Expecting tribesmen to expel militants is farce: By Jan Assakzai
It is a strange logic as the presumption here is that as if the tribes are protecting these militants, or they are providing shelter. On the other hand, the army spokesman declared victory in South Waziristan that the Taliban have been dislodged.
How come these tribesmen can get rid of these militants when they themselves (tribesmen) are under virtual occupation. Pakistan has always obsolved itself of the responsibility of having a militant infrasctructure in FATA. It is a known fact that these militants were so poweful that they simply killed the anti-militant maliks, political activists and journalists.
The agencies have literally negotiated away the writ of the state (what they call the writ of “governance”) to these militant warlords like Molavi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur and by extension to al-Qaeda, its Pakistani allies including Punjabi militants and the Haqqani network.
It is a farce to hold responsible the tribesmen for maintaining the law and order while the Pakistan army controls strategic points and transportation links only, not to mention negotiating away the state writ in FATA. On the one hand, the government expects the tribesmen to remove these militants. On the other hand, the army has prematurely announced victory in South Waziristan as if the Orakzai exapmle was not enough.
The army announced victory in Orakzai as well but the militants are still putting stiff resistance even today. These announcements came following the warning of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government that thousands of militants are planning to attack targets in Peshawar and other areas.
The militant landscap is fluid: it has nexus with foreign militants, and Punjabi militants as well based in FATA. It is also a common sense to understand that the militants in Punjab have links with these militants.
It is the agencies who are not yet convinced that these militants are more a threat to Pakistan than India. If they are not protecting elements of these militants in Punjab and FATA, they have by tolerating them inadvertantly played into the hands of militants: the more attacks these militants carry out, the more the resolve of the government is weakened to take on these militants. Thus more they become entrenched.
The colonial system of ruling FATA through political agents have broken down. Any expectation from political agent making responsible the tribesmen for the law and order is naive, at best, and a delibrate act of a compromise on internal sovereignty of the state, at worst. The transnational jihadi network is financially and operationally so well established that it cannot be dislodged by vulnurable tribesmen on their own.
The establishment has always ignored the welfare of FATA people since Pakistan’s independence. Tribesmen had been used to save the blood of Pakistani soldiers (in the past) in Kashmir and (now) against the Al-Qaeda and its allies. While on the other hand, these militants have been applying every creative method to kill whoever disagrees with their conduct.
The army which is in control of devising policies regarding FATA, should stop treating FATA as backwater and allow the political leadership of the country to introduce meanigful reforms and end the sufferings of this unfortunate region.
The immediate act should be the introduction of Political Parties Act so that Pakhtuns of FATA become stakeholders in Pakistan and project their interest without being represented by pro-establishement maliks, bureaucrates and security officials.
We are already late in introducing reforms in FATA and delay in this regard will surely prove harmful to the people and the country.Janassakzai200@gmail.
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