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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Finally, after a lull that has simply allowed militants to re-group, re-arm and re-plan, a military operation has resumed. In Dir and in Buner, the armed forces seem to have gone after the Taliban militants with full force. President Zardari and General Kayani have met, with the COAS giving an assurance that they can tackle the militants. Once more we see people fleeing homes and villages. Perhaps things could be made easier for them by dealing with the militants once and for all, rather than prolonging the process so that it expands across weeks and months and years. As gun-ship helicopters pound the rugged countryside of Buner and troops regain control of some key areas from the militants, we must ask why decision makers continue to play foolish games. The 'stop and start' tactics serve no purpose at all; this time round they have simply allowed the Swat Taliban to make even louder threats and to strut before TV cameras as 'victors'. Even now, our leaders continue to pretend the 'accord' in Swat is still viable. We have as yet to hear it being criticized for the farce that it is by any major party. The attitude adopted, during TV interviews and elsewhere, is apologetic. It took civil society, whose members turned out in large numbers at the General Post Office in Lahore, to dispatch angry letters to the president questioning the Nizam-e-Adl to forcefully bring out this point of view and end a situation where we spoke of it only in whispers.
It is time we stopped shuffling our feet like hesitant schoolboys. It has become necessary to go after the Taliban with all the force we can muster. This is a fact that must be faced, no matter how difficult it may be to wage war within our own county. The militants have already created havoc through a campaign aimed at creating fear. This time round we must not succumb to the tactics of blackmail. The Swat Taliban has now openly threatened to attack targets across the country if the 'deal' struck with them breaks down. This may, admittedly, not be entirely a bluff – but the fact is that what we know now is no peace either. There is an element of a nightmare in all that is happening. We need to shake it off so that a more pleasant vision for the future can replace it.
To achieve this, the lessons of the past must be learnt. In Dir and in Buner, troops have demonstrated they are quite capable of dealing with the irregular fighters they face. The politicians and the military leadership must now demonstrate they are capable of putting on a true show of team spirit. There must not be any doubt as to who the enemy is or the kind of threat these forces pose. We have heard far too many words – in the form of promises and assurances – over the past few weeks. What we need now is to see action and a demonstration that there is a true willingness to take on the thugs who have been responsible for a wave of crime which they, as yet, have not in any way been penalized for.

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