Pakistan’s unending war on terror in scenic Swat
Nasim Zehra

PAKISTAN'S Swat challenge is mounting. To protect their lives and properties the people of Swat increasingly need protection of the State’s law enforcement agencies. With the army stationed there, the people look for protection to survive and to go around their normal daily routine. They need protection against militants who freely roam the streets of Swat. They dictate their own terms and destroy at will.
Swat is not the location of major bloody battles. It has not been the terrain where suicide bombings have killed, maimed and terrorized people. Yet fear has rapidly spread. By killing symbols of State, policemen, local administrators and others, the militants have terrorised the local population. Government employees, including policemen, teachers and lady health visitors (LHV) walk around with resignations in their hands. In case militants hold them, they can produce these resignations to avoid being kidnapped, killed or punished. Furthermore to avoid becoming targets of militants’ wrath the LHVs are announcing through advertisements in local newspapers like Azadi that they have resigned.
People are terrorised. In addition to occasional high-profile political killings, for about the last three weeks targeted killings have also begun. Those killed include policemen, social activists, ordinary citizens, political people and citizens.
Almost daily one or two people are killed and their dead bodies, with slit throats, are placed in public locations. Without fail a note demanding that the body not be removed before midday is left on the body. No one dares to violate this instruction.
Intimidated by the deteriorating security conditions at least 200,000 of Swat’s 1.7 million population have left valley. The local influentials who can financially and socially afford the exit option have exited. Major political families from Swat, including that of an ANP provincial minister from Matta, the Nazim of Swat’s family and families of most ANP and PML-Q elected representatives have all abandoned the valley. Union council ward level officeholders are giving in their resignations. The civil administration, even in urban Swat, including Mingora,
Kuzabandi, Imamdheri, Chaharbagh, Barikot and Saidu Sharif, is non-existent.
Curfew is imposed on Swat between 10 pm and 6 am. From 11 am to 4 pm, the army and whatever is left of the police, is present in the city. At sundown for fear of travelling in the dark people begin heading home. Even in the army’s presence people are scared. Even in Mingora city people at work lock their doors. Journalists operate in total fear. According to one: “I have fear that if I talk to anyone it may go to the militants.” In this acutely volatile and deteriorating security situation people’s mobility is greatly restricted.
Movement to Mingora from Matta and Khawaza Khela is tedious. Similarly, movement on the Sangota side from Shangal to Khawaza Khela and from Mingora to Kalam valley has also become very difficult, especially after the suicide bombing.
Main bridges and main roads are either closed down or with excessive security checking vehicles’ movement takes place at snail’s pace. People complain that check posts merely add to people’s inconvenience without ever nabbing any militants.
Burning of schools was unheard of in Swat and over 200 have been torched. The main source of livelihood for the locals, hotel and tourism, is at a complete standstill, if not almost destroyed.
The question that most residents of Swat may well ask is what, after all, has the army’s presence done for the security of the locals? Despite the army’s presence the situation has deteriorated. The army maintains the ANP’s post-election accord with the militants gave them time to regroup and re-strengthen themselves.
The party in government in NWFP, the Awami National Party took the dialogue route. That too has not helped to normalise life in Swat. The ANP-Militants negotiations and subsequent agreement has not reduced the insecurity. On elements of the agreement there were differences between the ANP and the army. For example, release of militants. The army was against it. The ANP recalled prior release of militants by the army to secure release of soldiers by militants in Waziristan.
ANP has been criticised for entering into dialogue with the militants. Many wondered how those involved in civilian killings could help the civilian administration “uphold the writ of the State.” The ANP believes, and perhaps correctly, that as a political force it had to give dialogue a chance. However, the Army and ANP’s inability to devise a unified approach towards dialogue also contributed to the strengthening of the militants.
Meanwhile, the non-political locals, including social activists, media personnel and influentials who were mindful of their own experiences, have been complaining since the beginning of 2008 that the militants have an agenda which they will not give up as part of any peace deal with the ANP. They wanted closure of schools, women being kept away from any public places, including schools.
Throughout 2008 many complained that the government institutions were unable to prevent the militants strengthening themselves. In Swat people kept complaining that weapons were flowing into the city, but no one stopped the flow. They complain the ANP never understood the nature of the problem while the army never went after them but in a half-hearted manner.
Many argue that the army’s strategy has never made sense to the locals because they have never managed to weaken the militants. For example, the army had people vacate Kuzabanday and Kabal. Then they bombarded their houses. There were minimal casualties and after the operation the militants walked away, intact and undiminished. The population returned to the destroyed houses. Similarly, people complain that the army has not been able to support those locals who stood up against the Taleban.
If the army’s presence has not helped enhance security, the elected representatives too have not delivered the promised peace and prosperity. The federal and provincial governments, with input from the army, need to go back to the drawing board to jointly outline a policy that will as a starter provide security to the people of Swat.

—Khaleej Times

No more ‘do more’
Amjed Jaaved

PAKISTAN'S operations in Federally-Administered Tribal Areas have brought the region into media limelight. Pakistan has deployed about one lac troops in the "no-go tribal areas" (ilaga ghair) along the border with Afghanistan to forestall inward and outward movement of al-gaeda's or other organisations' fighters.
Pakistan had to pay a heavy cost for cooperation in the 'war on terror'. During the two years, 2007-2008, alone, the country lost over 1,000 soldiers and about 4000 civilians. Over 10,000 members of law-enforcing agencies sustained injuries.
The economic cost of co-operation also was very heavy. The war arrested economic growth. The economy began to slide downwards. The country has suffered a cumulative loss of about Rs. 678 billion during the last five years and as much as two to three trillion rupees during the previous decade.
During the Afghan war, Pakistan provided basing and over-flight facilities to coalition forces. More than 57, 000 US military sorties originated on Pakistan's territory. The Afghan war played havoc with law-and-order situation in Pakistan. Because of security considerations, the much-needed foreign investment became shy to enter the country. Afghans began to migrate to Pakistan. Their number rose to about six million. About 2.6 million Afghan refugees still live in Pakistan.
After fall of the talibaan rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan had to cope with insurgency in FATA. The rugged terrain is inhabited by natives who are born warriors. Because of their fiercely indomitable nature, even conquerors like Alexander, Babur, et al had great difficulty in subduing them. The British controlled about 20 per cent of the tribal area. The area remained isolated from the British-ruled main territory. The area is also called yaghistan, the land of the defiant (Pakistan now controls over bulk of the area. Despite the Englishman's vigorous efforts to woo the tribal people, the tribal areas remained a "forbidden land" (ilaqa ghair) mired in ironclad traditions.
The situation in North West Frontier Province has begun to affect the whole of country. Pakistan lost more soldiers in operations against the militantsthan the coalition and Afghan forces. Bomb blasts and suicide bombings have begun to take place throughout the country (<http:llipripak.orglfactfles/ff104.pdf>).
Pakistan has been doing its best. Suspected satellite telephone transmissions, e-mails and other internet traffic are being tracked, Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in key arrests of Abu Zubaydah, al-gaeda's field commander (March 28, 2002); Ramzih bin al Shibh, planner of September 2001 terror attacks on the USA (September 11, 2002); Khalid Habib, a deputy to Al Qaeda's No 3 leader Shaikh Saiid AI-Masri who was a veteran combat leader and operations chief involved with plots to attack the West; Rashid Rauf, who was accused of planning to send terrorist operatives with homemade liquid bombs onto several airliners flying from Britain to the US and Canada in 2006; Abu Khabab AI-Masri, Al Qaeda's most seasoned explosives expert and trainer who was responsible for attempts to obtain chemical and biological weapons; Abdallah Azzam, a senior aide to AI-Masri, who founded a charity front based in Pakistan called Maktab Al-Khidamat; Abu Al-Hassan AI-Rimi, a leader of crossborder operations against US-led forces in Afghanistan; Abu Sulaiman Al-Jaziri, a senior external operations planner and facilitator for Al Qaeda; Abu Jihad AlMasri , al-gaeda's senior operational planner and propagandist; and Usama AlKini , who was accused of planning the Marriott hotel bombing.
As the result of Pakistan's efforts, the militants and their harbourers are on the run. The intensity of attacks on government's forces is waning. Already, people in some areas have organised peace-keeping lashkars to ward off talibaan. Pakistan arrested and handed more than 700 al-Qaeda fugitives to U.S. authorities. A tribute to Pakistan's sincere cooperation is that the tribal areas are no longer regarded as a safe haven by 'terrorists'. This fact has been admitted even by the British foreign minister during his recent visit to Pakistan.
Even after having done so much, some of Pakistan's 'friends' have been calling upon Pakistan to 'do more'. This demand reflects lack of understanding of the tribal terrain. The northwest tribal belt is the region between Oxus and Jamuna, It lies along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, 32-58 to 35-00 north latitude and 69-15 to 71-50 east longitudes between Durand Line and the administered districts of the NWFP. The tribal area is about 27,220 square kilometers and is equivalent to about three per cent of Pakistan's territory. Pakistan has dotted the Pak-Afghan porous border with check posts. But, it is not possible to plug all the loopholes.

Obama playing poker brilliantly
Naomi Wolf

IN his inauguration speech, President Obama addressed the challenges facing the American people, the spirit of the US Founding Fathers and hailed a new era in foreign policy. I know that Barack Obama is incredibly smart, and it’s not that I’m surprised that he gave a fantastic speech. But I’ve been following American politics for a long time, and sometimes you see something that works on so many levels that you kind of have to gasp at its sophistication.
This speech marked a sharp line in the sand, breaking overtly with the past administration. That message was clear and intentional. It is a much more confrontational approach than inauguration speeches have typically been in America. I am overjoyed.
I thought Obama did three things impressively. Firstly, he sounded a note of our dire circumstances that was in line with a reality that many have been in denial about. That is technically brilliant, because he’s inheriting a mess, and he’s telling people, “We’re not going to dig ourselves out of this easily.” But also, “Don’t blame me for it all.” The second was that he reasserted the primacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. With Bush sitting behind him, that was like showtime at the OK Corral. It is going to take a grassroots movement to support him in reasserting the rule of law, because there are so many vested interests that stand opposed to it. But that was a shot across the bows.
Thirdly, most amazingly, I feel that he dialed down the threat level of the US with just a few sentences. He reached out a hand to the Muslim world. For Obama to say, “I’m not going to demonize you” — that is extraordinarily stabilizing.
On top of all that, he gave plenty of red meat to the right, honoring the military and their sacrifices. The choice of the conservative, anti-gay marriage pastor Rick Warren to pray sent a message to the conservative base of the opposition that this is going to be a values-based presidency, that he’s not going to dismiss the substantial proportion who opposed Democrats not because they disagreed with their economic policies, but because they disagreed with how amoral our policies have often been presented as being. It is not how I would wish for things in an ideal world. But Obama is playing poker brilliantly, because he has handed over something that is not very valuable. And he did all of this without a single partisan sentence. He spoke about Republican policies, but not Republicans. He isn’t missing a trick. I thought it was a home run.
The great leaders in the US weren’t the cheerleaders who promised morning in America. They were the ones that forced us to look in the mirror. Since Reagan there has been this tradition, which has become a cliche, of promising morning in America, this fake optimism, we’re the best, the city on the hill.
In fact the great American task is self-scrutiny. Abraham Lincoln gave speeches about the civil war in which he said, in essence, “We’ve brought this on ourselves by enslaving Americans.” Obama’s speech was a diagnosis: “We have to take steps to rebuild our nation.” I’m not saying, “Hooray, he offered a tough, dark recognition of our reality.” I’m saying “Hooray” because he has recognized that the only way to save America is to confront it.

—Arab News