In terms of fairness, justice and tactical advantage alone there are multiple arguments in favor of capturing everyone alive rather than dead. If Masud did indeed kill Benazir then how are you going to confirm it by interrogating a corpse? How will you convince the Pakistani public that Mushy is not covering up for her real assasins by offing the fall guy which is probably what a significant portion of Pakistanis assert including Zardari himself? It's common sense that criminals should not be blown up as in some childish video game if it can be avoided.
FATA people have also joined and fought in the pak army/FC for the interests and goals of the pakistani state for decades. FATA people have also migrated to industry hubs like Sialkot and set up vibrant businesses, contributing to the Pakistani economy(just learned that today on wikipedia accidentally). This makes me suspect that those people and their system is not inherently bad. It's just a patriarchal tribal system and I can't see it as a root of all evil, perhaps I am missing something? As long as they can be persuaded to keep to themselves I am OK with them living in their chosen system.
I don't disagree with you that the rule of law, the constitution of Pakistan and the institutions appointed for providing justice and maintaining law and order should take precedence over all else. But the constitution of Pakistan does not apply in the Tribal areas does it?
Ideally I would like the political parties to do what they promised - that is to extend the political parties act into FATA and integrate them into mainstream Pakistan. They should pay taxes, have development works funded and establish the same institutions that the rest of Pakistan has. Of course there is a separate, though no less important, debate that the rest of Pakistan hardly enjoys any constitutional rights or the rule of law.
Ideally I would like to see this in concert with the deletion of the concurrent list and delegation of more autonomy to the provinces, and perhaps even have the Tribal areas exist as a separate province, as their traditions and conservative culture mark them apart from other Pashtun in the settled areas.
What we do have is a most draconian FCR, with provisions of collective responsibility and punishment, that will only serve to isolate the people of FATA from the rest of the nation. And this system has failed, as close to three hundred Tribal elders have been slaughtered by larger and more heavily armed militant forces. They were holding sway over regions of FATA even before the Army went in, and continue to do so today.
So when the traditional system of government has failed, and violent groups hold sway that local law enforcement (levies, Scouts, FC etc.) cannot control, what else is left? Even if one were to argue that the "traditional system should be preserved", that system can only be preserved if the order in the TB is imposed and these militant groups prevented from going on a rampage.
And when local LEA's fail, the Army is the only institution left to enforce the writ of the government.
Now, I don't want the Army in there, I think Gen. Kiyani is correct in that decision. The paramilitary, drawn from the tribes, and the traditional enforcer of order, should be the one to maintain order. On a very basic and personal level it will be far easier for local forces to interact with the Tribesmen, being part of the culture and tribes. We need to therefore continue the capacity building of the FC to where the force can act on its own.
With respect to what should be done in the present - I am not certain that this is the best time to extend the political parties act to FATA - given the instability in the region and the propaganda of the Taliban/AQ or what have you. Such a move could be very easily twisted into a narrative of "destroying our culture and traditions" and alienate more people in FATA. Resorting to the traditional set up of Tribal elders and tribal enforcement, by getting the Tribes to sign on to agreements to not allow militant or AQ activity in their territory, and helping them structure Lashkars's etc. to enforce those agreements, with backing form the FC if needed, is I think the best short term solution.
This needs to be coupled with development. The decision to fund almost 9 billion in development funds in FATA is a belated and welcome one. If the FATA development plan gets passed in the US legislature, it allows us to multiply our development efforts, and in teh long run that is teh only way we will be able to integrate FATA into mainstream Pakistan, and stabilize the region.
Today I came across some fresh news, or actually non-news: The CIA fired a hellfire missile which injured a random woman in FATA and missed killing an entire tribal family because they just happened to be at the hospital.
TTP threatens to hit major cities
So the CIA could have also hit the wrong house, in fact probably did. But they could have also hit a girl's school next door or some other random house killing multple innocent and unaware civilians.
Now, I am not a big fan of Al-Qaida's(whoever on earth they really are) yappings about taking this and that over from secularity, I am not a pathan and nor am I a big fan of mullahs who at best irritate and annoy me and I am not a proponent of sharia caliphates but that news report totally disgusts and appalls me because the CIA has been given carte blanche to terrorize and bomb FATA thus alienating them and actually increasing terrorism. There is yet another reason for the lack of support for this ridiculous self-imposed civil war and it has to do with common sense not love of the Taliban. If people like me are starting to see Mushy/ISI/PA as a willing or unwilling(in different cases) tool of foreign powers to harm Pakistan then you can't just pin this on taliban sympathisers. The dissent against the wot status quo does certainly have other rational arguments and supporters not just the knee-jerk taliban-supporting mullahs that some people portray as being the biggest and only problem in Pakistani politics.
I would have to agree that unilateral strikes are not helping the situation, especially when collateral damage occurs. Muse posted an article on the main FATA thread that made the same argument. and very convincingly. The link is below if you haven't read it yet.
Myths in Al Qaeda's 'home' | csmonitor.com
However, how do we balance our needs for stabilizing FATA 'our way', with the reality of cross border attacks from FATA?
I mean do we tell NATO that they are just going to have to suck it up?
I think there is an argument to be made that cross border attacks are really only an issue because of a lack of forces in Afghanistan. This is not the type of terrain where the militants can run across the border, carry out an attack, and run back again. With adequate resources, NATO should have no problems interdicting these raiding parties.
Those attacks that do occur from Pakistani soil (such as rockets mortars etc. from our side of the border) are supposedly targeted by NATO forces in concert with Paksitani forces (
‘Nato engaging militants in Pakistan’)
So is there a huge need for carrying out such air strikes?
What if the intel is about OBL or Zawahiri or other high ranking AQ officials? I suppose this is where a QRF to go in and capture the people needed would come in handy, but the potential for casualties and collateral damage would still be quite large.