Another bloody year passes, hopes fade for peace in 2013

Pakistan witnessed another bloody year as suicide attacks and bomb blasts claimed hundreds of lives in the country in 2012. Target attacks in Karachi and Balochistan also killed many people this year.

Hopes of a peace process are fading as the Pakistani Taliban have ruled out surrounding arms in their last week video.  Chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or the TTP, Hakimullah Mehsud, appeared in the video to say Taliban will talk but will not lay down arms, the offer rejected by the government’s ministers.

The killing of 21 kidnapped security men by the Taliban on Saturday prompted anger across the country. They were abducted on Thursday by armed Taliban after they launched an attack on two check posts near Peshawar, that were manned by nearly 100 paramilitary militia. Taliban’s Darra Adam Khel area had claimed responsibility for the attack and kidnapping of the security personnel.

The Thursday’s Taliban attack was the third major in Peshawar in two weeks. The Taliban attacked the PAF base in Peshawar and also killed senior minister Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Bashir Bilour. Hakimullah Mehsood also announced more attacks on Bilour’s ANP.

The series of latest Taliban attacks and announcement to keep on this policy has faded any hopes for the peace in the new year when the country will head to elections in few months. The threat will remain a big challenge for the new government.

Officials say terrorism has already claimed lives of about 40,000 people and 5000 security men since Pakistan has participated in the US-led international coalition in 2001.

In 2012, a group of Taliban attacked the country’s major aeronautical complex in Kamra in Punjab province in August.

In April Taliban launched attack a prison in Bannu and freed nearly 400 inmates, including the main suspect of attacks on former President Pervez Musharraf.

Taliban attack on 14-year-old schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, in Swat in October, shocked many in and outside Pakistan.

Besides Taliban attacks, political and sectarian killings continued in Karachi and Balochistan. Rival ethnic groups and banned extremist groups blamed each others for the target attacks.

Series of attacks on polio vaccination teams in the country by the militants in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also raised concern about the campaign in Pakistan,  which is one of three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic, the World Health Organization says.

There had been no let up in the U.S. drone attacks in Waziristan tribal areas despite Pakistan’s public condemnation and American spy aircraft rained missiles the whole year.

The outgoing year had been a challenge as Pakistanis face the worst energy crisis in summer with hours of power outage. People took the streets across the country that also led to riots in some areas. Pakistani rupee devalued and and one point in December,  one dollar exchange rate was almost 100 rupees for the first time in the country’s history. High fuel and CNG prices and gas shortage multiplied miseries of the people.

Pakistan Peoples Party had been involved in feud with the judiciary but the crisis was ended after the government agreed to send a letter to the Swiss authorities for the reopening of graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in November.  The Supreme Court disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani as prime minister in June after his refusal to accept the court’s repeated orders for dispatching the letter.

Pakistan and the United States, after series of hectic talks, finally removed irritants in bilateral relationship in July when Islamabad unblocked its supply lines for NATO forces in Afghanistan after the U.S. tender apology over the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a U.S. air strike in November 2011. Washington released some 700 million dollars to Pakistan from the Coalition Support Fund after suspension of two-and-half years. The decision was considered as as restoration  of military ties between the two countries.

Pakistan’s relations with India has also seen substantial improvement in 2012 as they signed a liberalized visa accord and Pakistan granted the long-due status of the Most Favored Nation to India. Both countries also resumed bilateral sports ties as Pakistan’s cricket team is now touring India for first time in five years.

Pakistan and Afghanistan also inched toward normalizing relations. Pakistan also released several Afghan Taliban prisoners and Kabul welcomed the move as a first practical step towards peace process in Afghanistan.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Dec 31 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.