ID :
181250
Tue, 05/10/2011 - 15:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/181250
The shortlink copeid
Ignored FATA
Asif Haroon Raja
_, May 10, 2011 (Pakistan Observer): War on terror fought by Pakistan Army at the behest of USA became the biggest source of economic drain and a cause of social imbalance. Musharraf employed regular troops in South Waziristan (SW) for the first time without carrying out in-depth analyses and ground preparations. On and off policy fluctuating between launching military operations and signing peace deals allowed the militants to shift, regroup and strike back with greater vengeance.
By the time the Army moved into North Waziristan (NW) in 2005, the militants in tribal belt duly reinforced by Al-Qaeda elements had become more organized and trained. CIA and RAW thwarted all attempts of reconciliation and kept inflaming terrorism. Army’s Employment against own people lowered its image in the eyes of the people of the tribal area.
Wrongful sacking of chief justice Iftikhar in March 2007 and bloody Lal Masjid operation in July plunged the popularity of Musharraf and also lowered the standing of the Army. In retaliation to the deaths of men, women and children at the hands of security forces in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafza, rate of suicide bombings jumped up substantially and urban centres were targeted.
Raised emotions of the youth of lower class enabled Baitullah Mehsud to speed up recruitment and form Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007. Jihadi groups banned in 2001/02 started linking up with TTP and terrorism engulfed Pakistan. By 2008, the Army started losing space to the militants and a sort of dreariness crept in among lower ranks since many thought that the Taliban were on the right.
High lifestyle of the opulent class, their outlandish behaviour towards the have-nots but total compliance to Washington’s dictates, and rapid growth of liberalism under the garb of enlightened moderation became other causes of frustration, dejection, and resentment among the dispossessed. Subservience of judiciary, the police and other law enforcement agencies to the rulers and insensitivity towards the poor as well as arrogance of government officials towards them were other reasons which perturbed them. Their growing bitterness and sense of hopelessness fuelled religious extremism.
The dispossessed got further despondent when change over from one-man dictatorship to democracy in February 2008 didn’t bring any change in their lives. In fact, things began to worsen with every passing day under the rule of elected rulers. GDP tumbled to below 3% while inflation shot up to 15%. Sky rocketing price spiral, gas and electric load shedding, shortage of food items, record breaking corruption, high rate of unemployment, diminishing openings for the educated youth, bad governance and near absence of accountability of the wrong doers further distressed them.
Efforts of NRO cleansed rulers to retain PCO judges and to keep upright and clean judges out brought the people on the streets for the second time in a span of two years and frustrated their sinister designs. However, as a consequence to pro-rich and anti-people policies pursued by the ruling regime, menace of terrorism kept expanding.
In 2008, the militants in northwest with the assistance of foreign powers had gained a psychological edge over security forces. They had gained strength in FATA, most settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat and suburbs of Peshawar. Fazlullah’s men had terrorized the people of Swat through cruel acts. Talibanization had made inroads in southern Punjab wherefrom sizeable number of militants had joined TTP.
At that critical stage when the overall situation looked gloomy, certain positive developments had taken place. The judiciary under chief justice Iftikhar had become independent and assertive; the Army’s reins had come in the hands of Gen Kayani; the ISI had smelt the rat and had started taking counter measures against CIA And FBI’s unchecked activities; the media and civil society had become vibrant; foolproof arrangements for security and safety of our nuclear and missile assets had been made and there was complete harmony between all the services of armed forces. In Afghanistan, despite the troop surge, Helmand operation had failed and reverses had occurred in Nuristan. Scales had decisively tipped in favour of Afghan Taliban.
It will be recalled that soon after taking over as COAS in November 2007, Gen Kayani had announced that the Army will not have any role in the elections other than providing security. He withdrew all officers seconded to civil departments, started low intensity operations training in regiments, appointed right kind of senior officers in combat zones and took extraordinary welfare measures to boost the morale of lower ranks. These steps prepared the Army to take on the challenge of faceless enemy more robustly.
Non-implementation of February 2009 peace accord by Maulana Sufi and Maulana Fazlullah and their expansion to Buner and lower Dir changed the perceptions of the people and their sympathies gravitated towards the military. Unanimous resolution of National Assembly to fight the anti-state militants with full force coupled with peoples support helped the Army in launching a decisive operation on 28 April 2008. It achieved outstanding results in the critical battles of Swat and SW. Stronghold of Bajaur too was successfully pacified.
These three hard fought operations in which the Army and Frontier Corps suffered heavy losses not only broke the back of the militants and disarrayed the TTP; it took the steam out of the hostile propaganda of the west that the militants were on the verge of takeover of the state and the nukes.
It forced the militants and their patrons to affect a change in their strategy by shifting the main weight of terrorism from the frontiers to urban centres where mosques, shrines, ISI offices, police and other soft targets were targeted. Recommencement of militancy in Mohmand Agency and recent spate of suicide attacks in several cities are a result of continued support of foreign powers to the militant organizations and failure of our government to remove the inequities of the tribal belt. Drone attacks are also fuelling terrorism.
Families of victims of drones and suicide attacks have not been compensated. Despite government’s rhetoric, drone strikes are continuing. Bulk of displaced persons from SW living in make shift camps since September 2009 as a consequent to Operation Rah-e-Nijat have yet not returned.
Very little has so far been done to alleviate the suffering of the people of FATA. Only small scale development works under army supervision are in progress. George Bush administration had promised duty free export to the US goods produced in special industrial zones set up in FATA. The ROZ bill was sent to the Congress for approval twice but it couldn’t materialize into law due to stiff opposition by the US textile industry. The US has again forward the ROZ bill but chances of its approval are slim.
FATA must be brought in the mainstream as in the case of Gilgit-Baltistan. Old demand of the tribesmen to appoint a Governor for their region should be met and hateful FCR amended speedily. Decision to open a cadet college in Wana is a good step but many other suchlike projects are required. Modern educational and technical colleges, health facilities, vocational centres, factories and business centres are required to be opened to make all the seven tribal agencies more prosperous and to remove their sense of deprivation.
Besides forcing USA to stop drone attacks, security of peaceful residents as well as anti-militant lashkars should be ensured. Cross border movement of foreign agents from neighbouring Afghan provinces like Kunar, Paktika, Khost and Paktia to be blocked. There is also a need for an awareness drive through psychological operations to highlight perverse role of those among tribesmen misguiding teenagers to become suicide bombers. Until and unless ignorance and sense of deprivation are removed by providing greater job opportunities and the region developed on a crash program, extremism and terrorism will keep growing.
The writer is a retired Brig and a defence analyst.
_, May 10, 2011 (Pakistan Observer): War on terror fought by Pakistan Army at the behest of USA became the biggest source of economic drain and a cause of social imbalance. Musharraf employed regular troops in South Waziristan (SW) for the first time without carrying out in-depth analyses and ground preparations. On and off policy fluctuating between launching military operations and signing peace deals allowed the militants to shift, regroup and strike back with greater vengeance.
By the time the Army moved into North Waziristan (NW) in 2005, the militants in tribal belt duly reinforced by Al-Qaeda elements had become more organized and trained. CIA and RAW thwarted all attempts of reconciliation and kept inflaming terrorism. Army’s Employment against own people lowered its image in the eyes of the people of the tribal area.
Wrongful sacking of chief justice Iftikhar in March 2007 and bloody Lal Masjid operation in July plunged the popularity of Musharraf and also lowered the standing of the Army. In retaliation to the deaths of men, women and children at the hands of security forces in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafza, rate of suicide bombings jumped up substantially and urban centres were targeted.
Raised emotions of the youth of lower class enabled Baitullah Mehsud to speed up recruitment and form Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007. Jihadi groups banned in 2001/02 started linking up with TTP and terrorism engulfed Pakistan. By 2008, the Army started losing space to the militants and a sort of dreariness crept in among lower ranks since many thought that the Taliban were on the right.
High lifestyle of the opulent class, their outlandish behaviour towards the have-nots but total compliance to Washington’s dictates, and rapid growth of liberalism under the garb of enlightened moderation became other causes of frustration, dejection, and resentment among the dispossessed. Subservience of judiciary, the police and other law enforcement agencies to the rulers and insensitivity towards the poor as well as arrogance of government officials towards them were other reasons which perturbed them. Their growing bitterness and sense of hopelessness fuelled religious extremism.
The dispossessed got further despondent when change over from one-man dictatorship to democracy in February 2008 didn’t bring any change in their lives. In fact, things began to worsen with every passing day under the rule of elected rulers. GDP tumbled to below 3% while inflation shot up to 15%. Sky rocketing price spiral, gas and electric load shedding, shortage of food items, record breaking corruption, high rate of unemployment, diminishing openings for the educated youth, bad governance and near absence of accountability of the wrong doers further distressed them.
Efforts of NRO cleansed rulers to retain PCO judges and to keep upright and clean judges out brought the people on the streets for the second time in a span of two years and frustrated their sinister designs. However, as a consequence to pro-rich and anti-people policies pursued by the ruling regime, menace of terrorism kept expanding.
In 2008, the militants in northwest with the assistance of foreign powers had gained a psychological edge over security forces. They had gained strength in FATA, most settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat and suburbs of Peshawar. Fazlullah’s men had terrorized the people of Swat through cruel acts. Talibanization had made inroads in southern Punjab wherefrom sizeable number of militants had joined TTP.
At that critical stage when the overall situation looked gloomy, certain positive developments had taken place. The judiciary under chief justice Iftikhar had become independent and assertive; the Army’s reins had come in the hands of Gen Kayani; the ISI had smelt the rat and had started taking counter measures against CIA And FBI’s unchecked activities; the media and civil society had become vibrant; foolproof arrangements for security and safety of our nuclear and missile assets had been made and there was complete harmony between all the services of armed forces. In Afghanistan, despite the troop surge, Helmand operation had failed and reverses had occurred in Nuristan. Scales had decisively tipped in favour of Afghan Taliban.
It will be recalled that soon after taking over as COAS in November 2007, Gen Kayani had announced that the Army will not have any role in the elections other than providing security. He withdrew all officers seconded to civil departments, started low intensity operations training in regiments, appointed right kind of senior officers in combat zones and took extraordinary welfare measures to boost the morale of lower ranks. These steps prepared the Army to take on the challenge of faceless enemy more robustly.
Non-implementation of February 2009 peace accord by Maulana Sufi and Maulana Fazlullah and their expansion to Buner and lower Dir changed the perceptions of the people and their sympathies gravitated towards the military. Unanimous resolution of National Assembly to fight the anti-state militants with full force coupled with peoples support helped the Army in launching a decisive operation on 28 April 2008. It achieved outstanding results in the critical battles of Swat and SW. Stronghold of Bajaur too was successfully pacified.
These three hard fought operations in which the Army and Frontier Corps suffered heavy losses not only broke the back of the militants and disarrayed the TTP; it took the steam out of the hostile propaganda of the west that the militants were on the verge of takeover of the state and the nukes.
It forced the militants and their patrons to affect a change in their strategy by shifting the main weight of terrorism from the frontiers to urban centres where mosques, shrines, ISI offices, police and other soft targets were targeted. Recommencement of militancy in Mohmand Agency and recent spate of suicide attacks in several cities are a result of continued support of foreign powers to the militant organizations and failure of our government to remove the inequities of the tribal belt. Drone attacks are also fuelling terrorism.
Families of victims of drones and suicide attacks have not been compensated. Despite government’s rhetoric, drone strikes are continuing. Bulk of displaced persons from SW living in make shift camps since September 2009 as a consequent to Operation Rah-e-Nijat have yet not returned.
Very little has so far been done to alleviate the suffering of the people of FATA. Only small scale development works under army supervision are in progress. George Bush administration had promised duty free export to the US goods produced in special industrial zones set up in FATA. The ROZ bill was sent to the Congress for approval twice but it couldn’t materialize into law due to stiff opposition by the US textile industry. The US has again forward the ROZ bill but chances of its approval are slim.
FATA must be brought in the mainstream as in the case of Gilgit-Baltistan. Old demand of the tribesmen to appoint a Governor for their region should be met and hateful FCR amended speedily. Decision to open a cadet college in Wana is a good step but many other suchlike projects are required. Modern educational and technical colleges, health facilities, vocational centres, factories and business centres are required to be opened to make all the seven tribal agencies more prosperous and to remove their sense of deprivation.
Besides forcing USA to stop drone attacks, security of peaceful residents as well as anti-militant lashkars should be ensured. Cross border movement of foreign agents from neighbouring Afghan provinces like Kunar, Paktika, Khost and Paktia to be blocked. There is also a need for an awareness drive through psychological operations to highlight perverse role of those among tribesmen misguiding teenagers to become suicide bombers. Until and unless ignorance and sense of deprivation are removed by providing greater job opportunities and the region developed on a crash program, extremism and terrorism will keep growing.
The writer is a retired Brig and a defence analyst.
