TFT: Situation in Waziristan a disaster for the Pakistani army
Bordering on disaster
Imtiaz Gul
What is going on in the Waziristan region: are we better off today or has the situation deteriorated? Most analysts say it is the latter. The region remains in turmoil, the hunt for alleged terrorists and their local hosts continues, and the local tribesmen live in uncertainty, driven by fear of the militants on the one hand and the army on the other.
“Two years after the Pakistani Army began operations in border tribal areas to root out members of Al Qaeda and other foreign militants, Pakistani officials who know the area say the military campaign is bogged down, the local political administration is powerless and the militants are stronger than ever,” reported the New York Times on January 19, adding that “the militants – who call themselves Taliban – now dispensed their own justice, ran their own jails, robbed banks, shelled military and civilian government compounds and attacked convoys at will.”
Despite the presence of some 80,000 army soldiers and thousands of tribal militia in the seven tribal agencies, North and South Waziristan in particular have been on fire for the past three months or so. In December alone, local tribesmen took the “law” into their own hands and executed about two-dozen people allegedly involved in criminal offences like murders, extortion and liquor and narcotics businesses.
In the December 16-22 issue of TFT, we reported that “The wave of abductions, including that of Hayatullah Khan, a journalist based in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, and extortions by gangs at various points, has sparked angry protests and resulted in public hangings of the alleged criminals. The public executions, stunning as they were, took place in the presence of army and civilian officials and have raised serious questions about the government’s capacity to deal with the area where it has deployed troops.”
The NYT also touched on this issue recently, saying that Pakistan’s military had become “more cautious” about emerging from its bases in North and South Waziristan. “The civilian administration is so hamstrung that the senior government representative in South Waziristan does not even live there,” wrote the paper.
An army source disputed these projections, saying that the army was doing its job and moves whenever and wherever it smells mischief. However, a senior intelligence official familiar with and responsible for the region told TFT in Peshawar that the “government exists only on paper; the ground realities are totally different”.
Taking a look at statistics compiled in the last two years, the picture becomes a little clearer. During 2005, in North and South Waziristan, as many 108 pro-government tribal elders including four Maliks or elders, at least four government officials, informers and two local journalists lost their lives to unknown snipers. North Waziristan agency, during the second half of 2005, witnessed 25 bomb blasts, the deaths of 35 security personnel and 21 local tribesmen, 32 sniper and rocket attacks on FC and Army camps and the demolition of 200 houses suspected for sheltering militants. As many as 10 journalists working for national and international media organisations have shifted to Dera Ismail Khan. Most journalists tell us they have requested their papers to publish their resignations so that all combatants know they are no more in business. Two have left for Dubai.
The growing influence of militants and resultant insecurity have forced tribesmen in the restive North and South Waziristan agencies to migrate to adjacent districts of the NWFP. People domiciled in North Waziristan say indiscriminate shelling by the security forces on non-combatants has caused large-scale displacement of tribesmen from Mirali and Miranshah. Hundreds of families are now forced to live with relatives in Bannu, Karak and Dera Ismail Khan districts and even in Peshawar following the intense hide-and-seek between the military and the militants.
Another senior journalist from Wana, now living in DI Khan, told TFT that he feels threatened even in DIK. “There is no hope of remaining safe if we keep reporting on the activities of the militant groups and the role of the administration,” he said.
In Tank, a district near South Waziristan, some groups have distributed pamphlets asking the people not to deal in un-Islamic electronic gadgets and CDs. The pamphlet warns that the violators of this order would face dire consequences. This is an area with police and provincial administration fully in place.
“If one were to synthesise these trends, it seems that disapproval of Pakistan’s foreign policy and a rejection or dislike for America combined with an oppressive system are factors that, in tandem, are fuelling anti-government, anti-military sentiment in the tribal areas. They also provide ammunition to the militants,” said an analyst.
After the war on terror, the Pakistan government had a great chance to transform FATA (federally administered tribal areas) by abolishing the colonial heritage of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). This, however, was not done. Bringing these areas under the law of the land would have given the majority of local tribesmen a sense of belonging to Pakistan.
“If left to the whims of a corrupt bureaucracy and 34,000 odd Maliks, who by implications are subservient to the Political Agent and thus politically impotent, reform will never be possible because they [Maliks] will always find justifications to perpetuate the system,” said an observer. “After the war on terror, the surgical search and surveillance operations in these areas should have been followed by policy changes. Instead, a hot-headed corps commander, Lt-Gen Safdar Hussein – completely alien to tribal sensitiveness – was put in place to provoke the sensitive tribal egos,” he added.
Now, in the absence of an indigenous political process, diplomatic skills, and little control over finance management, no number of military personal will ever be able to stem the tide of Talibanisation in the tribal areas.
Imtiaz Gul
What is going on in the Waziristan region: are we better off today or has the situation deteriorated? Most analysts say it is the latter. The region remains in turmoil, the hunt for alleged terrorists and their local hosts continues, and the local tribesmen live in uncertainty, driven by fear of the militants on the one hand and the army on the other.
“Two years after the Pakistani Army began operations in border tribal areas to root out members of Al Qaeda and other foreign militants, Pakistani officials who know the area say the military campaign is bogged down, the local political administration is powerless and the militants are stronger than ever,” reported the New York Times on January 19, adding that “the militants – who call themselves Taliban – now dispensed their own justice, ran their own jails, robbed banks, shelled military and civilian government compounds and attacked convoys at will.”
Despite the presence of some 80,000 army soldiers and thousands of tribal militia in the seven tribal agencies, North and South Waziristan in particular have been on fire for the past three months or so. In December alone, local tribesmen took the “law” into their own hands and executed about two-dozen people allegedly involved in criminal offences like murders, extortion and liquor and narcotics businesses.
In the December 16-22 issue of TFT, we reported that “The wave of abductions, including that of Hayatullah Khan, a journalist based in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, and extortions by gangs at various points, has sparked angry protests and resulted in public hangings of the alleged criminals. The public executions, stunning as they were, took place in the presence of army and civilian officials and have raised serious questions about the government’s capacity to deal with the area where it has deployed troops.”
The NYT also touched on this issue recently, saying that Pakistan’s military had become “more cautious” about emerging from its bases in North and South Waziristan. “The civilian administration is so hamstrung that the senior government representative in South Waziristan does not even live there,” wrote the paper.
An army source disputed these projections, saying that the army was doing its job and moves whenever and wherever it smells mischief. However, a senior intelligence official familiar with and responsible for the region told TFT in Peshawar that the “government exists only on paper; the ground realities are totally different”.
Taking a look at statistics compiled in the last two years, the picture becomes a little clearer. During 2005, in North and South Waziristan, as many 108 pro-government tribal elders including four Maliks or elders, at least four government officials, informers and two local journalists lost their lives to unknown snipers. North Waziristan agency, during the second half of 2005, witnessed 25 bomb blasts, the deaths of 35 security personnel and 21 local tribesmen, 32 sniper and rocket attacks on FC and Army camps and the demolition of 200 houses suspected for sheltering militants. As many as 10 journalists working for national and international media organisations have shifted to Dera Ismail Khan. Most journalists tell us they have requested their papers to publish their resignations so that all combatants know they are no more in business. Two have left for Dubai.
The growing influence of militants and resultant insecurity have forced tribesmen in the restive North and South Waziristan agencies to migrate to adjacent districts of the NWFP. People domiciled in North Waziristan say indiscriminate shelling by the security forces on non-combatants has caused large-scale displacement of tribesmen from Mirali and Miranshah. Hundreds of families are now forced to live with relatives in Bannu, Karak and Dera Ismail Khan districts and even in Peshawar following the intense hide-and-seek between the military and the militants.
Another senior journalist from Wana, now living in DI Khan, told TFT that he feels threatened even in DIK. “There is no hope of remaining safe if we keep reporting on the activities of the militant groups and the role of the administration,” he said.
In Tank, a district near South Waziristan, some groups have distributed pamphlets asking the people not to deal in un-Islamic electronic gadgets and CDs. The pamphlet warns that the violators of this order would face dire consequences. This is an area with police and provincial administration fully in place.
“If one were to synthesise these trends, it seems that disapproval of Pakistan’s foreign policy and a rejection or dislike for America combined with an oppressive system are factors that, in tandem, are fuelling anti-government, anti-military sentiment in the tribal areas. They also provide ammunition to the militants,” said an analyst.
After the war on terror, the Pakistan government had a great chance to transform FATA (federally administered tribal areas) by abolishing the colonial heritage of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). This, however, was not done. Bringing these areas under the law of the land would have given the majority of local tribesmen a sense of belonging to Pakistan.
“If left to the whims of a corrupt bureaucracy and 34,000 odd Maliks, who by implications are subservient to the Political Agent and thus politically impotent, reform will never be possible because they [Maliks] will always find justifications to perpetuate the system,” said an observer. “After the war on terror, the surgical search and surveillance operations in these areas should have been followed by policy changes. Instead, a hot-headed corps commander, Lt-Gen Safdar Hussein – completely alien to tribal sensitiveness – was put in place to provoke the sensitive tribal egos,” he added.
Now, in the absence of an indigenous political process, diplomatic skills, and little control over finance management, no number of military personal will ever be able to stem the tide of Talibanisation in the tribal areas.
posted by India News Watch at 11:49 AM
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