The military must be extended complete support
The government of Pakistan has given a political directive to the Pakistan army for a ‘full scale’ operation in North Waziristan area of FATA (Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas and the centre of gravity of the Taliban insurgency under the umbrella organisation Tehreek Taliban Pakistan — TTP). According to the defense minister the operation will be against ‘local and foreign terrorists’ and will continue till ‘the last terrorist has been eliminated’. This announcement signals the end of the dialogue with the Taliban — a dialogue that never really took off and that the Taliban and others scuttled by vicious attacks — the most spectacular being the attack on Karachi airport.
The government’s directive to the military spells out the objective, the scale and the dimensions of the operation. The military has opted for a land-air strategy to implement the directive and in a major air strike 105 militants — ‘mostly Uzbek’ — have been killed. The operation has been code named Zarbe-i-Azb — that being the name of the sword of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him). Details of the operation are — and should remain — classified but a buildup of weapon systems and surveillance means, fire power, ground troops including special forces and the devastating 24 hour accuracy of air strikes is already obvious. The nation is firmly behind the armed forces and all political parties are supportive except one or two that have chosen to either oppose the operation or sit on the fence.
Both India and Afghanistan should not allow planned and orchestrated provocations to distract them from cooperating with Pakistan.
There are clear indications that the operation has been preceded by an external maneuver. The resumption of drone strikes, the visit by the army chief to Afghanistan for a trilateral meeting (US, Afghanistan and Pakistan), the prime ministers’ overtures to India, the continuous interaction with China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the formal request to Afghanistan to seal its side of the border all point to a well thought out strategy based on the correct assumption that Pakistan needs external support and cooperation to complete a task that is in regional and extra regional interest. Considering the fluid and rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East, the US and UK must note that the Pakistan-Afghanistan region is the one area where a concerted operation can achieve total victory over terrorism and thereby give Pakistan and Afghanistan much needed stability.
Both India and Afghanistan should not allow planned and orchestrated provocations to distract them from cooperating with Pakistan. Within Pakistan various planned political activities like train marches, street protests, sit-ins, etc, should all be put on hold for as long as the operation is underway, because such activities provide cover for movement of people and resources to be used in terrorist acts. The government has already pledged full support to the armed forces but they will also need support from the US, the UK and all the NATO countries. Vicious organisations like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and East Turkmen Islamic Movement (ETIM) with worldwide agendas found sanctuaries in North Waziristan and established operational bases there linking up with the TTP and criminal mafias involved in kidnapping, extortion, robberies, and drugs and weapons smuggling. Sectarian and other attacks have been used to destabilise Pakistan’s urban areas to give them an environment for operations like the TTP-IMU jointly owned attack on Karachi airport. If this trend remains unchecked then linkages with the events unfolding in the Middle East cannot be ruled out.
The Pakistan army has taken over the security of Islamabad, a sensitive jail and possibly other places and will probably be overseeing the security situation in the country because the Taliban and their partners will use proxies to retaliate in urban areas.
The Pakistan army has taken over the security of Islamabad, a sensitive jail and possibly other places and will probably be overseeing the security situation in the country because the Taliban and their partners will use proxies to retaliate in urban areas. Such retaliation will unmask those with anti Pakistan agendas and make them legitimate targets for law enforcing agencies and judicial prosecution. Pakistan’s security and economy is linked not just to the end of the insurgency in FATA but also to the situation in its urban areas that threatens infra structure and human security. This internal battle is a battle that the ministry of interior needs to fight with all state resources — both federal and provincial. The Inter Service Intelligence Agency (ISI) should be made the lead agency for all intelligence coordination till futuristic plans can be implemented and all personal reservations put aside in the national interest. Zarb-i Azb needs total support.
