The Pakistani Spectator

Our “foreign land” of FATA is getting more lawless and more prone to the foreign intervention day by day, and at that juncture the calling of the meeting of coalition partners is a very welcome step. That, and the decision taken in this meeting is also plausible. The ruling coalition has agreed to engage in dialogue rather than launch operation in FATA to resolve issues.

Chief of Army staff was also present in the meeting, and his approach is also very commendable, and his professional persona has given Pakistanis lots of hope. Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that the Pakistan Army has the capability to carry out an operation against miscreants at border and no foreign power will be allowed to use Pakistan’s soil for operation.

But now the onus resides on the leader of the ruling coalition, and specifically on the premier Yousuf Raza Gillani to take all the coalition partners and the opposition parties on board, and have a concerted, coordinated and combined effort to end the militancy in the FATA, Hangu, Balochistan and Swat area first through dialogue and if that doesn’t yield any results then through the force.

It was really heartening to see that all the coalition partners including PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F, and MQM and also the representatives of some other factions were unanimously in the favor of dialogue and they were in the favor of the political solution to the problem. But this meeting must not prove to be a mirage, and just another effort on the part of PPP to delay the task and just a lame effort to appease the angry partners.

Last 5 posts by Brig. (r) Junaid Zaman

• Jirgas Should Be Consolidated - October 5th, 2008
• This Eid, Rise Above the Ashes - October 1st, 2008
• America Supporting Baitullah Mehsud - September 29th, 2008
• US Army Knocking on Door - September 28th, 2008
• Don't Cower in Front of Coward Terrorism - September 27th, 2008