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Time is running out
Masood Sharif Khan Khattak
The fresh military operation in Swat, launched with a lot of
fanfare, is underway. The army will, undoubtedly, roll over the
disturbed areas and it shall look as if the militants have been
completely wiped out. But then this is where reality takes over from
the apparent. It is a known fact that unconventional
forces/insurgents never put up a pitched battle against an advancing
and angry regular army. They wait for the army to tire itself
through days of operations incited by sporadic acts of violence,
ambushes, raids etc in the entire disturbed area so that the army
extends itself, dissipates its resources and extends its lines of
communications thus opening itself to more attacks in terms of
raids, ambushes and other violent acts. For the insurgents this can
take days, weeks, months or even years. They have all the time in
the world to fight when they want to and wherever it suits their
purpose. This is what the Pakistan Army needs to guard against. It
should locate itself in the disturbed areas in order to help the
civil structure take root again rather than tire itself running
after shadows over inhospitable terrain.
We must understand that the Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force
are Pakistan's first as well as last line of defence. Now that we
are in the grip of internal disorders the armed forces, essentially
the army, have become our last line of defence. What will happen if
this institution somehow suffers back-breaking defeats and the
insurgents are able to control large tracts of the country? Must
Pakistan let that happen? The answer is an obvious no. But when the
army is deployed to fight a seemingly endless insurgency of the
intensity that we are today witnessing, all on its own, the results
have to be detrimental.
We need to now understand that military actions that cause
disruption to normal civic life in the country will always be
something that favours the militants. Today, the entire country is
in a state of siege. The question that begs an answer is regarding
who actually is winning this war, the state or the militants? Most
people would say that the militants seem to have the upper hand
because the state is getting more and more stuck in quicksand and is
steadily losing its ability to maintain its writ. Under the garb of
security the sycophants have bottled up the leadership at the local
level, the provincial and the federal level so that then they
themselves can rule on behalf of the actual rulers at all levels.
Time is, indeed, running out for Pakistan. It is never going to be
enough to throw the Pakistan Army into an endless cycle of
counterinsurgency operations and then hope for a turn around. What
will be of help are political actions at all levels aimed at
providing a normal civic life to the citizens of Pakistan whether
they live in small remotely located villages or in the bigger
cities. The army should then form the punch under which the
launching of those initiatives is possible – a punch that builds
confidence in the population of the disturbed areas to carry on
living in their homes because of just the simple presence of the
army in the area. Under the cover of that punch the revival of the
civil machinery in all disturbed areas must take place immediately
and when the population of an area realizes that the state of
Pakistan is there to make life better for them in terms of civic
amenities, schools and colleges for their coming generations,
hospitals to provide them health care when they need it most the
state would have attained a decisive victory.
While dealing with the present crisis the Pakistan Army's deterrent
potential and its military balance needs to be kept intact in order
to save Pakistan's integrity from suffering a grievous blow. Most
Pakistanis would agree that today, when Pakistan is in the grip of
intense militancy, the Pakistan Army is the last hope to keep
Pakistan intact. The Pakistani nation must understand clearly that
the target of any internal or external force that is interested in
weakening and disintegrating Pakistan is none other than the
Pakistan Army itself. When, and if ever, those forces achieve the
aim of neutralizing the Pakistan Army the disintegration of Pakistan
would be a natural corollary. Therefore, people who matter have to
join heads and hands immediately in order to make Pakistan cohesive
all over again.
It has to be unambiguously said that, at present, it is the
admirable level of patriotism of the Pakhtuns that is saving
Pakistan from a very ugly situation. However, aspects like these are
never permanent and should not be taken as granted. We must remember
that the Bengalis were perfectly patriotic Pakistanis too but are
now very patriotic Bangladeshis after events pushed them away from
Pakistan. We must learn from our own history and rectify the overall
national situation through good statecraft backed by a strong
military before time actually runs out on Pakistan. It is clear that
blazing guns, tanks and gunship helicopters alone will not retrieve
the situation for Pakistan unless unprecedented and bold political
and developmental initiatives are taken.
The
News:Saturday, May 16, 2009
The writer is a former director-general of the Intelligence Bureau
and former vice-president of the PPP Parliamentarians.
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