Vaishakha Shudha Pratipada
The view expressed in the article is of writer & need not be taken as HJS's views. – Editor
By B Raman
Pakistan's tribal areas have turned into a safe haven for terrorists and, worse, the Government wants to give them a free hand
One police officer and three civilians were killed and 30 injured in a car bomb explosion between a police station and a hotel in Mardan in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan on April 25. The police station building collapsed due to the impact of the explosion.
Mardan is the home town of the new NWFP Chief Minister, Mr Amir Haider Hoti, who belongs to the secular (friendly to India) Awami National Party. The ANP, which is a regional Pashtun party, emerged as the single largest party in the provincial Assembly election held on February 18; it also did well in the election to the National Assembly in Islamabad. It is a member of the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani of the Pakistan People's Party, which assumed office in Islamabad a month ago.
Mr Hoti is the nephew of ANP president Afsandyar Wali Khan. His selection by the party leadership for the post of Chief Minister was criticised by some party circles, who viewed it as family favouritism, but this has not created any enmity to him.
The responsibility for the explosion is reported to have been claimed by a spokesman of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. He projected it as in reprisal for the death of a commander of the Tehrik at the hands of the local police. The explosion came two days after Baitullah Mehsud, the South Waziristan-based Amir of the TTP, had circulated leaflets in the Mehsud area asking his followers to observe a ceasefire in view of the talks going on with some emissaries of the Government on a possible peace agreement.
The explosion also came some days after the NWFP Government, as a gesture to the TTP, had released Maulana Sufi Mohammed, the founder-Amir of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) of the Malakand division, who had been detained in 2002 when he and his followers returned from Afghanistan after having sustained heavy casualties in an American air strike. They had rushed into Afghanistan to help the Taliban and Al Qaeda after the US had launched its Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001. The TNSM was subsequently banned by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
During his detention, his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah – also known as Maulana FM Radio because of his use of an FM radio station for mobilising his followers – assumed control of the TNSM. Under his leadership, the TNSM joined the TTP and contributed volunteers for the wave of suicide strikes in tribal and non-tribal areas after the commando action ordered by Gen Musharraf from July 10 to 13, 2007, to free the Lal Masjid in Islamabad from the control of jihadi elements close to the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Even before the February 18 election, the previous Government had Sufi Mohammed transferred to a hospital from the Peshawar jail after the TNSM followers of Fazlullah rose in revolt in the Swat Valley and took to arms against the Army in retaliation for the Lal Masjid commando raid. The Army's efforts to use him to restore peace in the Valley failed. While the Army was able to free those areas of the Swat Valley, which had come under the de facto control of Fazlullah and his followers, it was not able to neutralise him and his followers, who managed to escape into the mountains and have been operating from there.
After his release by the new Government, Sufi Mohammed has called for an end to the attacks on the security forces. It remains to be seen what following he still commands from his former followers and to what extent his son-in-law is amenable to his influence. Moreover, Sufi Mohammed has been having many health problems. It is, therefore, doubtful whether his release would have any significant impact on the ground situation.
The Mardan explosion also came after a month of lull in terrorist strikes in areas outside the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas. The lull had given cause for hope that the wave of Pashtun anger in the tribal areas triggered off by the commando action of the Special Services Group in the Lal Masjid might be showing signs of subsiding. The commando action allegedly resulted in the death of 200 tribal students studying in the madarsas attached to the masjid. This anger set off a wave of Pashtun suicide terrorism not only in FATA and the Swat Valley, but also the non-tribal areas, including in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Tarbella, Sargodha, etc. Benazir Bhutto paid with her life at Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, because of Pashtun anger against her due to her support for the commando action.
During the last one month, there were no acts of suicide terrorism anywhere in Pakistani territory, but there were sporadic acts of non-suicide terrorism in the FATA. The indications of the dilution of the anger were attributed to the overtures made by the ruling coalition in Islamabad to the tribal elders constituting the TTP, through the Pashtun constituents of the coalition such as the ANP and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam Pakistan headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman.
These overtures have been accompanied by hints that the new Government intends reviewing the counter-terrorism policies followed by the Army under Gen Musharraf, when he was also holding charge as the Chief of the Army Staff. These policies, which blindly aped the American model of over-militarisation of counter-terrorism, were viewed – and continue to be viewed – by many as having led to an 'Americanisation' of Pakistan's counter-terrorism policies without regard to the impact on the internal security and stability of Pakistan.
While the coalition Government has welcomed the US offer of assistance for the economic development of the FATA, it has not reacted positively to US suggestions that in addition to the economic development, a programme should be undertaken for special training to the Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces such as the Frontier Corps in counter-terrorism in order to re-orient them to their counter-terrorism role, which till now has received low priority in preference to their conventional role against India.
While reacting positively to all proposals for upgrading the counter-terrorism equipment now available with the Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies, the coalition is averse to any major US role in training the Pakistani forces for operations against jihadi terrorists.
Both India and the US have reasons to be concerned over the demands being made in Pakistan to reduce the pressure on terrorist organisations and restore the status quo ante as it was before Operation Enduring Freedom started. If the jihadis have their way, India will be the first to feel the impact and the US thereafter. The developing situation requires close monitoring.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/
