Pakistanis see talks as only way to end violence

By Robert Birsel - Analysis

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistanis increasingly see talks with Islamist militants as the only way to end a rising tide of violence, but it's far from certain the militants want to listen.

More than 500 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of this year, raising fears about stability in nuclear-armed Pakistan and presenting a new government being formed after elections last month with a daunting problem.

"The only way is to have a dialogue," said a government official involved with policy in ethnic Pashtun tribal areas on the Afghan border, where militants fighting against both the Pakistani and Afghan governments are based.

Under pressure from the United States and other countries battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan has sent about 100,000 troops to tribal lands on the border but the attacks have only intensified.

Militants have struck in all major Pakistani cities over the past year and they assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as she left an election rally on December 27.

"We have used force for quite some time and have not been able to achieve anything," said the government official, who declined to be identified. "Any amount of force you bring in is only going to get sucked in."

The opposition parties that won last month's parliamentary elections and are now forming federal and provincial governments have also said they want to push talks, although it is the military that calls the shots in the war on terror.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman said last week they would be ready for talks with a new government but days later Pakistanis were shocked when a suicide bomber attacked a traditional tribal council, or jirga, that had gathered to discuss security in the Darra Adam Kheil region in the northwest, killing 42 elders.

"It's unprecedented. It's a statement about the lack of respect for local tribal decision-makers and the decision-making framework," said a Western diplomat.

"We could be seeing a group of people distanced and disconnected from the traditional norms and customs who are sufficiently powerful they think they can survive blood feuds."

FREE HAND

There are also questions about who authorities might talk to. The militants are a diverse bunch from disaffected Pashtuns to sectarian militants from elsewhere in Pakistan to central Asian and Arab al Qaeda supporters.

But central to any attempt to negotiate would be the jirga, the most respected institution in Pashtun society, where tribal elders have the moral authority to make binding decisions on issues such as peace and expelling the foreign militants.

"The jirga is the only institution that can be effective, there's no other way," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a veteran journalist and expert on Pashtun affairs based in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

But the attack on the jirga appeared aimed at undermining any effort on talks.