Never underrate the enemy
Shaima Sumaya
A wave of audacious terror attacks in Pakistan three in the country’s
cultural and political hub of Lahore and one each in the northwestern
cities of Peshawar and Kohat on Thursday left 39 people dead and several
others injured. The near-simultaneous and coordinated attacks follow a
pattern of destabilizing ambushes on Pakistan’s security facilities in
the run-up to Islamabad’s planned offensive against the Taliban
stronghold of Waziristan in the tribal northwest. The Pakistan Army
confident and in high spirits by its successes against militants in the
one-time tourist paradise of Swat, has been pounding Taliban, al-Qaida
positions in the lawless area.
It had been predicted by many that this latest setback by the Taliban
and the death of Baitullah Mehsud be not taken lightly. The Taliban and
their allies are not one big army that acts in a single unit and if
defeated in a single battlefront and then that would be considered the
ultimate victory. The Taliban act and attack in groups and pockets and
if they are on the defensive, they go into hiding then re-group, and
attack again in small pockets. They attack in scattered groups, yet the
overall impact of their attack is enormous. Not to mention that they
have found various allies in the form of militant and Jihadi groups
working in Pakistan. The attacks on Thursday have highlighted the
growing links between the Taliban and the Punjabi terrorist outfits
particularly Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Maulana Masood Azhar led Jaish-e-Mohammad.
The Taliban who draw recruits mainly from the Pashtun tribes in the
northwest are believed to have found allies in Punjabi terrorists who
can easily melt into the crowds in areas like Lahore and Rawalpindi. The
Taliban who have to a great extent regrouped in the south, and even
moved to the mountainous east, are in a resurgent mode. This has equally
impacted on the rise of militants in Pakistan, making it a collective
concern of security in the so-called war against terrorism in the
region. The new leadership of Taliban, which claimed responsibility for
almost all the recent attacks, seems to be in a rush. They want to
avenge the death of their leader Baitullah Mehsud by a US drone, and the
near-successful flush-out operation by the Army in Swat. This is the
reason why the TTP is engaged in a point scoring business, by staking
its claim after every incident of terror. Perhaps, it is also an attempt
to reach out to its constituents taking into account the rapidly
tightening noose around it. Anyway, the security situation in the
country is far from satisfactory and, in one way or other, directly
related to the activities going on inside Afghanistan.
The question that arises is what needs to be done. There can be several
suggestions made and several strategies implemented. Also there is a
need to point out and signify what are the weak points in Pakistan’s
offensive that it has to witness these recurring setbacks in the ‘War
Against Terror’. The Punjabi terrorists and Taliban nexus means Pakistan
has to fight the war on many fronts and it can’t be won just by driving
militants out of Swat. First and foremost, the security forces should
not lose heart and continue with their intention to launch an operation
in Waziristan. Any delay or termination will give the enemies exactly
what they want. So the first rule for the security forces is not to get
demoralized no matter how big the setback. What the Government and
security forces should also consider that the Taliban and their allies
are targeting both civilian and strategic targets. The repeated strikes
in the past two weeks clearly show that the militants are equally adept
at both guerrilla warfare and unleashing suicide attacks. If they have
targeted crowded markets to terrorize the masses then they have also
made attacks recently at the Army Headquarters outside the capital
Islamabad, a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, an elite
police commando training centre in Lahore. The security forces and the
Islamabad leadership should first identify clearly who their enemy is
and how they can fight them and how long will this war take. We should
stop playing games of good and bad Taliban and establish once and for
all that the Taliban are our enemies and we cannot accept neither them
nor any of their demands. Pakistan should brace herself for a war
against terrorism just like Sri Lanka did in its war against the Tamil
Tigers. An enemy which is a mixed bag of al-Qaeda, TTP, nationalist and
separatist groups, Jihadi organizations spread throughout the country,
organized crime, local terrorists, bandits and thugs is attacking us
using both guerrilla warfare and suicide attacks. To win this war
Pakistan must show resolve and patience. This war has no time limits, it
can go on for a long time. In the course of this war Pakistan will face
setbacks and so will her enemies. The assaults highlight and expose the
failure of the intelligence agencies to infiltrate extremist ranks.
Pakistan should curb the lacunas in its intelligence agencies and
penetrate more militant groups and intercept conversations to prevent
attacks. The Government, security forces and intelligence agencies
should get together and establish a strategy to protect civilians and
strategic targets. They cannot check the Taliban or their allies but
they can revise their strategy to fight them and keep the damage from
the enemy to the minimum possible limit. One advantage Pakistan has that
it has been fighting Jihadi organizations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ),
Jaish-e-Mohammad long before the Taliban emerged as aggressors. This is
one strategic advantage that Pakistan can capitalize on and make sure
that the Taliban and their allies are dispersed and alienated. Pakistan
has to fight her enemies, as diverse as they are, as a single
professional unit. The only way Pakistan can protect itself, the region
of South Asia and the world in turn. |
