Pak Army's plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

[Xeric]

Pak Army's plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

Pak Army's plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

From ANI

Washington, Sep.18 : The Pakistan Army's initiative to sponsor local militias, or the lashkars, as they are commonly known, may have been working in its favour against the Taliban, however some people feel such move could back fire in future.


Backed by the Army, which had initiated an all out operation against the Taliban in Swat and Malakand Divisions in April, more than 8,000 villagers living across the region have joined these militias to try to keep the Taliban away from their villages.

Military officials are encouraging people to join hands with the troops against the extremists and carrying out special drives for forming such lashkars.

"The military is going village to village, speaking with elders and encouraging them to form their own lashkars and unite with existing ones," said Swat military spokesman Major Mushtaq Khan.

While the Army considers that its initiative would yield positive results and prevent the Taliban's onslaught in the region, experts have raised questions over it saying the move could have catastrophic effect in future.

"They could be temporarily used in some areas where the Taliban are weak or heavily resented, like in Swat. But at the end of the day, the villagers need to do their work; they can't be armed every night," The Christian Science Monitor quoted, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a well-known journalist, as saying.

"Creating these private militias may work in the short-run, but what if they later turn on each other to settle personal scores?" usufzai asked

Experts said the military should think twice before trying to extend the experimant into Pakistan's other tribal agencies, where the Taliban still maintains a strong grip.

"It's a very interesting experiment. But if it works in Swat, this can't be replicated anywhere else, because the guys that they were pitted against were way too powerful, the murder of Qari Zainuddin was a case in point," said Rifaat Hussain, an analyst at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.


Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

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Exaggerations.....???

 

[TexasJohn]

Actually, I think these are valid concerns. This was tried in Iraq ( Awakening cousels) with varied results. The trick would be to disband them after they have accomplished their goals. Look at the various Jehadis - they have a tendency to strike out on their own. Be careful what you wish for, and never get a rattlesnake as a pet. If nothing else the Army should have oversight over these groups..

 

[Reddy]

Arming the private militia's is dangerous. You never know when the guns turn around and fire back at you.

 

[Kasrkin]

Experts said the military should think twice before trying to extend the experimant into Pakistan's other tribal agencies, where the Taliban still maintains a strong grip.

"It's a very interesting experiment. But if it works in Swat, this can't be replicated anywhere else, because the guys that they were pitted against were way too powerful, the murder of Qari Zainuddin was a case in point," said Rifaat Hussain, an analyst at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

Actually, Pakistan's tribal areas have an institutionalized lashkar system that has worked for decades. The tribes assemble a small army, assign it a role or a purpose and then after the job is done the lashkar is dissolved, the tribesmen take themselves and their weapons home. The issue of weapons being misused in the tribal areas does not apply because the tribes forming the lashkars are responsible for arming and supplying the fighters they contribute, not the government. Also because they're enough weapons in the tribal areas to arm every male tribesman, and indeed almost every tribesman is armed. Its not just a custom there but an absolute necessity. There is no point worrying about these weapons being 'misused' in feuds and such because that has been happening for decades, and has nothing to do with the Taliban but the culture of the tribes themselves.

 

[Mujahid]

The tribes had formed lashkars to fight Al-Qaeda in thier own interest, its absolutely not necessary that the lashkar system would cause a backfire !!!

 

[TruthSeeker]

If the PA hired Xe (Blackwater) to train/equip the lashkars, it could create a totally unguided missile, or even a "boomerang missile". Just joking. IMHO, as long as the governance of the tribal areas is "tribal", lashkars make sense. When/if FATA is integrated into Pakistan as just another province, then the concept of a lashkar should be abandoned.

 

[batmannow]

the only thing , which is back firring now is the ANNOUNCEMENT OF the capture of the "SAWATI TALIBAN "leadership, its better to announce their arrests, so that more of the talibans , will agree to lay down thier weapons.!

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Pak Army's plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

Pak Army's plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

From ANI

Washington, Sep.18 : The Pakistan Army's initiative to sponsor local militias, or the lashkars, as they are commonly known, may have been working in its favour against the Taliban, however some people feel such move could back fire in future.


Backed by the Army, which had initiated an all out operation against the Taliban in Swat and Malakand Divisions in April, more than 8,000 villagers living across the region have joined these militias to try to keep the Taliban away from their villages.

Military officials are encouraging people to join hands with the troops against the extremists and carrying out special drives for forming such lashkars.

"The military is going village to village, speaking with elders and encouraging them to form their own lashkars and unite with existing ones," said Swat military spokesman Major Mushtaq Khan.

While the Army considers that its initiative would yield positive results and prevent the Taliban's onslaught in the region, experts have raised questions over it saying the move could have catastrophic effect in future.

"They could be temporarily used in some areas where the Taliban are weak or heavily resented, like in Swat. But at the end of the day, the villagers need to do their work; they can't be armed every night," The Christian Science Monitor quoted, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a well-known journalist, as saying.

"Creating these private militias may work in the short-run, but what if they later turn on each other to settle personal scores?" usufzai asked

Experts said the military should think twice before trying to extend the experimant into Pakistan's other tribal agencies, where the Taliban still maintains a strong grip.

"It's a very interesting experiment. But if it works in Swat, this can't be replicated anywhere else, because the guys that they were pitted against were way too powerful, the murder of Qari Zainuddin was a case in point," said Rifaat Hussain, an analyst at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.


Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

-----

Exaggerations.....???

it could backfire if not handled correctly. Engineer Corps should also do infrastructure projects in the areas, rebuild damaged houses/properties etc. And make sure that the locals are 100% happy with Army performance. In places like FATA, locals are what matter the most. Job will be 100% easier when they know that they are protected and being looked after.

Govt. should work with the political agents and maliks of the areas to ensure that the Arms being provided dont end up being used to 'settle scores'

the objective is permanent peace in Pukhtunkhwa and FATA without any more untoward incidents.

This is where the Aid money from U.S. and from ADB and World Bank should be going to. Not to other stupid sh*t

The Lashkar plan will not backfire on us, if we don't let it.

 

[Xeric]

Before we discuss this issue we must be clear about one thing, and that is, the tribesmen are quite different then their Pakistani brothers in other provinces. Or i must say we have very distinctive qualities in each class and cast when it comes to demography in Pakistan. Punjabis are different then Sindhis and Balochs are different than Kashmiris.

Each of them are unique and are proud of one or another traditions that they have. Now when it comes down to weaponry, though in Pakistan every Province has it's own share of arm lockers, but without doubts, these tribesmen lead this category.

Many Punjabis also keep arms in their homes but then they dont display, put then in use and iconize them as the Pushtns have done. Same holds guud for the Balochis (though they are also known for the same stuff as the Pusthuns have been) and Sindhis...You can find fearsome sub-castes in every class, who had made history by virtue of armory, but still no one comes near the Pusthuns.

Now, precisely what i mean is that these Puthuns are born with weapons around them and these weapons are just another part of their dress code; as if it's just like someone is wearing a turban or the traditional headgear.

Now with this dare-ness comes an inherent responsibility and safety check in itself.

This means that the Pusthuns are more responsible and wary when it comes to weaponry and its uses. You may have heard of people getting killed or inured in Punjab every now and then because some idiot was firing in the air during a wedding, but you wont find such cases with the Pusthuns, who make use of firearms in a very higher percentage during such events. Though there had been a few cases, but then they are negligible when you compare the intensity of weapon useage in both the Provinces.

This is because a Pusthun is self-disciplined and is more responsible when it forms groups especially those who had to fight. It is because of this fact that i dont consider the tribesman a threat and i dont see any sort of 'backfire' issue in future. Yes had the same thing been done in any other Province i could have been worried because, in this case, you are arming those people who are not much weaponry savvy and possess less sense of responsibility as they have not been naturally trained in their use.

i can compare the two situations as arming the Lashkar is like arming a retired soldier again and arming someone from Punjab and Sindh (less the interior Sindh) is giving a pistol in the hands of teenager.


Disclaimer: No offence to anyone what so ever!

 

[Xeric]

Abu,

Army is doing what it can to 'reconstruct' those areas and make those people feel at home, but isnt it the primary responsibility of the govt to do so?

i mean if you make the military responsible for this task, provide it with the resources and time, then it may not be that big an issue, but when the military has been doing the goodies from its own resources and still when people say that not much is being done, it is then when things gets difficult.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

off the record, i'll say the govt aint doing sh-t. It is the people, the charities and ngos. Govt is spending time and money for its own survival. They're busy locking horns with Nawaz half the time. Army job isn't to do that, but they should use the resources to counter taleban, by rebuilding. Maybe HIT should modify Mohafiz and create mobile ambulances for true Pakistani organisations like EDHI foundation. On discipline and arms, we also have aerial firing accidents in the north. But Punjab is much more populated and less hilly, so aerial firing cause more deaths there. In darra people fire in market areas and sometimes people get hurt by bullets coming down. As for lashkar they have been instrumental to say the least. I have tremendous respect for Turkistan Bittany. He has been cooperating well with Army and government to fight taleban. It comes as a suprise that govt asked him to disengage and put the safety locks on.