Does territorial gain mean anything?

[Neo]

Does territorial gain mean anything?

Daud Khattak

The foremost thing in this ‘war against terror’ is not the taking of territory. Rather, it is to ensure the establishment of civil administration in an area vacated from the militants

Although the army operations are underway in almost all the tribal areas with some of them declared clear of armed Taliban, there are no reasons for a common Pakistani citizen to believe that the onslaught of radicalism, started with the dollar-injected anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, will come to an end in the near future.

The instance when Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani was visiting the Orakzai Agency to announce victory against the armed Taliban and an end to the military operation there, the militants (most probably trained in the same lawless region) had carried out two daring attacks in Lahore, conveying the message loud and clear that it is no time to apply brakes to their campaign of ‘kill or be killed’. Furthermore, claims, mostly from the side of the security forces, about clashes and casualties, continue to emerge from Orakzai, puzzling the already dazed citizens.

In a full-fledged war between two sides, the parties usually fight to defend ground. At the end, one side withdraws while the other gets control of the territory and declares victory. But what is going on in the tribal region or even in the neighbouring Afghanistan territory is that the armed Taliban are not defending territory. Whenever the US spy planes (aka drones) chase them in a certain area and force them to evacuate, they simply shift their bases and start launching strikes afresh. One recent example is the NATO forces’ operation in Marjah district of Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province. The troops declared victory against the Taliban nearly three months ago, but (if believed, and there is reason to believe) the locals say the Taliban have once again returned in the district, carrying out targeted killings, intimidating people and receiving zakat and ushr or 10th (of their profit, agricultural produce, etc).

The same is the case in Orakzai where hundreds of families, uprooted from their land and houses, are still living in camps or with friends and relatives in Peshawar and are reluctant to return to their areas, arguing the armed gangs were still there and as powerful as at any moment before the launch of the military operation. Similar apprehensions are being heard from the displaced people of South Waziristan, where the security forces launched an operation in mid-October last year and the area was declared clear of militants within a few months. People removed from their villages and towns before the much-hyped swoop are still living in Bannu, DI Khan and Tank in tents or camps, and are equally reluctant to return to their houses. Before Waziristan, the case of Bajaur is also there, where the army operation is nearing end of its second year, but the civil administration has yet to take charge of affairs and the displaced families have yet to leave their tented villages to go back to their (mostly) mud houses.

The only case, and somewhat successful, is the Swat region where the population was moved back within three months of the launch of the operation in May 2009 and were re-established in their areas, though targeted killings, intimidation by armed groups and bomb attacks have yet to be fully brought under control.

Secondly, since the army’s victory against the Fazlullah-led Taliban and the return of the population to Swat, the civil administration has yet to take full charge of affairs as the army is still based in Swat. The security barricades and check points are still there and the farmers (in some areas) cannot grow crops like maize and sugarcane, apparently for security reasons, even now.

The foremost thing in this ‘war against terror’ is not the taking of territory, as the armed Taliban or other groups are not in a position to capture a district, a town or a specific area and retain it for long in the face of the strong Pakistan Army. Rather, it is to ensure the establishment of civil administration in an area vacated from the militants, which has not been done so far in the cases of Bajaur, South Waziristan, Orakzai and not fully even in Swat. Territorial gains against armed Taliban do not mean much also because the militants shift their bases and they do not fight face to face, as was seen in South Waziristan, once known to be the stronghold of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, led by the buoyant Hakeemullah Mehsud, with his master suicidal trainer Qari Hussain.

The true victory will be to enable the civilians to take charge of the administration, pave the way for the return of displaced families to their areas, and most important, to restore the trust of the populace in the government. If this is not achieved, then territorial gains would render little or nothing to overcome the scourge of terrorism, militancy and radicalism.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan