I have to run, so this will have to be fleshed out later, but a few quick points to start a discussion:
1. The government of Pakistan (GOP) has completely lost control of the narrative. They were always confused, but part of the confusion was by choice. Since Musharraf gave his famous Sulah Hudaybia speech, where he said we will cooperate with Western powers just like the nascent Islamic state in Medina signed a peace deal with the kafirs in Mecca as a temporary measure, there were always going to be things we had to hide or obfouscate. Then the more impatient jihadis started beheading armymen and brave levies soldiers, so they had to be fitted into the story somewhere. For that, the Hindu agent/Jewish conspiracy theme was activated and the Pakistani Taliban were described as agents of RAW and the CIA, fighting against our brave soldiers in order to undermine the world’s only Islamic nuclear power. This was never an easy sell outside of middle class Pakistan but it had a certain internal coherence. Now this whole convoluted scheme has fallen apart thanks to Mian Nawaz Sharif and Choudhry Nisar.
2. The Pakistani state recognized those very Taliban (hindu-jewish agents, CIA proxies) as negotiation partners and also conceded that they control a certain territory where they decide who comes and who negotiates. A team of negotiators who are generally sympathetic to the Taliban was appointed to talk to them. Mullahs of every stripe were activated (or activated themselves, after all, they have brains too) to prepare the ground for negotiations. Since no one in Pakistan can deny shariah law and the supremacy of Islam, this already puts the corrupt and double-dealing state apparatus at a disadvantage to the more shariah-compliant and Islamic Taliban. This blow was bad enough, but worse was to come.
3. The Taliban, displaying (as usual) more coherence and sense than the GOP, have put forward a list of people who can negotiate on their behalf. A list that includes Imran Khan and Maulana Samiul Haq. Not exactly people who can be easily dismissed as Hindu-Jewish agents. Then they have supposedly appointed a ten man committee to supervise these negotiators.THAT committee includes such luminaries as Asmatullah Muavia (the guy who ADMITTED to ordering the killing of Chinese and East European climbers on Nanga Parbat and admitted to a vicious church bombing as well) and Khalid Khurasani (whose video can be seen below). They will now issue lists of demands, some minor (and therefore impossible to resist…after all, can peace be sacrificed for such minor things?) , some major (like prisoner release) and some irresistible in principle (like the imposition of shariah). When negotiations fall apart (as they must), who will be blamed? Is there ANY chance that Sami ul Haq or Imran Khan will blame the Taliban for this failure? Of course, the TTP can also deny the committee or any other news as and when it suits them. They control the narrative, not Choudhry Nisar.
4. Where will this leave the whole Indian-agent theory on which any real operation against the TTP was to be based within the army?
The state will not surrender to these people. Yet. But one more step back has been taken.
What next?
btw, Fazlullah’s last set of demands for peace is in the second video below.
