North Western Pakistan: the New Social Contract

The political Rhetoric in KPK is really frightening. Despite being in journalism I try to keep myself away from politics or at least making it a full time hobby. I must also admit that I am no fan of ANP and do doubt their liberal credentials, as trumpeted in the media all over the world. I also believe that their defeat was more a result of their incompetence and corruption than anything resulting out of the Taliban assaults on their rallies shortly before the elections. The idea of "level playing field" doesn't attract me much. Honestly, they got what they made themselves worth of during the whole incumbency period. This said lets look at what we got. The new leadership in the province has done its best to gain unpopularity as soon as it could. Right from the indecision to nominate the leader of the house, the chief minister, to the interview with BBC pleading for mercy to the terrorist, they have shown their incompetence at every step. Why such haste in nominating the potential CM and then juggling with names to get back to the square one? The bed ridden leader of the PTI team, Imran Khan, seems to be least interested in what is going to happen in the province whose people have given him the majority he has. His provincial team is playing petty, if anything, while the opposition is already claiming the fall within a few months. This is the picture of a part of the world everybody around the globe is interested to know about. The only party sitting pretty is ANP, knowing it doesn't have any role in the game, at least for now. The rest remains active to yell in the fish market. Above all when we look at the important issues debated, things seem too scary. The leader of the house says he doesn't know who the terrorists are and he is ready to give them the respect they ask for. Great. And the former CM, the JUI leader, spells the beans by telling the media that the PTI led government is destined to be doomed. This is no secret. The way things are going these guys might not last long. But the more interesting part of the argument is yet to follow. The very reason for that is that they don't have the recipe for talks with the militants. That sounds interesting. ANP and PPP also failed on this point, the experienced politician from the former MMA claims. Lets accept this argument also. But all this brings us to the most important question, namely, does the qualification to rule KPK lie in being on good terms with the militants? If that is true than what is the need for elections? Why to go through the whole pain of politicking through ballot. Militants, interestingly unknown to the newly nominated CM, are not looking for a dialogue. They are asking for submission. Total submission. Is the new government (or for that matter the opposition) ready to do this? If the answer is yes, then we are into a big mess. The whole world is into a big mess. We don't know how the "New Pakistan" would be like, but the contours of the "New North Western Pakistan" are very clear. Its going to be 'wild", really wild. And this time around it won't be due to the lack of governance, as was the case with the previous government. It would rather get wild due to the "New Social Contract" (let me give it a fancy name). The way it seems to me, the political system is ready to get into a Hobbesian Social Contract with the Taliban (The Leviathan); submitting their basic human rights to them through consensus within the peoples' representatives to achieve the very aim of getting safety for their lives in return. This time around we are not looking for divine rights of the king. But for the divines themselves. You like it or not, this is the way things are moving in that part of God's Empire of the Pure.

Key words: KPK, Fata, Taliban, PTI, JUI, Government, Social Contract, Leviathan.