Finally, a crucial issue is settled

Despite denials by the government regarding the contents of a story published in an English daily and its rejection as a fabrication, the paper concerned insists that many at the helm of affairs are aware of the senior officials and participants of the meeting who were contacted by the newspaper for collecting information, and more than one source confirmed and verified the details. If true, the government needs to put its own house in order to stop the leakage of ‘sensitive’ information rather than put the reporter on the ECL.

Another statement issued by the government after a high level meeting on Monday makes one thing abundantly clear i.e., the army and the agencies rather than the government are leading the war on terror. The clarification removes confusion if there was any regarding the issue of who formulates the policy regarding terrorism and decides how to implement it.

That’s bad news for Punjab government, which had tried hard to block the deployment of Rangers in the province. Good news for federal government as it removes the element of ambivalence that has surrounded the issue so far The Interior Minister has been pestered with questions regarding why certain terrorist groups working under new names were allowed to collect funds and deliver fiery speeches. When former Taliban chief Mullah Mansour was killed inside Pakistan’s territory, the Interior Minister was held answerable regarding how the much wanted terrorist leader managed to acquire the Pakistani CNIC and passport. In future the Interior minister would be able to absolve himself by maintaining that the matters related to terrorist networks or terrorist leaders do not lie under the purview of the civilian government. If the Reuters report regarding the stay of the present Taliban chief Mullah Haibuitullah in the suburbs of Quetta is true queries are likely to be made from those who matter regarding how a man with a high position in the Taliban hierarchy managed to teach and preach in the seminary for 15 years till 2015 without ever coming on the radar of the powerful security agencies.