Never before in the history of Pakistan, the relations of army chief and prime ministers were so confident, tolerable, patient, and cozy. Both General Sharif and Premier Sharif are on the same page and even running their fingers on that page in unison. Whether its the matter of war on terror, or its the matter of Musharraf’s treason case, their working relationship is spotless. Both have been also showing this to the media in ample volume. They have been telecast multiple times on TV screens visiting together Swat, Rawalpindi CMH, Karachi, and at various events in the Islamabad. The due gestures from both towards each others are vivid and magnified on the screens. This sends a very strong signals to the naughty boys within the military and to the turncoats in politics. This is the best thing which is happened in Pakistan after a long time. This is what gives me huge hope that we are going to win this war against terror, and also the other matters would be resolved amicably too.
There are some chronic differences between the politicians and the military top brass but I hope that they will be ironed out too. For example, military is not much warmed up to the idea of talks with the Taliban. FC in Balochistan see little value in giving space to the militants, and Rangers in Sindh want to do an outright operation. On all of these three, the federal and provincial governments want caution, patience, mercy, and table talks. The way both top men in the country are working underlines the hope that things are gonna work alright on those challenges too. The biggest and life-threatening challenge right now is on our Western borders, where terrorism is festering. Earlier it seemed that the Taliban terrorists have got an upper hand psychologically and ideologically. They attacked, media cried, politicians remained confused and there was no retaliation from the military.
But now there is a befitting reply from the military. Right after Bannu and Pindi attacks, terrorists got the shocker of their lives when they were bombed to the ground in Mir Ali, Tirah and Khyber Agency. One great change there was that air-force didn’t make any distinction of good and bad Taliban this time, and attacked them where the intelligence was. It has been conveyed to the so-called ‘good’ Taliban that enough is enough and if they cannot stop or control the bad ones, they are the bad ones too. Recent attacks have given them clear message that either they are with us or they are with them.