|
EDITORIAL : What about North Waziristan?
[Pak Daily Times] The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaz Kayani... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... has assured the military's presence in South  Wazoo (SW) until law and order is fully restored in the area. He appreciated his soldiers for their relentless efforts to rescue SW from the clutches of the bad boys. The effort becomes formidable when viewed in the context of the geographical location of the area, having one of the most forbidding terrains in the world. General Kayani was in SW on Thursday accompanied by the UAE ambassador to Pakistain to inaugurate the newly constructed 50 kilometre road from Wana to Angoor Adda. The road, completed at a cost of $40 million, is funded by the UAE and will be named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Having both strategic and economic value, this road is one of the many development projects undertaken by the Pakistain army in SW. The tribal area of FATA has lagged behind in all forms of development because of the indifference of successive governments to the needs of its people. Many believe, and rightly so, that it was the absence of the state from the region that has allowed the forces of Evil and faceless myrmidons to gain hold of the area and convert it into their sanctuaries and safe havens. He was referring to this dilemma when the COAS said that progress and development would wean people away from terrorism. He urged the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who had fled SW in the wake of military operation Rah-e-Nijat to return and once again inhabit their homes. Since the occupation of Tirah valley's strategic heights recently and the hoisting of the Pak flag on the valley's historic mosque Maidan Bagh on Thursday, the Pakistain army is confident that militancy is on the run in FATA. What gives this confidence to the army is a question worth pursuing, since right next door, North Waziristan (NW) is still teeming with bad boys. Unless this hornet's nest is eliminated, assuming militancy to be on its last legs could be an illusion. NW is not only occupied by local forces of Evil (some having retreated into the safe havens there from Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... and SW) but has been home to foreign Death Eaters (including al Qaeda) over decades and is considered a terror-exporting centre. The Afghan war's predicament emanates from NW, and the drone hysteria too shares the same source. It is now common knowledge that the bad boys, having been given ample time to make their move and new abode before the Rah-e-Nijat operation began, are now concentrated in NW. It was the clearing out of the forces of Evil to a large extent that enabled the army to build SW's infrastructure with relative calm. Therefore the test of the army's ability to rid FATA of militancy would not be complete unless NW is cleansed of militancy. The new national security policy for the country, underscoring the need to have a coordinated and concentrated anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategy is under consideration. No policy on national security to combat terrorism, argues Chaudhry Nisar, Pakistain's Interior Minister, can succeed unless all the security forces and intelligence agencies, whether military or civilian, federal or provincial, are on the same page. This brings to mind the creation of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, rendered ineffective by the lack of political will and vested interest. The new national security policy would serve little purpose if it does not address the situation in NW. The purpose of the policy to secure security would falter if it does not transparently spell out the mechanism to deal with the most intimidating task of cleansing NW of militancy. The army has encircled NW from three sides. This offers the best opportunity in a long time to move into NW without qualms. It is now a matter of planning and forging the political will to do the needful. * Posted by: Fred 2013-06-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=370713 |