Implementing the resolution

Despite earlier reservations, the fortnight long in-camera briefing on national security by the government functionaries to the joint sitting of the Parliament yielded a consensus anti-terror resolution. The conflict of interest even amidst the various members of the ruling coalition was discouraging. The leader of one group demanded equal opportunity for the leaders of the terrorist groups to present their point of view to the Parliament. Another coalition leader has sought refuge in safer climes after an unsuccessful attempt on his life by a suicide bomber targeting his hujra while he was receiving well wishers on the occasion of Eid.

All said and done, there is hope for democracy to prevail as the magnitude of the trauma facing Pakistan was finally grasped by the august members of the Senate and National Assembly, with the unanimous passage of the epoch-making a 14-point resolution bringing across to the government through Article 1, the need for an "urgent review of our national security strategy and revisiting the methodology of combating terrorism in order to restore peace and stability to Pakistan and the region through an independent foreign policy." Endorsing the anti-terror resolutions is only the tip of the iceberg. The political parties are on board, while the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani expressed the army's commitment to it while addressing the passing-out parade of 118 PMA Long Course.