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| Pakistan and its War on Terror | | | Nilesh Kunwar | 10/14/2015 12:06:25 AM |
| While addressing the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan is the victim of terrorism. No one would contest his statement but what did Sharif exactly mean when he spoke of his country being the "primary victim" of terrorism is something that he did not explain. I have become wary of any new quote or phrase that emanates from Pakistan ever since I heard ex President and former army chief Pervez Musharraf proudly proclaiming that "a terrorist for one country is freedom fighter for another." Therefore, absence of any amplification on this new phrase gives me a creepy feeling that if terrorism can have a "primary" victim, then logically speaking it is should also have a 'secondary' victim too. Therefore I suspect that this classification could have some perverse commonality with the equally quirky categorization of the "good" and "bad" Taliban, but that is a story that I'll keep for another day!
Speaking on terrorism, it's the army's long romance with the "good" Taliban that has today made Pakistan a victim of terror. It was only last year that the Pakistan army finally decided to launch a military offensive against terror groups after realising that terrorism had acquired unimaginably alarming dimensions. Regrettably, inspite of its declaration of an all-out war against terror and repeated assurances on its positive outcome, the chances that Pakistan army will be able to quickly and completely eradicate this scourge are slim. This is primarily because terrorism was allowed to take roots and spread the entire country unchecked and due to this terror groups in Pakistan became powerful enough to openly start challenging the writ of the government. That the government of Pakistan which has the 11th most strongest armed forces in the world had to suffer the indignity of having to sit down and attempt negotiating peace with terror groups illustrates just how serious the situation had become.
Terrorism did not engulf Pakistan overnight and nor did it sneak-in undetected by stealth. Ever since the Soviet withdrew from Afghanistan, there were plenty of indicators that provided enough warning of the catastrophe that terrorism could create. But no one in authority cared to take any preventive measures. Here it may be unfair to blame successive governments in Pakistan because they could do nothing as terrorists were considered "strategic assets" under a new military doctrine formulated by the Pakistan army. Hence, the government of the day never had any inkling that some these 'strategic assets' that its own army was rearing would one day turn into a Frankenstein and bleed the nation white! Probably even the Pakistan army may not have initially expected that the "good terrorists" it was fostering would one day turn around and bite the very hands that had fed it. Regrettably, even after this started happening, the Pakistan army failed to gauge the serious consequences of 'good' terrorists turning into 'bad' ones and thus made no efforts to dump its "strategic assets" doctrine.
Today, the Pakistan army is fighting a war of its own making but still it is in no mood to discard its unsound military doctrine and hence continues to be selective while targeting terror groups. This discrimination in Pakistan's war against terror is so evident that in his meeting with Sharif on sidelines of the latest UNGA meet US Secretary of State John Kerry "urged additional action against the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Toiba!" Another mistake that the Pakistan army is making is its highly excessive use of force while targeting terrorists hiding in densely inhabited areas. Pakistan army's North Waziristan campaign has now been going on for over a year and the pressure to complete it at the earliest is understandable. However, in order to achieve this it is placing too much reliance on military means to eradicate terrorism and though this may give good short term results, only using brute force will only exacerbate the situation. Military action against terrorists is essential to degrade their offensive capabilities but hoping to end terrorism exclusively through 'attrition' is being unwise.
Yet it would be incorrect to say that the Pakistan army has not been taking action to 'win hearts and minds' in areas under the influence of terrorists. However, whether these initiatives would ultimately yield any positive results is questionable as the local population has been bearing the brunt of the army's no-holds-barred military operations against terrorists. In the North Waziristan operations the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has stated that the Pakistan army had killed 2763 terrorists till mid June this year. Since the air force played a major role during this period, it would be fair to assume that the majority of terrorists were killed by airstrikes.
The effectiveness of Pakistan air force (PAF)can be assessed by the results of its predawn airstrike on 15 June last year during which as many as 80 (some say 105) terrorists were killed. Even today, going by conservative estimates the high intensity PAF campaign is still averaging the 'neutralisation' of at least a dozen terrorists every month. Whereas the ISPR keeps us abreast with terrorist casualty figures, it has never reported occurrence of civilian casualties due to airstrikes. Could it be possible that there has been no 'collateral damage'? This is unlikely as collateral damage during airstrikes against terrorists resulting in civilian casualties on account of pilot error and ordnance malfunction is unavoidable. Furthermore, when airstrikes are being carried out continuously for more than a year, there is no way in which collateral damage can be avoided! US led NATO forces have not been able to achieve 'zero' collateral damage in Afghanistan and neither has Russia been able to avoid collateral damage while targeting the IS in Syria. Hence, it is hard to believe that the PAF has been able to accomplish what is practically impossible!
There is something else that raises strong suspicions that the ISPR is being economical with the truth and this is the army's refusal to allow independent media to report on the North Waziristan operation. Islamabad has been 'selling' this campaign to the world as proof of its unconditional commitment to combat terror in all its manifestations as claimed by PM Nawaz Sharif at the recent UNGA meet. It is because of this that maintaining a veil of secrecy over what Sharif proudly referred to in his UNGA address as "the largest anti-terrorism campaign against terrorists anywhere" is incomprehensible. Pakistan army's unfathomable aversion to permit reporting on its ongoing operation in North Waziristan raises suspicion that this may be to prevent skeletons from falling out of the army's cupboard. Why else should be Islamabad be so secretive about it is publicising as its war on terror which has as per its own declaration has no parallels?
This blanket ban on reporting by independent media in North Waziristan becomes even more worrisome as the track record of Pakistan army as far as respecting human rights during anti terrorist operations are concerned is not very encouraging.
Whenever media is denied access to an area where the Pakistan army has been active, I again get a creepy feeling as I am reminded of the Tootak area in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan. It was in January 2014, that three mass graves containing 169 human remains were unearthed here. While the exhumation process was still underway, the Pakistan army quickly moved in and taking control over this area prohibited entry of the media. Why this was done needs no elaboration as the fact that only three corpses could be identified says it all. It would however be wrong to cast any aspersions on Pakistan army as the judicial commission probing the Tootak mass graves has absolved the armed forces and intelligence agencies of responsibility in the case!
Returning to the ongoing North Waziristan operation, there are people talking about high civilian casualty figures but there is no evidence to substantiate such rumours. Even if instances of civilian casualties do come to light once this military operation concludes and these claims are duly supported by dependable evidence, the Pakistan army has no reason to fret. Undoubtedly, judicial commissions will be formed to investigate the allegations but as the inquiries progress, witnesses will either rescind their statements 'voluntarily', turn 'hostile' or simply 'disappear'.
Then, after discounting the testimony of these 'unreliable' witnesses, the judicial commission will proceed to absolve the army of any wrongdoing in North Waziristan as was done in the Khuzdar mass graves case.
One must never forget that even though it may be unconstitutional and undemocratic, but the army in Pakistan still enjoys absolute immunity against any wrongdoings! Actually it due to this heady combination of absolute power and authority without any accountability that is preventing the Pakistan army from completely eradicating terrorism despite having the capability to do so! |
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