Prime Minister Imran Khan made an earth-shattering revelation for many, especially those who had lost their dear ones in terrorism when he said that the government is in negotiations with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for a peace deal. He said he did not believe in a military solution but political dialogue to end disputes. Ironically, the prime minister has been extremely reluctant when it comes to showing the same openness for political negotiation with the opposition parties, entities that do not carry arms but resort instead to political action.

Whenever the opposition parties have mounted pressure on the PTI government, the prime minister, instead of directing the Opposition to the negotiation’s table, has alleged that the opposition wants to blackmail him for concessions in corruption cases they are facing. Where the PM stands stubborn and not ready for talks with the non-violent political forces, alleging that they seek concessions, he offers and initiates talks with an outlawed outfit that has been constantly attacking Pakistan’s security forces – even during the ‘talks’. He appears ready to pardon the TTP if the lay down their arms. The concession to the TTP will register as forgiveness for all their crimes including killing more than 70,000 Pakistanis, including children and women.

The opposition parties, mainly Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had offered the PTI government negotiation on various national issues to develop a consensus in the parliament and extending to the masses. The PM and his cabinet have always shown disinterest in such an arrangement.

In 2020, after the outbreak of Covid-19 in Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the PPP chairperson, urged PM Khan to join hands to combat the deadly virus but instead of reciprocating with a positive gesture, the PTI ministers started a blame game with PPP’s provincial government in Sindh as the virus continued to spread.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and the president of PML-N, sensing the gravity of the plunging economic indicators of Pakistan, asked the government and other political parties to hold talks to adapt a ‘charter of economy’ to strengthen Pakistan. His offer was not only ignored but the PTI’s spokesperson termed Shahbaz’s offer “a bid to get rid of corruption cases against him”.

Khan’s disinterest in negotiations with the opposition and the parliament has severely damaged the workings of the legislature and the people of Pakistan have witnessed arguably the worst scenes in Pakistan’s parliamentary history. Till date, the PM has not given even a vague signal for negotiating with the opposition parties.

Given his angry and stubborn posture against the opposition, his disclosure about ongoing talks with the TTP has flabbergasted the nation. Initially, President Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had stated that the government was ready to talk to the TTP, provided they “lay down their arms”, “apologise for their deeds” and “pledge to follow the constitution”.

In response to the government’s offer, a spokesman for the TTP had issued a press statement that read, “We want to send a message to the secular democratic leaders and the military leadership that the goal of our struggle is the implementation of the Islamic system in Pakistan, for which our forefathers made sacrifices and 600,000 people sacrificed their lives.”

“Forgiveness is sought for mistakes, while we are proud of our struggle, and we have never apologized to our enemies. We have lived within the shariah limits. We can announce amnesty to the government on the condition that they promise and intend to implement the shariah system in the country,” it said.

He said that the TTP would not abide by the constitution or laws of Pakistan, which put Islamic principles on the backburner. “We cannot accept such an anti-Islamic, and infidel’s democratic constitution, nor will we ever throw away our Islamic and tribal traditions and weapons,” said the statement.

Critics, thinkers, parliamentarians, and the families that suffered because of terrorist violence did not approve of the offer for talks and have asked the government to discuss the issue in the parliament. The people of Pakistan were anticipating a parliamentary debate on the issue when PM Khan dropped the bomb in an interview with a Turkish news channel.

“There are different groups which form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace. So, we are in talks with them. It’s a reconciliation process,” he said in the interview.

When the interviewers asked if the government was asking them to lay down arms, the PM said, “Yes, we forgive them and they become normal citizens”.

PM Khan hinted that the Afghan Taliban were ‘the mediators’ and the talks were being held in Afghanistan. He reiterated that he didn’t support military solutions and as a politician, he believed that political dialogue was the way forward – the very dialogue that he is unable to hold with the political forces in Pakistan.

What he is apparently forgetting is that the TTP has been carrying out attacks against civilian and military targets over the last two decades. The TTP, amid news of negotiations, also issued their monthly newsletter about their attacks in Pakistan according to which they conducted 37 attacks on Pakistani soil during September 2021 killing 72 including security officials and civilians.

The tactics and gestures of the TTP indicate that it is unlikely that all TTP factions will lay down their arms and show remorse over their mistakes as a result of these talks. Even if the government can persuade some groups to surrender, terrorist attacks will not stop as groups that disagree with such a decision will go for new recruitment and join the ISIS.

The government should have developed a broad political consensus before making the critical decision. It should have considered how this will affect how it deals with other outlawed, banned and militant groups. The decision to pardon those who killed thousands of soldiers and civilians will cause great social unrest in the country and raise questions about the government’s intentions.

Khan’s outright support for the Taliban during the 2013 electoral campaign, his ‘safe tour to South Waziristan’ at a time when the TTP was targetting Awami National Party massively in KP and had only recently killed ANP’s big Bashir Bilour, had resulted in an impression that the PTI and the PML-N were not on the hit list of the TTP; meanwhile the PPP, the MQM and the ANP were unable to launch effective elections campaigns.

The impression was strengthened after a brief talk with Shahidullah Shahid, then the TTP’s spokesperson (who joined the ISIS in the following year) who called this scribe from an Afghan cell phone number to claim responsibility for an attack.

When asked about their motives to attack the PPP, the MQM and the ANP, he said, “They are secular politicians and infidel parties and we will not let them run their campaign.” This scribe asked him point blank if the PTI and the PML-N were not on their agenda. He had said, “They are on our radar but we will deal with them later.”

The PM must dispel the impression that he has a soft corner for the TTP and should take political forces into confidence before making such crucial decisions.

The TTP is attacking Pakistan’s security forces on Pakistani soil and all operations against them and even negotiations with the TTP cannot be done without involvement of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The sad part of the tale is that Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has also not been consulted before making the decision to hold negotiations with the TTP as he stated in a presser that he was not aware of the negotiations.

The author is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and researcher. He tweets at @BukhariMubasher