Saturday, May 09, 2009
Farahat Taj
It was retaliation par excellence. A convoy of the Pakistan army was ambushed by Taliban terrorists in the Kanjo area in Swat. The convoy had intended to go to Mangora to reinforce the army units there. Several soldiers died on the spot. The army responded with robust force and attacked the Taliban holding strategic positions on the heights containing Mangora emerald mines. From those heights the Taliban used to attack the Mangora circuit house, where the army was stationed. All the militants on the heights were killed and the state property, the emerald mines, was regained. Moreover, the army conducted successful attacks on other strongholds of the Taliban in Rahimabad and Takhtaband, and killed them there.
"I am so pleased to see the forceful attacks. It is like avenging a slap in the face with a kick in the face," said a resident of Swat from Mangora.
He also informed me that all the people in Swat were very happy with this retaliatory response of the army. "This is what we expect from the state army and this is how the army must deal with the Taliban beasts," he said further
Moreover, hundreds of Taliban terrorists have besieged the police station in Matta, a stronghold of the Taliban, for three days now. All roads leading to the police station have been mined by the militants so that the security forces could not reach the police station. Policemen and FC soldiers are within the police station. Entire Pakistan should be proud of them. They are resisting the militants, despite the fact that they are short of food, water and fuel.
"The resistance of the besieged policemen and soldiers is very reassuring. Our prayers are with them. We love them. May God be with them," people of Swat who I contacted told me.
A wonderful achievement of the besieged policemen and FC soldiers is that they have killed Ibn-e-Aqel, the Taliban leader who was leading the siege of the police station. He was one of the cruelest Taliban leaders. He had mercilessly beheaded civilians, soldiers and policemen in Swat. He was the man who excavated the body of Pir Samiulla, the man who had led an armed resistance against the Taliban. Ibn-e-Aqel was the brother of Ibn-e-Amin, the top Taliban commander in Ber Swat area. Both the brothers have been strong opponents of Afzal Kahn Lala, a leader who stood up to the Taliban in his native village in Swat.
People of Swat say enough is enough. They have suffered enough atrocities. All those in Swat that I am in contact with told me they want the Pakistan army to eliminate the Taliban once and for all. For that purpose, they told me, they were ready to suffer as IDPs for some time. But the army operation must be swift, targeted and must kill the Taliban.
Indeed most Pakhtuns want the Pakistan army to annihilate the Taliban. The army would do itself a good if it crushed the Taliban. The Pakistan army has always had a high reputation in the eyes of the people of NWFP and FATA. This reputation is battered now. The army is seen as unable to eliminate the Taliban, or as ready to kill Pakhtun civilians but tacitly supporting the Taliban. Once Afzal Khan Lala, a veteran ANP politician, told me that he had clearly told Chief of Army Staff General Kayani that people in Swat believed that the army and the Taliban were one and the same. The same is the perception of people all over NWFP and FATA. Retaliations against the Taliban, like those in Swat in the last couple or so days, would improve the reputation of the army among the Pakhtuns.
But retaliations and reactions against the Taliban here and there in bits and pieces are just not enough. The army needs to deal with them all over Pakistan. The Taliban must be eliminated. They must be crushed for good. There are no moderate or good Taliban. There are no Taliban that can be engaged in dialogue. They all are mad beasts.
Look at the track record of the Taliban. They occupy a place. Unleash a reign of terror on the civilians there. Then they give it up and run away for life when faced with huge might. They did that in Kabul when the US bombed them and they will do so in Swat, Buner and Dir, where the army is conducting an operation against them. They will abandon the area and run away to FATA. They will wait in FATA for an appropriate time to reoccupy parts in NWFP.
The army need to be in a proactive mode. It must chase the Taliban in the tribal area and kill them in operations that are offensive not defensive. It must destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda installations and training camps in FATA. The army must restore the sovereignty of Pakistan and retake the areas in FATA and NWFP that have long been occupied by the Taliban. The Pakistan army must free the Pakhtun citizens of Pakistan, who are forced to live under one of the most brutal occupations of our time.
Pakhtuns are loyal citizens of Pakistan. But they feel abandoned by the state to the Taliban. The Taliban, whether Pakhtun or non-Pakhtun, are the enemies of Pakhtun. The army must show that it stands with the Pakhtuns by eliminating the Taliban. The Taliban understand the language of violence only. The army must aggressively communicate with them in that language.
Moreover, there are Taliban and Al Qaeda hideouts and installations in other parts of Pakistan, especially in Balochistan and southern Punjab. They too have to be taken care of. The state must take control of all jehadi madrassas and must use force, if necessary.
The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. Email:
bergen34@yahoo.com
The army finally gets it right
