Pakistan: General Sharif’s intent

COAS General Raheel Sharif does not like terrorists. This seems clear from his consistent stance on terrorism, stretching back to his time as IG Training and Evaluation. Reportedly he played an important role in convincing other senior officers that assorted militants inside Pakistan are a greater threat than India. While he was patient with the government’s negotiations policy, since the go ahead was given he has relentlessly said that operation Zarb-e-Azb will target all terrorists irrespective of their affiliations to former ‘strategic assets’ such as the Haqqani network. On examination most statements by the military contain a clever loophole, that any terrorist who “takes up arms against Pakistan” will be targeted. However, on the face of it, the army is moving wholesale against terrorists of “all hues” and the COAS has forcefully pushed for complete eradication of all foreign and domestic terrorists. His statement to troops in Miranshah on Monday that the army will “chase and hunt down terrorists across the country” is a welcome development. If General Sharif’s statements are any indication, increasingly the sense in the security establishment is that the operation will only be successful once the terror infrastructure spread throughout the country is destroyed. This was an infrastructure established during the 1980s Afghan war, which was left in place because of its potential strategic value but that has turned into this country’s most significant existential threat. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif reiterated this point in an interview on Monday when he said that entering the Afghan war was “a mistake” and that the government has recognised and abandoned the policy of ‘good versus bad Taliban’.

The question is whether the rest of the establishment recognises that the network of radicalisation does not stop with extremist terrorist groups but includes sectarian organisations engaged in homicide and hate-propaganda. Indeed groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and others may not be as vocal as the tribal area terrorists but it is clear they support the terrorist goals of a religiously homogenous state with control based on their perverted interpretation of Islamic law, and are willing to use violence to achieve that end. They have certainly cultivated links to the global jihadist movement inspired by al Qaeda, which terrorists in the tribal areas are fully a part of. It was recognition that our former ‘assets’ were now being controlled by ‘Jihadist global’ that forced the establishment to re-evaluate its ties with them. Violent sectarian movements in Pakistan will inevitably go down that road soon; it is built into their DNA. Their ‘loyalty’ to Pakistan is a matter of convenience and will be abandoned when opportunities for greater power present themselves. This infrastructure must be disabled and the army is the only institution in the country capable of doing the job. Whether this is General Sharif’s intent remains to be seen, his encouraging statements to that effect notwithstanding.