Need for openness

The people of Pakistan are being required to pay a heavy price for the change in policy. The military operations have caused considerable dislocation of the local population. According to the PM's Interior Adviser, about 300,000 people from FATA have been rendered homeless. There have been reports of non-combatants falling victim to shelling and air attacks by helicopter gunships and planes. This has caused an uproar and led to protests in Bajaur. A large number of the displaced persons consists of women and children, who have been lodged in makeshift shelters having insufficient facilities. Suicide attacks which had ceased after parleys with the militants have again started, taking place avowedly as retaliation against military operations. Two major suicide attacks this month have taken a toll of over one hundred innocent lives. What Senator Joe Biden, now running-mate of Democrat Presidential nominee Barack Obama, has said about FATA being the central front in the War On Terror, indicates that Pakistan will continue to pay a heavy price unless it persuades the US that what is needed to deal effectively with militancy is a holistic policy, rather than quick fixes.

Had Admiral Mullen not told the media about the meeting between the US and Pakistani top brass, we would still have been in the dark about it. One fails to understand why authorities in Islamabad do not take into confidence their own people who are directly effected by decisions taken at such meetings.