Pakistan’s newly elected federal government has decided to hold an all-parties conference (APC) on July 12 to explore ways to eliminate the menace of terrorism, which has now gripped the whole country. This is not the first time that such a conference is going to discuss proposals to stem the tide of terror. The government seeks to bring all the political and religious parties on one page to chalk out a national security policy. In my opinion this conference is also going to meet the same fate as the earlier ones.

Earlier right-wing parties used to be blamed for putting up impractical demands and wish list to appease the Taleban to the extent that these APCs had become just waste of time and effort. However, this time both the government and right-wing parties are going to make it a joint failure. The government has indicated to draw the national security policy on Chinese and Malaysian models, which were outlined decades back to contain the localized ethnic conflicts. What security specialists have failed to comprehend that though ethnic conflicts could be reined in by development and creation of job opportunities for the marginalized sections of the society, but Pakistan’ problem is not of this nature; it’s not an ethnic conflict. We are facing a multi-dimensional terrorist threat. Our enemy is not single faced; it’s a multi-faced monster. There are a number of religious and sectarian terrorist organizations that are working under the banner of Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP). These groups may share a common extremist religious ideology, however, each group is working in line with its own vested interests. There is no way to bring them on one table and bring them into the main stream.

Pakistan can’t win over terrorism by holding APCs and summits. If the TTP is serious about talks, the government needs to put forward its own pre-conditions — the militants shall stop all terrorist activities, lay down their arms, agree to expel foreign terrorists and let Pakistani forces to control the country’s international borders. If they don’t agree, then they need to be responded with massive force as that’s the only language they understand. — Masood Khan, Jubail