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`Only political leadership can change militant mindset`

By Our Staff Reporter 2015-02-02
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Sunday organised a meeting of intellectuals and opinion-makers to have their input on the impact of the 21st constitutional amendment.

Those who attended the meeting organised by PML-N Media Coordinator Muhammad Mehdi included Wajahat Masood, Khalid Faroogi, Ataur Rehman, Salman Abid, Sajjad Mir, Prof Amjad Magsi, Najam Wali Khan, Farooq Chohan, Lateef Chaudhry and Slaman Ghani.

Mr Mehdi on the occasion said prime minister swallowed bitter pill of military courts in the `larger national interest` though Nawaz Sharif himself had been a victim of such an arrangement.

Political analyst Wajahat Masood said the prevailing situation led a segment of society to believe they could achieve their goals only through the use of force. This mindset, he said, could be changed by the political leadership and not the military.

Differing with an opinion expressed by a participant that the army chief`s recent tours abroad and meetings with the heads of states was tantamount to encroaching upon the mandate of the civilian government for framing the foreign policy, Mr Masood said he did not believe that the domain of foreignLAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Sunday organised a meeting of intellectuals and opinion-makers to have their input on the impact of the 21st constitutional amendment.

Those who attended the meeting organised by PML-N Media Coordinator Muhammad Mehdi included Wajahat Masood, Khalid Faroogi, Ataur Rehman, Salman Abid, Sajjad Mir, Prof Amjad Magsi, Najam Wali Khan, Farooq Chohan, Lateef Chaudhry and Slaman Ghani.

Mr Mehdi on the occasion said prime minister swallowed bitter pill of military courts in the `larger national interest` though Nawaz Sharif himself had been a victim of such an arrangement.

Political analyst Wajahat Masood said the prevailing situation led a segment of society to believe they could achieve their goals only through the use of force. This mindset, he said, could be changed by the political leadership and not the military.

Differing with an opinion expressed by a participant that the army chief`s recent tours abroad and meetings with the heads of states was tantamount to encroaching upon the mandate of the civilian government for framing the foreign policy, Mr Masood said he did not believe that the domain of foreignpolicy had ever been transferred back to the politicians since 1977.

Mr Faroogi said the political leadership seemed weak in the process of making the amendment which, he believed, was made in the constitution on the army`s demand. Through this, he said, the army had been accepte d as the most powerful part y.

He said it also exposed `hollowness of the judicial system` and the so-called initiatives taken by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to strengthen and improve the judiciary.

Salman Abid feared the extremists might benefit from the `cracks` that had appeared within the parliament after earlier consensus on the amendment. He, however, lamented the `insincerity` of the government which, he said, gave a clean chit of health to religious schools (madressahs) in Punjab, ignoring the reports ofintelligence agencies.

Punjab University Professor Amjad Magsi said the amendment was not a brainchild of politicians, therefore, it lacked political consensus. He said Nawaz Sharif had been taking extra constitutional measures in the past for dealing with law and order as in his two earlier tenures he had introduced special and anti-terrorism courts. He stressed the politicalleadership should take ownership of the action against terrorism.

Farooq Chohan said the objection to army chief`s foreign visits wasmisplaced in the absence of a foreign minister since the PML-N government came into power as the Foreign Office was being run by a couple of advisors. He said the amendment was framed in a haste and the government should have taken the PTI, JUI-F and Jamaat-iIslami on board before going for the all-important legislation.

Sajjad Mir asserted that Islamabad had found a golden opportunity because of realisation in Washington that the US alone could not handle the region and it should support Pakistan in eliminating the scourge of terrorism. For the purpose, he said, the US supported the Zarb-i-Azb operation.

Ataur Rehman called for eliminating the confusion that whose war the country was fighting and the authorities must clearly state that it was a `joint US-Pakistan war on terror`. Referring to the allegations being leveled by certain quarters about the `proxy war` being fought by two Muslim countries in Pakistan, he lamented that the government was not raising the issue at diplomatic level with the states concerned.

Anchor person Najam Wali Khan regretted that some political parties showed `hypocrisy` by first agreeing to the amendment during the allparty conference and then changing their stance in the parliament. He said nowhere in the world security situation could be handled without the armed forces` help.