Pakistan: The military versus the TTP

Daily Times

The tribal areas of Pakistan are a war zone since many years and there does not seem to be any let-up in the relentless spree of killings. Amongst different militias formed under one pretext or the other (such as aiding the war in Afghanistan) the battle is waged for domination of turf or the suppression of an opposing force. Drones are employed by the US to eradicate militancy in the area, and collateral damage is used as one of the justifications by local people to unleash terror on other areas of Pakistan, resulting in almost 49,000 security personnel and civilian deaths since 2008. As the ‘insurgency’ takes on more vehemence, the military steps in, and then a new round of battle comes into play. As the military, aided by one group or the other takes on the enemy — the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the operation becomes controversial to some, as has been brought to light by the submission of the latest report of the intelligence agencies in the Supreme Court. The report highlights the role of the TTP and the ‘recent nexus of Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat (TTS) with the Afghanistan government’, which would be conducive to the acceleration of terror activities in Mohmand and Bajaur Agencies, Dir, Swat and Chitral. The report was called for in the hearing of a petition by a Jamaat-e-Islami leader against Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011. The petion is being heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. That the TTP has reared its ugly head to perpetuate non-stop violence in FATA, especially in the Tirah valley lately, Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and in different parts of Pakistan, is a sign that it is working in collusion with other likeminded groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). It does not require any rocket science to gather this, and the section of the security agencies' report about this merely highlights what is common knowledge by now. The report’s shifting of blame onto the Afghan government for being in cahoots with the TTP to wreak havoc in Pakistan as a retaliatory measure against the agencies’ ‘tacit’ assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan does not hold any weight as there is nothing to substantiate that claim keeping in view Pakistan’s own proxies in action in the area. One being the infamous Maulana ‘FM Radio’ Fazlullah, who after being chased out of Swat by the military found safe haven in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan bordering FATA, enabling him to indulge in his anti-Pakistan activities by spreading a message of violence to establish the writ of his own version of Islam. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have to be careful not to fall into the trap laid by the militants to bring them into conflict along their porous border by sowing confusion about who is attacking who. The more likely scanario than the one the security agencies have sketched is that Maulana Fazlullah and his ilk are being facilitated across the border not by the Afghan government, which hardly has a presence in that area, but by our own proxies, the Haqqani network, which controls those border Afgan provinces. All the jihadi proxies spawned by our security establishment have by now united in a war against both neighbouring states. The logic of the situation dictates close cooperation between Kabul and Islamabad if the common threat from terrorism is to be overcome.