You think the government seriously wants to talk? It was a campaign promise, an easy one for the government to make because Nawaz Sharif knew that no matter how seriously he tried to start talks, the militants would never do so in good faith.
Nawaz is playing it very well. He's looking to the people as though he's desperately trying to make talks, all the while knowing that this would always be completely impossible. He can carry out the same policies as the governments before, all the while appearing to be trying to fulfill his campaign promise of a different path.
The government needs to adopt a policy soon, as we have already lost thousands of people. The only issue is that the state itself is confused, you can't keep friendly militants and enemy militants as their roots are the same.
The government needs to adopt a policy soon, as we have already lost thousands of people. The only issue is that the state itself is confused, you can't keep friendly militants and enemy militants as their roots are the same.
That's simply not true. There's ample evidence outside of the country, and throughout history (especially during the cold war)...
There's one of two possibilities here. First, the militants are out of control. Second, they are not. The former case it's quite obvious how to deal with the problem...bring them under control or eliminate them. The second is the one that scares me...and it may explain why the (elected) government is powerless or not very keen to tackle the problem.
Last year 18 people died in a similar attack on a bus in the same place. A teacher who was critically wounded in that attack but recovered died in today's blast