Pakistan Army’s double game

[Sir john]

The dangerous game of duplicity that Pakistan appears to be playing stood exposed when bin Laden was found to be holed in Abbottabad. It blew the Pakistan army’s carefully constructed narrative, severely dented their credibility and threatened to undo the gains they had made in clearing up the Swat and FATA region. Swat though remains a case study of how if the Pakistan Army and the Government wanted to act they could do so decisively and well. On our way to Swat by an army helicopter, we flew over Abbottabad nestling below the foothills of a giant Himalayan range. It was barely a week before the US forces struck with such decisive force and eliminated bin Laden. With the Hindukush mountains as the backdrop and the Swat River gracefully weaving its way through lush green valleys, the region has a picture postcard beauty to it. For many years it was a favourite for both Pakistan and foreign tourists who regarded it as the ‘Switzerland of the East.’ It even boasted of an 18-hole golf course. In the 1980s, the winds of the civil war that engulfed Afghanistan after Soviet occupation blew across the Khyber Pass and into FATA and the Swat region. But it was in 1990s that militant forces began to challenge federal and provincial authorities. Sufi Muhammad, a cleric, started a campaign to introduce the Islamic justice system calling it the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariate Mohammadi (the struggle for the enforcement of Islamic Law) or the TNSM.

[Sir john]

Maulana Radio takes charge Soon after 9/11, with the Pakistan government clamping down on religious groups TNSM was banned. It was then that the Sufi Muhammad’s son-in-law, Maulana Fzlullah, who hauled passengers over ropeway bridges in Swat as a profession, took over the TNSM. Using unique techniques to propagate his divisive messages, including harnessing an FM radio for his religious broadcasts, Mullah Radio as he came to be known, grew the TNSM with hardcore fundamentalists who challenged the government writ by controlling large parts of the district. With his sonorous voice, Mullah’s broadcast would directly address women urging them to persuade their men folk to take up arms and join the Jihad to impose religious purity in the region. Long before, the recent Egyptian revolution, Mullah Radio understood how technology could be used as a force multiplier. At Khwaza-khela, Maj Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the division that oversees the Swat operation, says: “It was a complex combination of religious extremism, class disparities, omissions and commissions by government, slow delivery of justice that saw militancy reach a crescendo.” In December 2007, militancy in both Swat and FATA regions took an ominous turn for Pakistan and the multi-national coalition forces led by the US engaged in Afghanistan. Over 40 militant leaders, including Maulana Fazlullah of Swat, commanding over 40,000 fighters congregated in South Waziristan. They decided to end their traditional rivalry and unite under the banner of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It was apparent that the TTP was an extension of the feared Al-Qaida and was part of its strategy to extend its war to Pakistan. The TTP-led insurgency spread like wildfire and engulfed the seven tribal regions in FATA and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of which Swat is part. In Swat, Mullah Fazllulah established a brutal regime and the valley became a model Taliban state. A draconian verison of the sharia was imposed that saw girls being forbidden from attending school and over 400 schools destroyed, females were prevented from taking jobs and forced to wear burqas while moving around, barbers were ordered not to shave beards, music, videos and cable-networks were banned, and every family had to hand over one male member to wage jihad and a daughter to be wedded to a Taliban. Any disobedience would result in beheading. A wave of killings was unleashed against government officials, tribal leaders and families who opposed them and town centres were converted to public gallows were bodies of those executed were hung for many days. As we went around Matta town, we were shown were the hangings took place.

[Sir john]

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan rules Only after the coalition government led by the Pakistan People’s Party was established in 2008 and General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the chief of Army Staff, began to assert his authority that action was taken. On February 16, 2009, a peace deal was signed between the KP provincial government and Maulana Sufi in which the government accepted the Nizam-e-Adl (system of justice) in Swat in return for the Fazlullah-led militants surrendering arms and ending the violence. Peace, though, was short-lived with the Taliban not only refusing to turn in their arms but also spreading their movement to neighbouring districts and even appeared to march towards Islamabad. As fear and revulsion grew across Pakistan, the government moved to take decisive action. On May 7, 2009, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani addressing the nation declared that his government was launching an all-out offensive against the Taliban. Op Rah-e-Rast is launched Code-named operation Rah-e-Rast (the correct path), the Pakistan Army launched a well-planned assault in the Swat region. In order to avoid collateral damage, the army told the people to immediately evacuate and head to specially provided shelters at a distance away. Some half a million people fled to these camps as the operations began. Then adopting a pincer strategy backed by attack helicopters, Ramday says, “We cleaned the area hill by hill and town by town. We shocked them with firepower, softened them and then cleaned them up. The kinetic operations went on for at least a month.” Mullah Radio escaped the assault and is believed to have fled to Afghanistan. The Army then got down to the difficult task of rebuilding houses, bridges, roads, schools and government offices that had been destroyed by the militants. But in July 2010, just when they thought the worst was offer, the Swat region was devastated by a major flood that caused enormous damage and displaced thousands again. The Army took the calamity as another opportunity to rebuild trust with the local people and worked with the civilian authorities to bring relief. A year later on the surface it appears as if normalcy has been restored. We visit the newly opened women’s home science college where girls move around freely. We are taken to schools that have been restarted where little girls, who were earlier banned from entering, sit with large innocent eyes listening to the teacher. As regards militancy, Ramday, says confidently, “We have turned the corner. The militants are fighting for survival. There is no chance for them to come back. The people will not let them.” Pakistan, India and the world are keeping their fingers firmly crossed