Islamabad has come under heavy criticism for "giving concessions" to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which killed 132 children in Peshawar in 2014. Imran Khan's government is currently negotiating with the militant group.
The 2014 killing of schoolchildren in Peshawar has been dubbed 'the worst terrorist attack' on Pakistani soilImage: Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar
Advertisement
Dost Muhammad was shellshocked when he heard that the Pakistani government had started negotiating with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group was responsible for attacking a military-run school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, laying siege and killing 132 schoolchildren.
Muhammad lost his 14-year-old son, Asad Aziz, a grade 8 student, in the assault, dubbed "the worst terrorist attack" on Pakistani soil.
"The government did not take us into confidence over the negotiations with the murderers of our children. They have no right to decide alone and talk to the TTP. They should have consulted us before engaging with them," Muhammad told DW.
"Prime Minister Imran Khan's children are living in the UK; he can't feel our pain," he added.
Khan grilled by the Supreme Court
Earlier this week, Khan's government signed a monthlong cease-fire agreement with the local Taliban group, which has been involved in numerous attacks on the country's security forces and civilians over the past 15 years.
The government is also holding talks with the banned outfit, and some ministers have hinted that the group could be given amnesty if it agrees to lay down arms and respect the Islamic country's constitution.
What's driving the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict?
10:39
This browser does not support the video element.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's Supreme Court summoned Khan to a Peshawar school massacre case hearing and grilled him over the TTP talks.
"Why are we bringing them [TTP] to the negotiating table instead of taking action against them?" a judge asked Khan.
The court told the prime minister to pay heed to the parents' demands and take action against the school attackers.
The Peshawar school massacre case was filed by the families of children who had died in the attack. Every year on December 16, relatives, families and members of civil society hold vigils to remember the victims and urge authorities to bring the culprits to justice.
Advertisement
Giving TTP 'a chance'
According to Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan's national security adviser, the government has not taken any decision to grant amnesty to TTP members, emphasizing the state was "very clear and sensitive" on the issue.
But other officials believe the government can force the group to lay down arms.
Fawad Chaudhry, the information and broadcasting minister, told media that if TTP members show allegiance to the constitution, the government could give them "a chance."
"We believe that the government must talk from the position of strength," he added.
At the same time, Chaudhry pointed to the Taliban's return to power in Kabul, saying the new Afghan rulers had asked Islamabad to negotiate a deal with the TTP.
Pakistan: A decade of deadly terrorist attacks
Radical groups have killed thousands of people since Pakistan joined the United States and its allies in a war against terror in 2001. Here is a look at some of the major terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the last decade.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2007 - Twin blasts rock Karachi on former PM’s return
Two bomb blasts struck former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade on October 18, 2007 in the southern port city of Karachi. Bhutto was returning to Pakistan after almost eight years. The attack left 139 people dead. Bhutto, the first democratically elected female head of an Islamic country, died in an attack two months later, on December 27 in the northern city of Rawalpindi.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Khawer
2008 - Wah bombing
The Wah bombing was a double suicide attack on the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) in Wah on August 21, 2008. At least 64 people died in the attack, which remains to date the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan's history. A spokesman from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2008 - Insurgents target luxury hotel in the capital
At least 60 people died and over 200 were injured when a truck filled with explosives detonated in front of the Marriot Hotel on September 20, 2008, in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Five foreign nationals were among the casualties, while another 15 were injured.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Matthys
2009 - Peshawar bombing
A car bomb was detonated in Mina Bazar (a market for women and children) in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The bomb killed 125 people and injured more than 200 others. The Pakistani government put the blame on the Taliban, but both Taliban and al-Qaida denied involvement in the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A Majeed
2009 - Market in Lahore targeted
The December 2009 Lahore attacks were a series of two bomb blasts and a shooting which occurred in a crowded market in the country’s second largest city of Lahore on December 7. At least 66 people were killed. Most of the victims were women.
Image: DW/T.Shahzad
2010 - Suicide bomber targets volleyball match
A suicide car bomb killed 101 people at a village volleyball game in the northwestern district of Bannu.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Azam
2010 - Lahore Massacre
The May 2010 Lahore attacks also referred to as the Lahore Massacre occurred on May 28, 2010, during Friday prayers. 82 people were killed in simultaneous attacks against two mosques of the Ahmadi minority. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Image: Getty Images/N. Ijaz
2010 – Bomber targets market in tribal area
A suicide bomber killed 105 people in a busy market in the northwestern tribal district of Mohmand. The suicide bombing occurred on July 9 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The target of the attack was believed to be a meeting of tribal elders. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Majeed
2011 - Police training center in Charsadda attacked
A double bombing occurred on May 13, 2011, in Shabqadar Fort in the Charsadda District of northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Two suicide bombers killed at least 98 people outside the police training center. At least 140 people were injured. The explosions occurred while cadets were getting into buses for a ten day leave after their training course.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/H. Ahmed
2013 - Peshawar church bombing
On September 22, 2013, a twin suicide attack took place at All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan. It was the deadliest attack on the Christian minority in the country, killing 82 people. The TTP-linked Islamist group, Jundalah, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2014 - Peshawar school massacre
On December 16, 2014, seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The militants opened fire on school staff and children, killing 154 people, including 132 school children. This was the deadliest terrorist attack ever to occur in the country.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/A Majeed
2015 – Gunmen target bus in Karachi
Eight gunmen attacked a bus on May 13, 2015, in Safoora Goth, in Karachi, Pakistan. The shooting left at least 46 people dead. All of the victims were from the Ismaili Shia Muslim minority. Banned militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the shooting. Also, pamphlets supporting the Islamic State terrorist group, with whom Jundallah claims allegiance, were found at the crime scene.
Image: STR/AFP/Getty Images
2016 – Lahore park bombing
On March 27, 2016, at least 75 people were killed in a suicide bombing that hit one of the largest parks in Lahore. The attack targeted Christians who were celebrating Easter. Fourteen of the dead were identified as Christians, while the rest were Muslims. The majority of victims were women and children. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a group affiliated with the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Ali
2016 – Quetta hospital bombing
On August 8, 2016, terrorists targeted the Government Hospital of Quetta in Pakistan with a suicide bombing and shooting that resulted in the death of over 70 People. The fatalities were mainly lawyers who had assembled at the hospital where the body of fellow attorney, Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the Balochistan Bar Association, was brought after he was shot dead by an unknown gunman.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
14 images1 | 14
Analysts believe the negotiations show the government's weakness despite defeating the group militarily.
"The Pakistani state defeated the group militarily in 2015, and while the TTP has been resurgent in recent months, the Pakistani army clearly has the ability to tackle them again," Madiha Afzal, a foreign policy expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told DW.
"The other problem is that the government hasn't taken parliament into confidence and has gone about talks with the TTP unilaterally," she added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party, slammed Khan for not consulting the parliament before initiating talks with the TTP.
Zardari, whose mother Benazir Bhutto, a former premier, was allegedly killed by the Pakistani Taliban, said this important issue needed a broad consensus in the country.
A 'terrible precedent'
Raza Rumi, a political analyst, said Islamabad is following "the US playbook for Afghanistan."
"Instead of continuing an endless battle with the TTP, Pakistani authorities want to find common ground to avoid attacks on state facilities. Also, if they continued to fight the TTP, Islamabad's ties with the Afghan Taliban would be strained," he told DW.
But other analysts believe the TTP cannot be trusted, as in the past it did not fulfill its obligations under the cease-fire agreements.
"The terms of negotiations would have the terrorists granted amnesty in exchange for laying down arms. This means they will not be held accountable for killing tens of thousands of Pakistanis and for terrorizing a nation for the better part of a decade," Afzal said.
"It would also set a terrible precedent for other militant and terrorist groups in the country, as well as would-be terrorists," she warned.
Rumi said the TTP is stronger than ever due to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban's return to power.
"The TTP is in a strong position, and if Pakistan signed an agreement with them, they would be even stronger. The more agreements you make with them, the more you display your weakness. It gives out a message that a powerful state, with a trained military and nuclear weapons, cannot fight the militants," Rumi underlined.
"This policy is not going to be sustainable. Sooner or later, Islamabad will have to rethink its position and approach towards the TTP," he added.
Pakistan: How Islamist militancy wrecked a tribal woman's life
Baswaliha, a 55-year-old woman living in Pakistan's Mohmand district near the Afghan border, lost her husband and a son in militant attacks. Today, fears of the Taliban's return are rife in the area.
Image: Saba Rehman/DW
A hard life
Life is hard for Pakistan's tribal women. For Baswaliha, a 55-year-old widow, life became even more painful after she lost her son in 2009, and her husband in 2010 — both in terrorist attacks. Baswaliha lives in Galanai, a town in the tribal Mohmand district that shares a border with Afghanistan. The area was hit hard by the Taliban insurgency following the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.
Image: Saba Rehman/DW
Attacks from all sides
Baswaliha's elder son, Imran khan, was killed by a local "peace committee" at the age of 23. Baswaliha told DW the anti-Taliban local group killed her son on suspicion of aiding terrorists. Operations by the Pakistani military brought relative peace to the area, but the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of NATO troops has raised fears of the Taliban's return.
Image: dapd
A violent phase
Abdul Ghufran, Baswaliha's husband, died just a year later when two suicide bombers targeted a government building on December 6, 2010. She told DW that her husband went there to receive compensation money for his murdered son. Scores of people lost their lives in the attack. She says that a woman's life without a husband or another adult male is full of risks and dangers in the tribal areas.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Majeed
Not losing hope
Baswaliha struggles to make ends meet. Her village lacks basic facilities, such as gas, steady electricity and the internet. After the death of her son and husband, Baswaliha didn't lose hope. She did not want to live off government aid — a meager 10,000 rupees (€53/$62) per month — that stopped in 2014.
Image: Saba Rehman/DW
Sewing and selling
She wants her remaining children to receive a proper education. "It was not easy. At one point, I started thinking that my life is useless, and I cannot survive in this society," she told DW, adding that women are not even allowed to visit the local market alone in Mohmand district. Sewing is one of her major sources of income. She charges 150-200 rupees to sew a woman's suit.
Image: Saba Rehman/DW
Mandatory male accompaniment
"After the death of my husband, I used to make breads and my small daughters used to sell them to the locals on the main road. Then my daughters grew up a little, and girls 'roaming around' is considered bad in our area," she said. "That's when I started making quilts and blankets and sold them to locals," she added. A male member, regardless of his age, must accompany her to the market.
Image: Saba Rehman/DW
More violence ahead?
There are thousands of families in Pakistan's northern and northwestern tribal areas that have been victims of extremist violence in the region. Abdur Razaq, Baswaliha's brother-in-law, said he still remembers the day when Mian Abdul Ghufran was killed in a Taliban attack. He hopes the tribal areas don't plunge into turmoil and violence once again.
