THE prime minister flies to Karachi, holds a meeting, called apex meeting, at a luxuriously decked-up table, with the army chief and all the dignitaries to say that the government is ‘determined’ to end terrorism in the country and more particularly in Karachi. Six to seven million rupees are spent on the PM’s trip just to say that?

With IMF loans haunting us, power breakdowns, and crisis after crisis falling on us like a hailstorm, the prime minister had to take the trouble to go to Karachi to give us this hackneyed and meaningless message. This sounds funny.

Who has questioned the government’s determination? Who has called for the prime minister’s clarification? But I am sure the PM’s multiple advisers must have told him that the people want to know what concrete steps have been taken to wipe out terrorism.

The time for political statements, hackneyed rhetoric and eyewash terms and statements is over. What we need are positive steps to undo what we in the first place should not have done.

A. Mirza

Lahore

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

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