In the second month since president Asif Ali Zardari took charge of Pakistan, the country's political outlook is shrouded by mounting questions over key imponderables.
One of the most pressing issues is indeed the matter of tackling Pakistan's growing internal security challenge which have become increasingly complicated with the passage of time.
While the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), led by president Zardari, has indeed consolidated its position in Islamabad and at least three of the four provinces, its main dilemma lies in its inability to successfully oversee a transition to tackle the present-day outlook for security.
The failure to tackle growing insecurity especially along the Afghan border across the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) will eventually decide the fate of not just the new government but the country itself. Militancy, which has grown across Pakistan in the past one year, now threatens to spread elsewhere too.
Waged in the name of Islam, militants from groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaida have made it their business to send waves of militants to rural and suburban towns in the NWFP, promising to Islamise areas that are already home exclusively to Muslims. This new effort to enforce a fresh version of Islam, however, is driven by the determination to slap a strong straightjacket based on ultra conservative values.
Smashing shops that sell CDs with films and music or ordering the closure of barber shops where Muslims get themselves shaved in contrast to one interpretation of Islamic norms, have all become the rallying cry of these new activists. To make matters worse, such activists have also gone around destroying schools for girls, driven by the belief that the education of women at conventional schools stands forbidden in Islam.
The ideas of those embracing militancy do not deserve even remote attention, as they are too out of date to be considered in the 21st century. It is also true that anyone engaged in enforcing a straightjacket on a society cannot be accepted as representative of rational behaviour.
Solutions
But turning the corner and achieving success in future in curbing militancy must be driven by at least three new initiatives spearheaded by Zardari with the backing of not just the PPP but an array of Pakistan's major political players.
First, it is vital that a comprehensive plan to tackle insecurity must be put across as Pakistan's own effort that is primarily in its own interest rather than in the interest of the US or other world powers. This is necessary to convince an otherwise sceptical community of Pakistanis who are just not convinced that their government's attack on militant groups is in the country's interest, taking the so-called war on terror as in line with US priorities.
Second, Zardari and other leading politicians need to promote the campaign against militants as a national and non-partisan cause. This will mean that Pakistan would be in a position to work towards a much-needed national consensus in forging unity against militants. Ultimately, such a development has to be central in making militants unpopular and ideally so isolated that their appeal towards the public is bound to become weak and eventually non-existent.
Finally, this has to be done in tandem with policies in other crucial areas, notably addressing the challenges to the economy, which cause impoverishment of ordinary Pakistanis. For too long, Pakistan's successive governments have failed to address the link between economic opportunities for the poor and the extent to which turmoil can be managed.
This does not mean that those who promote terrorism can be condoned just because they are poor. But tackling the economic angle is central to forcing back future militants, still at home in impoverished circumstances. If bread and butter issues force people to turn towards violence, this issue needs to be addressed as a crucial element in fighting violence.
Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.
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