Taliban resurgence threatens political incorporation of tribesmen
the excitement of these being the first polls in which political parties are contesting elections in Pakistan’s tribal regions has waned by some of the growing violence. The areas of Bajaur, Wana and Orakzai – all swept by the Taliban and retrieved after extensive military operations spanning the last decade – are seeing a time of a flurry of election activity. While on the one side, the impending general elections represent a time of celebrating a return to normalcy, the other side of the election spectrum calls on the people of the tribal regions to reflect on the drastic affects of the decade-long militancy on their livelihoods and loved ones. One must remember that these are the areas that have been under siege, at times by the Taliban and its splinter groups, on others by the military, and still remain subject to the Frontier Crimes Regulations and the Actions in Aid of Civil Power 2011 Act that place it outside the law of the land.
Perhaps changing these should have been the political agenda of the candidates contesting elections, but it appears not as most just appear glad for the restoration of a semblance of peace. But a semblance of peace it merely is as the rocket attack on a political gathering in the NA-41 constituency on South Waziristan’s Wana area on Thursday that left two people injured showed once again. While military officials continue to tout the emptied caves of Damadola, which the Taliban used as a base camp, the legacy of the decade-long war is an ongoing one: with fizzing drones and rocket attacks not an unexpected occurrence. The former war zone is still the site of many a battle as the ongoing operation in the Tirah Valley shows. It is encouraging to see the female candidate, Badam Zari, in the Bajuar Agency receiving media limelight coming out and stating, “The welcome accorded to me in Bajaur Agency indicates that people will make me successful.”
The fact that people have come out against the Taliban for being “anti-Pakistan” has shown that the Taliban have lost the political capital it accumulated in the regions during the early days of the militancy. The tribal regions are all set for elections. The Kurram Agency is known to be amongst the few regions where around 62 per cent people turned up at polling stations in the 2008 elections. With the Taliban politically isolated, the army is the one calling the shots in the region. But these elections mean that political parties shall get their first foray into managing the politics of the tribal regions. With the PML-N, PPP, PTI and JUI-F all fielding strong candidates, it is only the force of the Taliban that appears to be the only threat to stop the tribal people from being incorporated into the political system of Pakistan.