Militancy refuses to go away

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Militancy refuses to go away

By Ismail Khan
Saturday, 10 Jul, 2010


PESHAWAR: The deadly suicide bombing in Ekkaghund in Mohmand that left at least 104 people dead was a grim reminder that the fight against militancy in Pakistan’s tribal region was far from over.

Mohmand Agency, which borders Afghanistan, has seen an uptick in the number of deadly attacks on security forces in recent weeks, demonstrating the balloon effect — if you squeeze it at one place, it pops up at another place.

The security forces chased and fought militants in the neighbouring Bajaur Agency, bringing a semblance of peace to a hotbed of militancy and home to the deputy head of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan — Maulvi Faqir Mohammad.

But security officials now acknowledge that the militants who had fled across into Afghanistan have now teamed up with militant commanders Abdul Wali and Qari Shakeel to launch attacks in the Mohmand tribal region.

Most of these attacks, officials say, now originate in the border region and while the security forces are believed to have chalked out their own plan to stem the flow of militants from across the border, the US-led Nato Eastern Command has been informed.

But before any plans could be put in place, the deadly attack on the peace committee from Ambar came. According to intelligence officials, it was the handiwork of two suicide bombers. While one struck the other managed to escape.

The Taliban, however, accepting responsibility for the attack, said both the bombers struck, causing death and devastation.

Therefore, if the recent attacks were any indication, the Friday strike on peace committee members from Ambar hardly came as a surprise. Indeed, some security officials say, warnings had been issued.

Setbacks in recent weeks notwithstanding, the authorities and security forces seemed encouraged by the unflinching support from the tribe, including the Uthmankhels from Ambar.

That the tribe, which had formed a lashkar to fight off militants, might come under attack, was expected and anticipated but why no action was taken and not enough security measures taken to prevent it is, indeed open to question.

Tribal lashkars and members of the pro-government peace committees have long been the focus of militant attacks.

In Feb 2008, eight pro-government tribal elders were killed in a suicide attack in North Waziristan. In Darra Adamkhel, close to Peshawar, 42 tribal elders lost their lives to another devastating suicide bombing in March that year.

But the most ferocious attack came in Orakzai’s Khadezi area, where a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle in the midst of an anti-militant tribal lashkar and killed 136 people in Oct 2008.

Bajaur was next. A tribal jirga of Salarzai tribe was targeted by a suicide bomber in Nov 2008, killing 22 tribal elders.

Officials acknowledge that while Mohmand is heating up, it is not something that they had not anticipated. “We had anticipated militancy bouncing back in some areas and had, therefore, prepared plans for it,” a senior security official said.

“It is not something that was not expected. We knew that this summer is going to be very, very tough,” the official said.

But while the security forces may have prepared their plans to fight militants in their last remaining strongholds, clearly they missed reading the calculations of their enemies — the militants.

By targeting tribal peace jirgas and lashkars, the militants are not only undermining the government’s efforts to win hearts and minds of the tribal people and encourage them to stand up to anti-state elements, they also make a grim reminder that they are still around.

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