analysis: Pak-US dialogue: a Pakhtun perspective —Farhat Taj
analysis: Pak-US dialogue: a Pakhtun perspective —Farhat Taj
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
Basically, the jirga is saying that it does not trust the military
establishment, which is leading the dialogue with the US. The military
establishment will follow the policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan,
which is the key cause of the sufferings of Pakhtuns on both sides of
the Durand Line
Days before the Pak-US strategic dialogue in
Washington on the issue of terrorism, a grand tribal jirga was held in
Peshawar. The jirga was participated in by civil society members,
lawyers, doctors, students, minorities, tribal leaders and elders of
the anti-Taliban peace committees and representatives of anti-Taliban
political parties, the Awami National Party (ANP), the Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP), the Awami Party (AP) and the National Party (NP).
Each and every political agency of FATA and district of the Pakhtunkhwa
province was well represented. The participants included women and
religious and sectarian minorities. As defiance of the Taliban’s ban on
music and dance, the jirga commenced and ended with traditional Pakhtun
dances and music.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the
Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Kayani are leading the
delegation that is holding the strategic dialogue with the US. There is
no Pakhtun representative in the delegation and, therefore, the jirga
demanded representation of the Pakhtuns in the dialogue. It seems that
the PPP, which represents a large Pakhtun vote bank, has given up or
has been compelled by the military establishment to stay away from
foreign policy formulation. There is, therefore, no hope that the head
of the Pak-delegation, Foreign Minister Qureshi, would highlight the
Pakhtun perspective in the meetings with the US authorities. The
perception of the jirga members was that the foreign minister would toe
the line dictated by the COAS.
The jirga members categorically
expressed the apprehension that the strategic dialogue would come out
with a short-term and selective solution of terrorism. The solution
would be aimed at sparing some terrorists, targeting others, shaking
hands with some and leaving the helpless people of FATA and the
Pakhtunkhwa province at the mercy of the Pakistan Army and its
intelligence agencies.
This solution can help President Obama to
win another term in office and can also facilitate General Kayani to
get further extension in his service as COAS, but it cannot bring real
peace to the region or the wider world.
Whatever is the mutually
agreed upon anti-terrorism strategy of the US and Pakistan, the jirga
members were unanimous that they would measure the decrease or increase
in terrorism on the criteria set in the Peshawar Declaration jointly
approved in a similar grand jirga in December 2009. The two key causes
of terrorism identified by the Peshawar Declaration are: strategic
depth policy of the military establishment of Pakistan; and the Arab
expansionism embodied by al Qaeda under the garb of global Islam. To
end terrorism, the policy of strategic depth has to be given up and al
Qaeda has to be crushed.
Killing or capturing al Qaeda
terrorists may not be a difficult task. To give up the strategic depth
idea would be a great deal of work. This implies that targeted military
operations have to be undertaken in several parts of Punjab, like
Muridke, Jhang, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur, etc.
The Punjab-based militant organisations that are banned, but continue
to function under new names, have to be really banned and crushed. To
root out the terrorist mindset, the state will have to eliminate the
curriculum and literature taught in Pakistani schools and madrassas,
which is based on hatred of women, Jews, Hindus and Shias and violent
jihad against them and, last but not the least, all the Taliban
infrastructure and their important leaders in FATA and Pakhtunkhwa
province have to be eliminated through targeted military operations.
Moreover,
the jirga demanded that the international aid given to Pakistan in the
name of terrorism must be spent in FATA and the Pakhtunkhwa province.
People of this area, who disproportionately suffer much more from
terrorism than people in any other area in Pakistan, must receive the
benefits of the aid in terms of education, health and jobs.
Furthermore, whether in the military or the government of Pakistan,
people who are responsible for corruption in the aid money must be made
accountable and punished.
Hardly any jirga member was confident
that the state is ready to initiate all these measures. Therefore, they
agreed to convene another grand jirga within the next few months to
address the evolving situation, following the Pak-US strategic dialogue.
Basically,
the jirga is saying that it does not trust the military establishment,
which is leading the dialogue with the US. The military establishment
will follow the policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan, which is the
key cause of the sufferings of Pakhtuns on both sides of the Durand
Line. In this context, the jirga expressed misgivings over the US role
in the ongoing strategic dialogue. The jirga members said that either
the US does not understand the problem of terrorism in Pakhtunkhwa,
including FATA, or has some ulterior motives that the superpower wants
to achieve through the strategic dialogue at the cost of Pakhtun blood.
A
common agreement in the jirga was that the US and NATO forces want to
leave Afghanistan. The London Conference in January 2010, the NATO,
Russian and Pakistani military chiefs’ meeting in Brussels in the same
month and now the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue are all steps in this
direction. The problem with this approach is that it does not pay
attention to the grievances of anti-Taliban Pakhtuns in FATA and the
Pakhtunkhwa province and the role of the intelligence agencies of
Pakistan in it. If something is not done to curtail that role, the
Pakhtun will continue to suffer death and destruction; Islamist
extremism will grow and the ultimate beneficiaries will be al Qaeda and
the military establishment of Pakistan.
The writer is a
research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research,
University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional
Research and Advocacy. She can be reached at bergen34@yahoo.com
In : Farhat Taj
Notes