Pakistan is in the grip of a multitude of problems, economic crisis, energy shortage, stoppage of water by India, suicide bombers targeting military and political leaders along with civilians, and the ongoing military operations to crush insurgency in the tribal belt. The government is trying to get a grip over things and in order to build a consensus on evolving a strategy on how to tackle the dual menace of terrorism and extremism; it invited both the Houses of the Parliament for detailed briefings and discussions. Unfortunately, debate has been replaced by dissension. The House is divided on whether the exercise is fruitful or not? Instead of putting their collective wisdom to resolving the crisis, worthy members of the House are engaged in being at odds over trivial matters. For example, according to newspaper reports, a respected member of the opposition bench, clashed with the articulate minister for information on "whether a woman's evidence is fully admissible in Islamic Law?" The situation reminds one of the fall of the Muslim Empire in Spain, when Ferdinand and Isabella's forces were on the doorsteps of Granada, but the royal Muslim courtiers were preoccupied in debate over trivial matters. The advent of Talibanisation of Pakistan's tribal belt is being discussed by various scholars and analysts. Sajjad Anwar, in his article Confused about Taliban? The Good Taliban, The Bad and the Ugly, says that there used to be one Taliban, the Afghan one. The new Taliban you see today are not only fake, but also penetrated by the spy agencies of several countries. Their target appears to be Pakistan. Others have given their own version on the status of the rot that has set in, but there can be no two opinions that it has to be stemmed. The tribal culture, which has been in place for centuries and was effective in maintaining law and order in the tribal belt, has been eroded by the ingress of the three categories of Taliban mentioned earlier. Tribal elders wielded real power in the system and through a system of jirga (a council of elders), meted out punishments to offenders and maintained tribal discipline. The government's representative, the political agent, sustained liaison between the tribal elders and the government. The system was accepted by the British during their rule of the Indian sub-continent and was even endorsed by the Quaid after Pakistan's independence in 1947. Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and a system of collective punishment, which was dealt to the whole tribe for any offender of a tribe, provided a deterrent to would be reprobates. The system received a serious jolt last week, when a gathering of some 3,000 tribesmen and tribal elders in Khadezai area in the upper Kurram tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, was disrupted by a suicide attacker blowing up his explosive-laden vehicle, killing more than 100 and wounding over 300 others. This was the first such bloody attack on a tribal jirga which was meeting to devise a strategy by forming a tribal lashkar (tribal army which implements jirga decisions) which will take action against the Taliban headquarters in the Khadezai area. The government wants to set-up lashkars, comprising tribals, who can defend themselves from the onslaught of the Taliban and take action against their incursion and disruption of the tribal way of life. The attack was meant as a warning to those tribals who were contemplating joining the lashkar. Hopefully their spirits have not been dampened. There has been severe criticism by the religious political leaders, who have been demanding the cessation of attacks on the Taliban stronghold in the tribal region and resorting to resolving the problem through dialogue. It should be understood that dialogue is only successful if executed from a position of strength. However, another whiff of fresh air appeared when a meeting of the Muttahida Ulema Board Punjab held in Lahore at Auqaf Secretariat last Wednesday and the Muttahida Ulema Council, which met also at Lahore a day earlier, issued a unanimous decree (fatwa) declaring suicide attacks in Pakistan as haram (unlawful) and najaez (unjustified). The Muttahida Ulema Council statement has asserted that "only the state has the authority to call for jihad (holy war), and individuals or groups are not authorised to do that." There is no textbook solution to this deep crisis, and it will require a combination of tact, guile and selective use of force, but importantly, the collective will of the political leaders to tackle the problem of Talibanisation, wholeheartedly. The writer is a political and defence analyst