Farrukh Khan Pitafi’s Official Website « The Taliban-Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman coalition

The Taliban-Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman coalition

Coalition politics is one of the most difficult of products of democracy. To win over and and take a huge number of differing parties along is quite an onerous task. While in most cases the coalitions that are formed prove welcome news for the masses, sometimes urgency of government formation also leads you to align with a person or a party which plays a crucial role in undermining your political goals. There is no better example of this than the JUI-F and its leader Maulana Falur Rehman.
Maulana Fazl is an ambitious man who has always been ready with any group which promises him the seat of the Prime Minister. This makes him quite an untrustworthy ally. If you do not make him the premier and yet he sits with you on the treasury benches the odds are that he may ditch you or conspire against you whenever there is a tempting offer. Then why was he made an ally this time? As I have pointed out earlier formation of a coalition government is no child’s play. Government formation in Balochistan was indeed very difficult so he was taken on board. But it is a decision that should be seriously reflected upon.
In fact Maulana started working against the coalition the very day the prime minister took vote of confidence and delivered his speech in which he also talked of the religious seminary reform. We remember that Maulana spoke in response expressing his reservations on the abolition of the dark laws of FCR and the prospects of Madrassah reform. It should be remembered here that these religious seminaries is the most important source of power and money for the Maulana and his party. While a huge sum of unaccounted money comes from uncountable local and foreign sources comes to his party in the name of these Madaris, the students here are so brainwashed that it becomes impossible for them to appreciate any perspective other than that of their leader.
Interestingly in the same speech the premier also vowed to resolve the Tribal Areas issue through dialogue which was immediately well received even by the Taliban who showed their readiness to enter in unconditional dialog.
We must remember that the word Taliban literally means students of the religious seminaries. And it is not a coincidence that the Taliban belong to the same sect and creed as that of the Maulana. It was after about twenty four hours that the Taliban started changing their position and demanded the introduction of the Shariat law. It is otherwise clear that such a course of action was not in their own interest for there has been a lot bloodshed in the tribal areas and the Taliban also want some kind of peace. Why would the Taliban then start showing rigidity. It seems that the Maulana’s agents convinced them to take a maximalist position.
It certainly suits him that the issue of religious activism is not resolved and the coalition dominated primarily by secular parties is viewed as a hostile regime in the tribal areas. That would mean that while more human beings are killed and then coalition unravels, he remains in the good books of all. Now this position suits two other groups namely the opponents of peace in the tribal areas and Musharraf. The former is a class of foreign dignitaries, intelligence operatives and military men. It seems that the world has decided to finally dismantle Pakistan that is exactly why no one wants peace in the country. Meanwhile the latter (ie Musharraf) does not want anything that enhances the prestige of the ruling coalition to succeed. And the sooner the new government fails the better position he will be in to bring back his own clique. Unfortunately people like Maulana also do not care about the country’s future. What matters to them the most is that their own interests are preserved.
Another aspect of this sordid tale is the punishment of the Karzai regime. Karzai, some say tired of the never ending bloodshed, had welcomed the talks between the Taliban and neighboring Pakistan. This did not go down well with the neocons. That is why they wanted to create an environment where Karzai government feels it is being threatened by the Taliban. Through what appears to be a nexus between Fazlur Rehman and Musharraf’s appointed ISI chief the neo-cons are using the Taliban to step up their militant activities in Afghanistan and by doing so sealed the fate of peace in our tribal areas and in Afghanistan. In fact people like Jim Hoagland have already started arguing again for an invasion of Pakistan. If the coalition government fails, Musharraf and his allies may win a momentary win but the country’s fate would be sealed. Our religious politicians like Fazl and militants like the Taliban in their sheer stupidity are only serving the cause of those who want them and us the citizens of Pakistan dead.