Without which we won’t succeed
On Wednesday General Raheel Sharif expressed the resolve in South Waziristan that the army would return to barracks only after it had completely eliminated terrorism from Pakistan’s soil. Presently the target of Operation Zarb-e-Azb are the terrorist pockets in and around the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. Despite the two tribal agencies having been mainly cleared of the terrorists, they still continue to launch sporadic attacks from their hiding places. The army is also keen to clear the country’s urban areas of terrorists, their financiers, helpers and sympathisers. What is more the army still faces the arduous task of rehabilitating the displaced tribesmen to their respective agencies. To ensure that the terrorists do not manage to sneak back into the agencies, elected local bodies have to be introduced to keep an eye on them besides dealing with day to day affairs and resolving internal conflicts.
The army has an arduous task. To fulfill it satisfactorily there is a need for maintaining and further strengthening national consensus against terrorism and extremism. For this the army leadership has to ensure that its attention is not diverted even for a short while to any red herring. Issues like corruption or misuse of power have to be handed over to the institution having the training and the expertise to deal with white collar crime. Police and civilian intelligence agencies are already playing an important role in helping to locate and nab the terrorists in urban areas. These institutions need to be further strengthened and modernised.
Any interference at this time in the system or attempts to undermine the elected government through political engineering would be counter-productive. It would divide the public and make the establishment controversial both at home and abroad. There is a dire need at this time on the part of the army to join hands with the government and the opposition parties to crush the terrorists and extremists.