Blue-eyed scarlet pimpernel
The Frontier Corps comes up with some rather creative names for its military operations. In the Khyber Agency, against the Lashkar-e-Islami, they have had Operation Siratul Mustaqeem, Operation Darraghlum (translated from the original Pashto: Here I come!), Operation Bia Darraghlum (Translated: Here I come again!) and Operation Khwakh Ba De Shum (roughly: Oh, youll like me!).
The one man that the copywriters of the Frontier Corps went on an offensive against, however, is still at large. For three years straight after the series of formal operations started, they seek him here, they seek him there, but they cant find the damned Amir Mangal Bagh anywhere. Or can they?
Granted, a nation bred on conspiracy theories will likely believe in everything but the visible. But as the public of the Khyber Agency and the adjoining Peshawar district will point out, much of the rather curious nature of the operations is clearly visible. The way it was in the original Operation Rah-e-Haq in Swat. In that way, perhaps the Khyber situation is a microcosmic view of the military establishments entire paradigm in the war on terror. Mangal Bagh, it is rumoured, wasnt a foe in the beginning; he just got too big for his shoes. To make things worse, the states response to that was an alternation of retribution and appeasement.
Even if the errant militant leader is killed in the current skirmish, much remains unresolved. Why a professional standing army has not been able to rout out a small ragtag militia much smaller even than the Pakistani Taliban is a legitimate question. Specially considering the fact that the Laskhar Islami also faced opposition from another militant group, the Ansar-ul-Islam. Currently, with the Zakhakhel tribe also up in arms against the LI, following the brutal murder of a popular local cleric, the hunt against the group would have ostensibly become easier. Though there is much opacity in the war on terror in general, the inefficiencies of the Khyber operations in particular are clear for all to see.
