Talks With TTP.

No matter what political controversies, votes of no-confidence and institutional disagreements may go on in the state set-up, on the issue of national security and the agenda of scourging the country of terrorism, all institutions, the parliament and the opposition need to be on the same page. This is why the recent meeting between military leadership and political leaders at the Prime Minister's House was reassuring due to the military's promise to the political leadership that no extra-constitutional concessions would be given to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the ongoing dialogue and any deal made with the terrorist group would be subject to parliamentary approval.

This was imperative in a number of ways. The TTP 'problem' has been a serious cause of suffering and detriment to the country and most of our political efforts to curtail the issue have not been effective. The ongoing ceasefire is a welcome step but also gives way to a highly precarious situation.

Previous ceasefires with the banned group have not proceeded smoothly-the last ceasefire was broken by the TTP for a variety of reasons, some of them owing to the government's indecision and lack of cohesion. While the TTP's excuse the last time, that the government was slow in...