Source: Dawn.Com
THE government’s ardent pursuit of talks with the Taliban has largely been met with stoicism from the army high command — until now. Publicly, the army leadership has been keen to play up its deference to the constitutional chain of command and accept whatever decision the civilian leadership takes. Privately, however, the army has been very concerned — and, for once, rightly so. The government’s approach to talks has been dismally supine and defensive and there has been little indication it understands the implications of its actions or the damage it may cause to the fight — and yes, it is a fight, war even — against militancy. In the aftermath of the killing of a general though, the cracks have broken through to the surface and in full public view. Yesterday, Gen Kayani spoke bluntly about not caving in to the demands of terrorists and forcefully underlined the army’s resolve to defeat the terrorists militarily.