ISLAMABAD: The killing of two senior army officers by militants on Sunday got a muted response from the PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — the two most vocal proponents of peace talks with the Taliban.
In a brief press statement issued by the media wing of the Prime Minister Office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condoled the death of Maj Gen Sanaullah and Lt Col Tauseef in Upper Dir.
“Pakistan Army has made substantial sacrifices to protect the nation against the menace of terrorism and such cowardly acts by terrorists cannot deter the morale of our armed forces,” he said.
Although the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for killing the senior officers, the prime minister neither addressed the outlawed TTP nor did he say anything how his government would deal with perpetrators of such attacks.
A separate handout issued after the prime minister had called Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the evening, was also silent about the government strategy after the incident. It only said Mr Sharif had conveyed his “heartfelt condolence over the martyrdom of General Officer Commanding Malakand Division Major General Sanaullah, Lt Col Tauseef and Sepoy Irfanullah”.
The statement, like the resolution adopted by an all-party conference on Sept 9, was ambivalent: it neither addressed the TTP directly nor expressed the government’s resolve to get rid of terrorists as Mr Sharif used to say in the past. In his first address to the nation on Aug 19, Prime Minister Sharif had indicated use of force against militants.
Official spokesman for the federal government and the Prime Minister Office, Senator Pervez Rasheed, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
The PTI leadership only condemned the attack and offered condolences to the bereaved families and praised the services of the armed forces, but said nothing about the perpetrators.
In a statement, the PTI instead urged the government to expedite its efforts to implement recommendations of the APC which it believed would help the country re-determine its role in the war on terror.
The PTI statement was also found lacking in hitting out at those who had carried out the attack. It only highlighted how the military and civilians had suffered because of the war against terrorism.
When asked about the reason for government’s subdued response, defence analyst Professor Hassan Askari Rizvi said the new civilian government appeared to have been suffering from “crisis of confidence” vis-à-vis the TTP. Another reason why the prime minister didn’t issue a harsh statement against the attackers was his government’s interest in talks with militants, he added.
“What the ruling party has failed to understand is that the TTP is following a clear ideology while the government views them as a group of annoyed people,” Professor Rizvi said when asked if the government would be able to bring the TTP to the negotiating table.
Explaining why the military leadership has stepped back from its earlier stance of “our war”, he said that since the PML-N had been in favour of talks with militants even before the elections, the army would wait and see until the government exhausted all its option and after that it would put all kinds of pressures on the civilian government for an operation. The main opposition PPP even failed to issue a formal condemnation of the incident. An aide to Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah, who is currently abroad, quoted him as saying that the incident could sabotage the outcome of the APC which had called for a peaceful end to the ongoing militancy in the country.
In his condolence message, President Mamnoon Hussain paid tribute to services of the two officers in defence of the motherland and prayed for their eternal peace. He also expressed his sympathy with the bereaved families.