Open letter to President Zardari

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We the citizens of Pakistan are angry and dismayed at the abject capitulation of the state of Pakistan before the Taliban insurgents in Swat. With one stroke of the pen, you and parliament have signed away any real prospects of a stable, tolerant and progressive Pakistan as envisioned by its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Leaving aside the merits or demerits of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, we believe that any agreement signed at the point of a gun can never lead to a lasting and just peace. It has now become clear how naive the government has been in thinking that the Taliban could be contained in Swat. Since you signed the regulation, the Taliban have stated that that they don't intend to lay down their arms, have called into question the legitimacy of parliament and the Supreme Court, and declared the intent to impose their own brand of violent and brutal Sharia not only in the rest of Pakistan but across the world! This is proof positive that the real aim of the Taliban is to seize power through brutal force and intimidation. We reject the argument that the Pakistan army did not fight a counter insurgency because it did not want to kill its own people. We realise that the dark clouds of obscurantism hanging over our country are the direct result of a 'jihadi' mindset within sections of the civil and military establishment, which has for decades fostered and pandered to religious zealots and regressive forces in the country.
None of the above, however, absolves you and the government from mobilising the state machinery and the people of Pakistan against the existential threat facing us; the 'buck stops with you, Mr President!' It is incumbent upon you to compel the army to come to the aid of a constitutionally elected government and enforce the writ of the state in Swat and other troubled regions of Pakistan.
The failure of the government to evolve a counter-narrative to the Taliban propaganda is dereliction of the highest order. The government must immediately devise and implement a strategy for countering the insidious propaganda by and in support of the Taliban, which fills newspaper columns and airwaves. Peace, Mr President, cannot come by ceding territorial control to armed insurgents or by agreeing to their illegitimate demands, as has been done in Swat. Countries that have faced violent insurgencies in the past – Colombia, Egypt or Algeria – did not succeed in their wars by negotiating from a position of weakness, or by burying their heads in the sand. These countries employed all means, including the use of force, to fight those who sought to seize power and territory through violent means. Mr President, we too must fight the Taliban, who have chosen to fight against the state and who routinely terrorise and kill innocent Pakistanis. It is incumbent upon you to mobilise the nation against the scourge of the Taliban before it is too late. History and the people of this country will never forgive you if you fail to show leadership now.

Concerned citizens of Pakistan