Swat deal

Monday, February 23, 2009, Safar al-Muzaffar 27, 1430 A.H

This is with reference to the argument that since the UK negotiated with the IRA and Sri Lanka with the LTTE, there is no harm in talking to the Taliban. What is forgotten is that neither the UK nor Sri Lanka handed over any territory to their rebels, as Pakistan has done in Swat. By allowing militants to retain control of Swat, we have in effect accepted that we are not able to defend the motherland. We shouldn’t be surprised if our major cities are swamped by madressah students demanding that they should be given powers to run the country in accordance with their version of Islam.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi