How to end war against terror ?

Zaheerul Hassan

On May 21, 2010, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Commander General Stanley McChrystal visited Pakistan and provided an update on the alliance’s current operations in Afghanistan to Pakistani leaders. He also called on Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and discussed matters of mutual interest and defence cooperation. ISAF commander also briefed a group of Pakistani parliamentarians on current operations and strategy in Afghanistan. According to the US Embassy, ISAF Commander frequently visits Islamabad to consult with Gen Kayani and Pakistani leaders to collaborate with Islamabad to achieve their mutual goals of defeating terrorism and establishing regional peace and security. This was stated in the press release issued by US embassy in Pakistan. The question arises whether the visits of ISAF chief and other commanders as claimed by the embassy have helped in improving the security situation in Afghanistan or not. On ground the situation is simply quite pathetic and horrible. Seventy per cent area of Afghanistan is under control of Taliban despite the presence of more than 113,000 US-led NATO troops.  ISAF troops probably have failed to control the Afghan situation. The troops are also under terrible amount of stress and losing their faith due to their long stay and that too thousands of miles away from their homeland. It is also painful to know that since 1979 over one million Afghans have been killed and more than five million had become refugees. Major bulk of the refugees entered in to Pakistan. Two million Afghans have been displaced within the country as a result of ceaseless fighting. The capital of Afghanistan is presenting horrible scene of tragedy where more than 30,000 people have been killed and an even number buried in common graves. Thousands of people have suffered death and injuries because of land mines, US bombing, suicide attacks and poverty. The tragic part of this war against terror is that the country having 652,000 square kilometres area and with a population of 25,838,797 is at the mercy of western forces, Indian and Israeli intelligence agencies. However, the fall out of Afghan crises has directly affected Pakistani security. The imposed war has also put Pakistan under worst kind of insurgency. She was forced to deploy more than 140,000 troops to tackle the foreign sponsored militancy in its tribal areas. Her security forces are busy in eliminating terrorism from the country. Thousands of civilians and security forces’ personnel have been killed because of suicide bombers and sabotage activities. Pakistani military had launched 209 major and 510 minor operations in 10 regions. According to reliable sources 2,573 Pakistani army officers and soldiers had been martyred in the fighting so far, which include one 3-star general, two 2-star generals and five brigadiers. But the western, Jewish and Indian media use to blame Pakistan and her intelligence agencies for playing double game. In this connection talking to senior journalists in Islamabad, Army Chief Gen Kayani rejected the allegations of double game leveled against Pakistan intelligence agencies, saying that 73 intelligence officers had embraced martyrdom in Pakistan. Coming back towards the discussion, it is worth mentioning here that US has increased the intensity of drone attacks during the democratic era. She has violated Pakistan territorial boundaries and carried out 131 drone strikes in FATA area. As a result more than 1,100 people have been killed and many wounded. The comparison of casualties and deployment of forces shows that Pakistan has sacrificed a lot in war against terror. According to ISPR, Pakistan has deployed 140,000 strong force with 821 posts on its side of the border whereas Coalition forces have a total of 113,000 force with just 112 posts along their side of border. The war against terrorism has affected 30,452 people since 9/11, out of which 21,652 are civilians whereas 8,765 are security forces men who embraced Shahadat. NATO-led ISAF forces have just lost 1,184 troops so far. After suffering so much losses one fails to understand the US logic to pressurise Pakistan to ‘do more’. US should provide all the assistance to Pakistan as promised in the recently held Pak-US strategic dialogue. The second round of strategic talks is being held on July 21, 2010, in Islamabad. The Indian lobby present in Obama administration is trying its best to sabotage the strategic talks and keep on planning and staging some activity to malign Pakistan. The unexploded bomb incident of Times Square is one of the episodes of cocktail serial of “Propaganda against Pakistan”. The producers and directors of the crafted serial are RAW, Mossad and anti-Obama elements of CIA. Reports are there that the remaining episodes of the said serial would be performed shortly, preferably around July 15, 2010. Therefore, it’s the need of hour that Foreign Office should hold negotiations with US counterpart and let them know about Pakistani future worries. Further Pakistan’s main worry is India’s deep involvement in Afghanistan in the name of development. Presently, her 12 consulates and 30 intelligence detachments are deployed along Pakistan’s western border which are busy in spreading terrorism in Pakistan. The key players of war on terror have realized that Afghan issue cannot be resolved without taking Islamabad into confidence. US should be mindful that intelligence failure of her agencies and using pressure tactics against Pakistan by launching attacks might not be acceptable to Islamabad in future. Thus foreign offices of both the countries should try to remove the ambiguities in bilateral relations. American administration and so-called civilized western powers should respect the emotions of Pakistani, Afghan and Iraqi masses before demanding and repeating the music of ‘do more.’ This ‘do more’ music becomes very painful once we come across the stories of our comrades who have laid down their lives, the civilian who have been victimized through suicidal missions, internally displaced persons who have to sacrifice their lives and suffer material losses during this war on terror. One of the leading Pakistani English newspaper on May 22, 2010, reported an occasion, when a retired army Captain Zafar Tajammal dismissed US demands for Pakistan to ‘do more’ to fight terrorists as he choked back his tears. His son, Captain Bilal Zafar, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while leading a forceagainst entrenched Taliban fighters. He said, “I loved him so much that once I told him, I will not get you married because I love you so much. I am afraid I will not be able to share my love with your wife.” The Shahadat of Captain Bilal also reminded me of Major Muhammmad Ehsan, a brave son of “Frontier Force Regiment’s unit ‘The Volunteers’. I had trained Major Ehsan. He had joined my team as Second Lieutenant in 2000. Later on, I put him as adjutant but could never imagine that just after eight years a day will come when I will identify his completely burnt out dead body as witness and dispatch him to his home town. The father of Captain Bilal very rightly said that if there was an American dignitary sitting in front of him then he would certainly try to ask him, what else a human being can do more than sacrificing his life. American and western think tanks must ask from their authorities, has any other army in the world suffered so many casualties while fighting terrorists. But unfortunately the Indian and Israeli funded think tanks ignore Pakistani sacrifices and start yelling against Pakistan to hide their own intelligence failures in the case of incidents like bombing in New York’s Times Square and Twin Tower incident of 9/11. Therefore, such type of propaganda does add to straining US-Pak relations and keep on widening the gap between Islamabad and Washington. In this connection US leadership, if serious in improving the relations, has to take steps to chain her domestic and external watchdogs. The solution to war against terror lies in unconditional withdrawal of NATO-led forces after holding elections under UN. An elected government should be provided assistance through United Nations Security Council for elimination of militancy and to develop Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghan borders should be sealed with concertina wire. India should be asked to roll back his intelligence setup from Afghanistan. The restructuring of Afghanistan should be the primary objective of UN and Afghan governments. Pakistan should be handed over dronetechnology to guard her area. The economic aid as promised to Pakistan be provided immediately to carry out development in the affected areas of FATA and Swat. The local political leadership and general masses should be provided protection against militants at all cost. The operation in any Pakistani area if required be planned with the consent of National Assembly and no foreign dictation should be accepted against our sovereignty.

OSAMA KILLED in ABOTABAD,OR?

Most of the media channels across the world jumped into the bandwagon of celebrating the news about the death of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottadad without bothering to ponder over the veracity of the fateful news. The Pakistani outfits were also not behind the others to euphorically communicate the news to others. On the contrary, the later information divulged that Osama had been killed years earlier by the Nato in fighting at Konarh province of Afghanistan. Even the Al Qaeda organization also professed that he was killed a year earlier in Afghanistan.

The most pathetic episode of the entire saga of Osama death is that even our national intelligence agency also confirmed his death in Abbottabad, without knowing the dreadful repercussions that his presence and eventual death will bring upon Pakistan in short time. In reality it was a trap laid down by the rogue USA to undermine Pakistan’s security forces credentials to arrest him when he was living in Pakistan. Furthermore, the USA legitimize herself to oust Pakistan of its nuclear assets, by skillfully showing to the world the precarious position of Pakistan’s atomic bombs which may slip into the hands of terrorists anytime. 

Jirga

The particular feature of Pashtun society is the Jirga system through which they resolve the conflicts which also frequently erupt in their day today life. It has got deep roots and they Pashtuns hold the ritual in the present times with great reverence. If seen through the lens of history it shows that it existed in their code of conduct from times unknown. Even  before embracing Islam the Pashtuns were exercising this practice. When the Pashtuns eard of Muhammad (pbuh} they convened a Jirga whether to accept his religion or not. In the Jirga it was decided that their leader Qaiz Bin Abdurashid will go to Makkah to meet the prophet and investigate the veracity of his new religion. If it came through sound then they will accept otherwise they will have to go on their own way. Luckily, the new religion appealed to the good senses of Qaiz Bin Abdurashid and thus they collectively embraced the Islam according to the decision of the Jirga without any outside coercion or intimidation.

Similarly, the Pashtun also conduct their political affairs through grand Jirgas consisting of elders drawn from various tribes and clans. For example the Loyia Jirga of Afghanistan is the living example of the political nature of the Jirga. After the collapse of Taliban a grand jirga of the sages of the society wsas summoned to draft the constitution of the newly established democratic Afghanistan.

Furthermore, as there are no courts or judiciary system in the Tribal areas. The people run their affairs through the jirgas. Whenever, a matter of such important nature ever happen then the Tribal elders form a local jirga through which they settle their mutual disputes. Usually the elders consider the matters impartially and deliver the decision according to their best judgment and understanding. Taking side of a party not only earn bad name to him but his career also come to a close end and in the future such persons are rarely consulted or invited to Jirgas to participate in.

FATA: at the cross­ current of history.

I am Aurangzeb Khan hailing from North Waziristan Agency, Working in media living in Islamabad. I have my own blog in which I try to highlight the maltreatment meted out to these  credulous and gullible people. they have been made the target of worst brutalities committed in the name of war on terror. their homes have been declared the epicenter of the great Game which is fought by the bigwigs for self interest. Embarrassingly this war is fuelled by the flesh and blood of the tribals.Our little efforts may help them to relieve by spelling out the truth and ground realities.

FATA is a region which has been an abode of various uprising against the cruel and unjust regimes. Not only this the regimes which became the target of the tribals outrage hatched various conspiracies to knee down the activists by creating disunity among them.

During  the Akbar the great times the tribals under the leadership of Pir Rokhan (Pir Roshan) revolted against the self created cult of religion. This movement was called  Rokhniyan.After the eventual eclipse of the Mughals the brithers became the ultimate rulers of the area. Through out the history the Wazir and Maseed remained the knights or the kingmakers of Kabul. They provided the main support to the King Amanullah of Afghanistan. Amanullah was not complying to the dictations of British India. The British brought Speen Mullah, Lawrence of Arabia (T.E.Lawrence) to launch a propaganda war against the king of Amaunullah to besmirch him in the eyes of Tribals. Since, he  was successful conspirator and had a long history of intrigues in the Arab world, therefore he succeeded in creating schism and lowering the status of Amanullah in the minds of the Tribals. But this delicate sort of affairs did not help the Britishers in the long run.

The Britishers finally faced the long concealed wrath of the Tribals. They were not spared. Haji mirza ali khan popularly known as the Faqir of EPI waged jihad with millions of mujahidin’s coming down from the tribals areas against the British Raj over the region. When the Briteshers found themselves out of mettle  to combat the tribals they invited Shami Pir to conspire and malign the Faqir of EPI.Though he was not successful in his mission yet he was paid some 25000 rupees from the Royal Bank of India for his services rendered for the consolidation of British rule over the FATA.  His prime task was to create disunity and misunderstanding among the Ghazyans.

For decades the atmosphere of FATA remained peaceful and calm.  Unfortunately, it did not long last. The expansionist USSR thronged to the rough hills of Afghanistan with nefarious with designs of going beyond the declared region. Again FATA become the epicenter of the awesome saga. It was tended to be the breeding ground of the manpower to fuel the game.  Dozens of training camps were opened across the region. The social strata of the FATA were highly militarized to repulse the malicious USSR. Though the hectic affairs came to an end after some times. But the ravages of the heavy investment haunted the Tribals for a long time.

This time the FATA and the mud houses of the Tribals have been declared the battle field of the New Great Game. It has become a flash point of the game. USA once known for complete 

 (With special thanks to Asmat Wazir student of M.Phil quaid Azam University Islamabad)

Education in FATA

FATA stands for Federally Administered Trible Areas , The administration constitutes as that each Agency in the seven trible constituencies have one Political Agent , who is representative of Govornor of NWFP and inderectly to the President of Pakistan.

Trible areas have Quota in almost all eductional instituions of pakistan ,where they can submit their application on the bases of their Trible Domicile and they are given admission.

On the otherhand for primary and secondry education there are schools and colleges on Tehsil and Town bases.

The Point i want to raise is that the instituions for primary and secondry education are VERY BADLY failing in educating the trible youngesters in the trible belt.
There are so many reasons , but one of the major reason is Gov't Politcal interest.

The schools for primary educations are awarded in the name of trible leaders , the schools are built by C&W (Construction and works) department , the Contracts are given to the Owner(Trible Elder), secondly the positions for Class 4 ( Chawkedars , Chuprasi or Naib Qasid) are also solely dedicated to the Trible Elders , who can sale these posts also, and the Most worst thing is that the trible leader will be using this building as their HUJRA. 

The Education department in the built have quota for the vacancies of teachers called divisional quota , and those vacancies are filled from local teachers.

These teachers will the Trible Elders will exempt from duties (and no one can oppose due the traditions) and the eduction department in the concerned terretory will also refrain from any action.

For the education for the Children of Trible Elders there are Political Agent Scholorships and funds , there is one Cadit college in Razmak North Wazirastan Agency , and have quota for trible students , where the only merit is the recomendation of Govonor or political agent which means that only the children of influencial people can go their which are mostly children of trible elders.

Ya, in turn the trible elders will always prove theirselves VERY LOYAL to the Government

The result and the consequencies are obvious these days , that the people of trible areas cannot descriminate whether we are granted or bieng exploited.

Suggestions for Bringing Peace in FATA:

1.      Making the Durand Line impermeable for the Jihadis across the region.

2.      Supporting the Local Lashkars to dismantle the safe heavens of the militants.

3.      The Govt should gain the confidence of the residents to engage them against the culprits.

4.      Media should be encouraged to spread awareness about the wicked tactics of the militants, so as the fact may be dawned on the affected people.

5.      The Govt should devise a clear cut strategy either to support or eliminate the Taliban.

6.      Educational incentives should be given to the people.

7.      Economic opportunities should be provided to the locals so as they become able to earn independent livelihood and they may not be recruited by the militants.

8.      Jirgas of Maliks should be convened. They should be used as a tool by encouraging them and financing them.

9.      Collateral damages should be avoided.

10.  Indiscriminate shelling should be avoided.

11.  Drone attacks should be stopped by the US because it undermines the sovereignty of the state which makes its position weaker for the militants.

There should be dialogues/deals between the Govt and Taliban but not the miscreants and foreigners. Furthermore, the Govt should not compromise at its supremacy

FATA: In the Line of Fire: Reforms in FCR

FATA: In the Line of Fire: Reforms in FCR: "I m Aurangzeb khan working in media and living in Islamabad hailing from North Waziristan Agency(FATA).I have my own blog and In my blog I ..."