Tribal
girls sift through the rubble of their homes in Wana on Mar 29
Musharraf,
Army Left Counting the Dead After Waziristan Disaster
By
Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI:
The 12-day Pakistani army operation in the South Waziristan tribal
area near the Afghan frontier ended following the release on Sunday
of 12 government officials and soldiers seized by alleged al-Qaeda
fighters and tribal allies. Similarly, a number of tribal suspects
held by the Army have been set free or will be released soon.
Those
released by the tribals were among 14 people captured at the start
of a clash in which more than 100 people have been killed. After
cordoning off the area around Wana in South Waziristan with over
5,000 troops and losing about 50 soldiers in the offensive, the
military says that "we have almost achieved our set targets"
in driving al-Qaeda fugitives and Afghan resistance fighters from
the region.
Tension
has been high after the execution of eight Pakistan soldiers,
who had been taken hostage by the fighters during an ambush on
an army convoy last Tuesday.
The
end of open hostilities, however, is only the beginning, and far
from achieving its targets, the army, and Pakistani President
General Pervez Musharraf, are left with far bigger problems than
when they first embarked on the mission into the tribal region
nearly two weeks ago.
Although the Pakistan Army has put a brave face on its South Waziristan
escapade, claiming that its job has been done, in reality it had
to rely on outside help to extricate itself with a semblance of
its "face" intact.
After
all efforts to pacify the hostile tribals failed - the semi-autonomous
regions are notoriously anti-central authority - the government
persuaded leading clerics to bring pressure to bear on the tribals
to negotiate a truce. The clerics, who belong to the six-party
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) religious political party that is
well represented in the National Assembly as well as the provincial
governments of North West Frontier Province and Balochistan, are
usually perceived as anti-US, but in fact, when the chips are
down, they dance to Musharraf's tune.
The
army sought help from the clerics on two fronts: To use their
influence among the tribes to get them to compromise; To
prevent the spread of a campaign started by some extreme religious
leaders in Islamabad in which soldiers serving in the tribal regions
were to be denied funeral rites.
Despite heavy United States pressure for a sustained campaign
in Pakistan to once and for all drive all insurgents (both foreign
fighters and Afghan resistance) from their sanctuaries in the
tribal areas, the operation has now ended.
In
terms of the broader picture, the plan was for the Pakistan Army
on the one side and US troops across the border in Afghanistan
to sandwich all resistance between a "hammer and an anvil"
and drive them from the Shawal area - an inhospitable no man's
land that straddles the border. This is nowhere near to being
achieved.
And
there has been a strong backlash against the Pakistan establishment,
both in the tribal areas and in the country in general, the extent
of which has severely rattled the country's leaders. Indeed, according
to insiders who spoke to Asia Times Online, there is
a perception that, given the failings of the South Waziristan
operation, there is an "an intelligence within an intelligence"
and "an army within an army" in Pakistan and that factions
in these organizations backed the tribals "in the name of
Islam".
According
to sources, more than 150 soldiers of the army and para-military
forces refused to take part in the action, including at least
one colonel and a major.
The
release of a tape last week purported to have been made by Ayman
al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's No 2 in al-Qaeda, also shook the
establishment. Al-Zawahiri was reported to be the "high profile
target" of the South Waziristan operation. In the tape, al-Zawahiri
called Musharraf a "traitor" and urged people to overthrow
his government. "Musharraf seeks to stab the Islamic resistance
in Afghanistan in the back. Every Muslim in Pakistan should work
hard to get rid of this client government, which will continue
to submit to America until it destroys Pakistan," the speaker
on the tape said.
As
a result, for the first time ever, the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) , Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau on Friday
conducted a survey in which they canvassed the opinions of professionals,
including writers and lawyers, on the possible repercussions of
the taped speech.
The
political backlash of the South Waziristan operation has been
so powerful that Musharraf has inducted former dictator General
Zia ul-Haq's son, Ejazul Haq, into the federal cabinet as minister
for religious affairs in order to use his good offices - as the
son of the staunchly pro-Islam leader - with the religious segments
of society.
Soon
after the truce was announced on Sunday and the Pakistan Army
began returning to its camp, pamphlets in the Pashto language
were widely distributed in Bannu, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
They claimed: "Do not ever make the mistake of chasing the
mujahideen of the Taliban and al-Qaeda." The pamphlets clearly
warned those tribals who had cooperated with Pakistan and spied
on the fugitives.
In
a public gathering on Monday in Wana in South Waziristan, religious
and tribal leaders gathered to take stock. "It was just like
Jashn-e-Fatah [Victory celebrations]," a contact who was
present told Asia Times Online. "Wazir tribals presented
turbans to more than 100 jirga [council] people as a gesture of
thanks and confidence."
Members
of the National Assembly in Islamabad and others gave speeches,
the gist of which can be summarized as follows:
-
Congratulations to all the tribes for fighting as a united nation.
- The tribes had once again proved their "glorious traditions"
of fighting evil.
- The Federally-Administered Tribal Areas will remain independent.
- The Central administration is always hostile to the tribal people
and has established new traditions of "cruelty and barbarism".
- Musharraf was misguided about the alleged presence of bin Laden
and al-Zawahiri and other al-Qaeda people.
The
meeting concluded that the army had destroyed 84 houses in its
search for fugitives, and that claims that the fugitives had used
long tunnels to escape were nonsense. In fact, these are trenches
that have been used for many years to carry water. Now the army
has destroyed them - and with it the region's water system.
The
meeting concluded by saying that those who died in the trouble
were shaheed (martyrs), and apologized for the army personal who
died, saying it was the fault of the "high ups". -
Asia Times Online
