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| India-Pakistan |
| ICG faults Pakistan for support of Taliban |
| 2006-12-12 |
| The International Crisis Group (ICG) has accused Pakistan of “sheltering” the Taliban and other foreign militants, including Al Qaeda sympathisers, in the seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since 2001. A report issued by the group that was released on Monday said, “Using the region to regroup, reorganise and rearm, they (militants) are launching increasingly severe cross-border attacks on Afghan and international military personnel, with the support and active involvement of Pakistani militants. The Musharraf government’s ambivalent approach and failure to take effective action is destabilising Afghanistan.” The report recommended that Kabul’s allies, particularly the US and NATO, apply greater pressure on Pakistan to clamp down on pro-Taliban militants. However, it said the international community, too, was responsible because of its failure to support democratic governance in Pakistan, including within the tribal belt. ICG claimed that the military operations Pakistan had launched since 2004 in South and North Waziristan to deny Al Qaeda and the Taliban safe haven and to curb cross-border militancy had failed, largely because of an approach alternating between “excessive force and appeasement.” When force has resulted in major military losses, the government has given amnesty to pro-Taliban militants in return for verbal commitments to end attacks on Pakistani security forces, cease cross-border militancy and curb foreign terrorists. The report said that following the September 2006 accord with tribal leaders, the government released militants, returned their weapons, disbanded security check posts and agreed to allow foreign terrorists to stay if they gave up violence. “While the army has virtually retreated to barracks, this accommodation facilitates the growth of militancy and attacks in Afghanistan by giving pro-Taliban elements a free hand to recruit, train and arm,” said ICG. According to ICG, “Badly planned, poorly conducted military operations are also responsible for the rise of militancy in the tribal belt, where the loss of lives and property and displacement of thousands of civilians have alienated the population. The state’s failure to extend its control over and provide good governance to its citizens in FATA is equally responsible for empowering the radicals. The only sustainable way of dealing with the challenges of militancy, governance and extremism in FATA is through the rule of law and an extension of civil and political rights. Instead, the government has reinforced administrative and legal structures that undermine the state and spur anarchy.” ICG maintained that although the Musharraf government promised reforms in FATA, it did not follow through. Instead, appeasement had allowed local militants to establish parallel, Taliban-style policing and court systems in the Waziristans, while Talibanisation also spreading into other FATA agencies and even the NWFP’s settled districts, it added. Broad-based economic development is necessary because FATA is one of Pakistan’s poorest regions. Since the outbreak of the Afghan civil war, there has been enormous growth in drugs and weapons trafficking. Militancy and extremism in tribal agencies cannot be tackled without firm action against criminality, but for this, economic grievances must be addressed and the law of the land extended over and enforced in FATA. Ten recommendations made by ICG include the integration of FATA with the NWFP, removal of restrictions on political parties in FATA followed by party-based elections for both provincial and national legislatures, re-establishment of the writ of the state, and disarming of militants, shutting down terrorist training camps and ending the flow of money and weapons to militants on Pakistani territory. Parallel administrative structures by militants should be disbanded and the economic and industrial development of the area taken in hand in right earnest. Schools, colleges and vocational centres should be opened in FATA, with the media and human rights workers free to visit the area. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 There are moderate, daemocratic organizations in Pakistan? Please, Ebbolump Glomotle9608, name names! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-12-12 08:57 |
| #1 Yet another report that states Pakistans active in helping Taliban/Al Qaeda. Why do we deal with Perv when its so obvious he is playing a double Game????? Why not fund the moderate democratic organisations to replace Perv??? |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2006-12-12 07:23 |