofi Muhammad cannot be seen as a militant, given his peaceful protest camp in Timergara and, now, the very impressive effort to promote peace in Swat. After nearly a year and a half of turmoil, the poor people of Swat have breathed easy and are even celebrating the occasion -- we must not betray them again.

Second, Jonathan Steele is a veteran British journalist who has been covering Afghanistan since the time of the Soviet invasion. There are many important arguments given in his article, based on long experience of the country.

For instance, the self-evident title becomes more lucid by the following paragraph: “Nato faces tougher challenges than the Russians (did). Twenty years ago, Taliban did not exist, suicide bombing was not in vogue, and the Afghan army and police were more effective.

....

..., it is up to us to save Pakistan, above all, and, after that, help the West to whatever extent we can. One has lost track of the number of senior western officials who have been saying aloud that there is no military solution to the Taliban problem and are themselves advocating peace talks with the Islamist militia.

Why should we be pressured to keep fighting an unwinable and endless war and get fatally injured? What is sauce for the gander should be sauce for the goose as well.

In his letter, Mr Ahmed has noted that the government did a U-turn after releasing Dr A.Q. Khan no sooner than the West expressed its annoyance. One only hopes that Islamabad doesn’t reverse its decision about the Swat agreement after it has had time to deal with the lawyers’ long march and sit-in the next month.

If the people’s trust is lost once more, the consequences will be disastrous.

ABDULLAH
Karachi

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