War against Taliban-What will it take PAK army to win?

What will it take the Pakistan army to win?

By

M.M.Khajooria

During his current visit to the United States, President Zardari of Pakistan was questioned  about the imminent threat of the Taliban take over  of his country. Zardari instead of giving a direct answer posed a counter question, “ with seven million strong Pakistan army   how could this be possible ? The questioner left the matter at that and moved on. President Zardari’s counter  raised   some pertinent questions, which need to be addressed in the interest of a realistic and authentic appraisal of the  implication of mteroic rise of Taliban in Pakistan- a state perched precariously on the brink.

The Pakistan President  had a long list of options from which to draw strength and support for his position . As the elected head of  the state in a democratic country  he   was expected to   stress upon the  rejection of the cult of Taliban by the  vast majority of the  people of Pakistan  in the last elections. As it is,  most Pakistanis who were adherents of Islamic Sufi mysticism and venerated saints and their shrines dotted across the country considered  the extremist savagery   ,  brutal  practices and   senseless indiscriminate blood shedding abhorrent .       It seems not only Pesident Zardari  and the US establishment but all other stake holders, the establishment, the parliament , the civil society ,  the intelligentsia and even the non-fundamentalist clergy  have chosen to  bet on  the Pak Army as the instrument for containing and eliminating   the  scourge of the Taliban .  Given the conditions prevailing in Pakistan  there was little choice. The stakes  of  the nation state of Pakistan and the civilised world in this confrontation   were indeed very high. Obviously , the success or failure of enterprise would   primarily hinge on the  character ,state of health, commitment and capability of the  army and its leadership.

.The partition of the Indian Sub continent   and creation  of Pakistan in August 1947  brought about   the division of the  British Indian colonial army, a portion of which constituted  the Pakistan Army ,Sadly, it had not  changed its colonial character even after sixty eight years of independence.

The paramount duty  of the British Indian  army was to ensure order within India and  protect the interests of the RAJ  against the challenges of the  ‘revolutionary’ elements . In exchange for the services rendered , the British empire ,  generously rewarded  the officers and  the men. They were favored with the      allotment of  precious     land  particularly in the newly irrigated parts of Punjab and Sindh.  Much of the rank-and-file of the Pakistan Army hailed from Punjab and the NWFP, -   home to ‘ martial classes.

The army was   thus  cast in the dual role of the patron state as well as  its colonial strong arm appendage After they became the masters of what they surveyed ,  the defence forces  leadership    spread  their tentacles across the board  – the  civil administration, diplomacy, commerce and  corporate sector. Corruption, nepotism  and favouritism became the  order of the day .In this new AVTAR , the army brass not only   amassed  undreamt of wealth  but also  simultaneously  gathered huge amount of professional flab This in turn  significantly diluted. its combat worthiness . Urgent correctives within the army structure and its interface with the other elements of the state  apparatus were therefore absolutely necessary  to correct,  upgrade   and enhance the capability of the PAK army to effectively take on the internationally supported  fanatical Pakistani Taliban. As Ayjaz Amir  appropriately  put it  “The farce of senior commanders becoming real estate tycoons while still in service must end if we are to see the army function as a more effective fighting machine.” Howsoever despite dilution of their combat capability   the PAK army  officer  corps   remained close to the West in terms of personal lifestyles and ideological inclinations. The smooth sailing boat was violently rocked  during   Gen.Zia Ul Haq’s stewardship of Pakistan  The Jehadi agenda furiously and uncompromisingly  promoted by him “polluted”   the mindset, work culture and  goals  cherished by the nations’ fighting machine  This imposed an element of severe and serious friction  in the armed forces of Pakistan   With  the passage of time  the seedlings  have  flourished into deadly poisonous plants and vitiated the entire defence established. . ”It is not only the government but also the army that has the responsibility to clean up its act of setting a jihadi agenda back in Ziaul Haq’s time.” Wrote  Murtaza Razvi in the piece titled “When up against the militants’ published in daily Dawn. ”Bands of Jihadi boys were brainwashed, nurtured and trained at the behest of the Americans, with petro-dollars flowing in from Arabia to carry out lethal missions against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Today they have grown up to be terror machines, churning out young frustrated clones to take on their masters’ mentors.” he pointed out and  pertinently asked“ Who knows how many little bin Ladens and Al-Zawahiris they have in their fold, keeping liaisons with the intelligence and security apparatus, even as we speak?  This  could  an extreme view but the presence of Jehadi supporters and sympathisers in the defence  ranks was a unpleasant reality. This dichotomy was at the core of the dilemma that griped the army leadership especially at the middle level and debilitated its resolve to confront the Taliban. Resolutely.

The Pakistan army was calibred and motivated to fight against   India –the eternal enemy. “ It hasn’t a clue about fighting the Taliban in Swat and Waziristan. Indeed, the army’s less than brilliant interventions in both these regions have been a powerful factor in making the Taliban more powerful” argued an  eminent   Pakistani security commentator “To concentrate on the threat we face from within, the time may have come for us to give up on our India fixation. India is a headache. No doubt about it …..But a headache is one thing, an existential threat quite another”

President Zardari was on record having repeatedly stated that he never apprehended any threat from India . The  comment of he ISI chief Gen. Pasha some time back that “he was not stupid  and knew that the threat to Pakistan came from the extremist and not India” become relevant in this context.. Moving  sixty thousand troops away from the Indian borders to the western front may be  indicative of the beginning of a shift in strategic thinking in Pakistan  Some keen watchers of Indo-Pak-US triangle  believe  that The US had finally succeeded in convincing Pakistan that it faced no threat to  its  integrity from India. The question arises as to  how  real  and enduring the  shift is ?The answer to this   will impact not only the ability of Pakistan army to take its current  anti Taliban  operations to the logical conclusion but also  significantly determine the future   course of Indo-Pak relations

has been projected   by army spokesperson and Gen. Kiyani  himself on number of occasions in the cent past. While there indeed be need for all this and more , considering  Pakistan’s past record of using such situations  for obtaining and  stockpiling  military hardware to be  used against India, there is need for care and caution.

Not withstanding the above and many other problems  and internal contradictions with which it  is beset Pakistan army can certainly be relied upon to effectively deal with the Taliban menace, once it  drops  its India phobia ,   and was  provided necessary war  wherewithal   . However for his to happen  an  all out  determined  and sustained thrust  was the prerequisite    “Half-measures or half-hearted actions should be avoided like the plague. They haven’t worked before and are not likely to succeed now”  Realistically speaking and   suspicions not withstanding ,   the Pakistan Army was an indispensable element in any successful strategy against militancy in Pakistan and the region.

The question has been raised  as to why the Pak army let the Taliban run amok and  virtually halted operations against them ?  Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani  the answer . Speaking in   the 118 Corpse commanders conference in Rawalpindi on 07 May he aid that ‘The operational pause, meant to give the reconciliatory forces a chance, must not be taken for a concession to the militants,’  in apparent reference to the lull in Swat fighting after the Feb 16 peace agreement” But this was only partially true. In fact  the ‘pause’ was  under pressure from the pro-Jihadi elements  within the army who argued that Taliban should be given a chance to implement the peace agreement .The other indicator was touched by him when he  expressed his satisfaction at the standard and conduct of on going training in the field formations as part of ‘Year of Training’ and   claimed that Pakistan Army has developed full scale facilities to focus on Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) related operations”

Expressing the military’s resolve to fight and eliminate the militants endangering the lives of peaceful citizens and challenging the writ of the state. Kayani urged national harmony to fight terrorism, extremism. “The present security situation requires that all elements of national power should work in close harmony to fight the menace of terrorism and extremism.”, he said.  ” Pakistan “Gen. Kayani pointed out “ is a sovereign state and the people of Pakistan under a democratic dispensation, supported by the Army, are capable of handling the present crisis in their own national interest.” He assured the nation that “ Pakistan Army is fully aware of the gravity of internal threat. It will employ requisite resources to ensure a decisive ascendancy over the militants.”

Gen. Kiyani has got more than what he asked for. The President and the Prime minister have shed their ambivalence and come out strongly and unambiguously  for strongest possible action against the Taliban prompting then to hurl threats of killing of the leaders and their families. Not only that the support for army action comes across the political spectrum  , there have been public demonstration against the Taliban, some thing unprecedented in Pakistan.  But what really tilted the balance was the  unexpected bonanza of  endorsement  from the most influential Barelvu Clerics.  “We support the army operation in Swat because it is a battle for the survival and defence of Pakistan,’ declared Sahibzada Fazal Karim, leader of Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Pakistan.. On the mundane plane  ,the armed forces top brass  also  have vested  interest in ridding the country of fanatic religious elements .Because there was no scope for the survival of the military’s non-defence related economic empire  under a Talbanized Pakistan  .

As of date over fifteen thousand PAK  troops are battling an estimated number of four thousand well armed Taliban in Swat  “where Pakistan government has ordered  a battle to . “eliminate’. Islamist militants branded by Washington  as the greatest terror threat to the west” ”Helicopter gunships and Jet fighters shelled militant hideouts  in Peochar,Shamozai and Khawaza Khela areas of Swat which started  Friday night and continued ntil Saturday morning”  a military official was reported to have said on condition of anonymity..

Be that as it may  there is no doubt that  Pakistan is  today engaged in fighting  the mother of all battles- a war  , more grave and far-reaching in its implications than  any in the past. And  its outcome could well determine   the  very future of what’s left of Pakistan as a nation state.

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By: Madan Mohan Khajooria

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