VIEW: Trudging on —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
VIEW: Trudging on —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
It is imperative to understand that we need to win the war and not
just the battle. While we rightly pat ourselves and the police,
military and paramilitary forces for their work, we need to remind
ourselves and them that the war is yet to be won
In the wake of the tragic
Lahore
blasts, the discussion of the ethnicity of the Taliban and the success
of the operations against them has received a new impetus. During the
discussions, there are those who are identified as the Punjabi Taliban
— who apparently also took responsibility for the chaos that reigned
last week. Then there are some political analysts who believe that
because of the successful military operations against the
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the NWFP and FATA, the TTP splinter
cells have merely re-located to Southern Punjab and are operating from
there. Hence, according to them, it is the same TTP but with a
different street address! A third attempt at understanding the Lahore
attacks is the old-radical-in-a-new-bottle theory. This theory, which
was also put forth this week in an editorial of a leading English
newspaper, postulates that Southern Punjab, which has been no stranger
to radical and extremist elements such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, might be lending administrative support to the
TTP. The TTP, they believe, is finding it increasingly difficult to
operate in the face of the successful military operations and also more
effective intelligence gathering and sharing mechanisms. The Punjab
chief minister seems to be struggling to condemn the attack in a way so
as to keep his province’s interests paramount but also not imply that
he is excluding the rest of Pakistan. His son is quick to defend him
and the political shenanigans go on.
All the above explanations
are attempts at further understanding the terrorism challenge that we
are confronted with and most importantly the perpetrators of this
challenge. An attempt to understand this is important, for with
understanding comes clarity. It is important that we understand the
mechanisms and multiple facets of the Pakistani Taliban, which has
created such havoc in our political, social, economic and personal
lives. It is because of the Pakistani Taliban that Pakistan suffered
more suicide blasts than Iraq, making it the suicide capital of the
world.
There are some who get impatient with the discussions
and attempts to understand the TTP. As a friend remarked, “We spend our
time on TV talk shows trying to understand whether the Taliban are
Punjabi or Pathan while they strategise and successfully execute their
plans.” There are also some well-meaning critics who lament the lack of
intelligence and question how the terrorists can strike amidst all the
security.
However, it is important not to lose hope. As the
whole country mourns with Lahore, we should not forget that these are
desperate reactions of a fledging terrorist organisation that has had
many of its key leaders killed. The TTP is an organisation on the run.
Six out of the eight blasts that rocked Lahore were meant to generate
panic amongst the people. This is exactly what we have to avoid. The
TTP understands psychological warfare well. They employ psy-warfare
techniques, be it showing brutal videos of mutilations or placing
low-intensity bombs. We need to avoid this trap, as having a knee-jerk
reaction is exactly what the TTP wants us to do.
The extremism
network in Pakistan has suffered major losses. They do not admit it but
they have. The drone attacks, locally referred to as ‘the mosquitoes’
because of the hum that they make, have been responsible for killing
many of their top leaders. For instance, as reported in an Urdu weekly
magazine, Hum Shehri, in the last two years, 14 of their key commanders
have been killed by drone attacks. Each one of these 14 commanders was
instrumental in carrying out and supervising deadly attacks, both
within Pakistan and abroad. For instance, Abu Laith al-Libi, a noted al
Qaeda member of Libyan origin and a military planner and specialist in
guerrilla warfare, masterminded the Bagram Air Base attacks in 2007. He
was killed in South Waziristan in January 2008. Usama al-Kini from
Kenya along with his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan was killed in
a drone attack in 2009. Usama was believed to be involved in the
Islamabad Marriott attacks. The key leader of the TTP, Baitullah
Mehsud, was killed in August 2009 in South Waziristan, creating a huge
leadership crisis in the TTP. In North Waziristan, Mustafa al Jaziri,
who was a member of the al Qaeda Shura along with the so-called Punjabi
Taliban, was also killed, thus creating another leadership deficit.
An
organisation is effective only through its leaders and the extent to
which they have the space to operate within the network. By means of
the systematic and strategic attacks on the organisation of the
extremist elements in Pakistan that are organised into various
groups/factions, the battle is slowly but surely being won. However, it
is imperative to understand that we need to win the war and not just
the battle. While we rightly pat ourselves and the police, military and
paramilitary forces for their work, we need to remind ourselves and
them that the war is yet to be won.
Lahore is a tragic
reminder. A reminder that we need to step up our efforts as well as the
resources available to us to fight these extremist forces. The news of
the US transferring Cobra helicopters, which are equipped for night
flying, to Pakistan is welcome. The success of the drone attacks has
already shown that they are instrumental in taking out strategic
targets like the leaders mentioned above. The recent fatwa by
Tahir-ul-Qadri that systematically discredits each and every argument
used by the extremist elements — whether they be al Qaeda or the TTP —
shows how the religious leaders can play their due role in this war.
However, there is a need to remain consistent in our fight and not get
involved in squabbles over statements issued by political leaders,
conspiracy theories or the “hidden hand” theory. The only “hidden hand”
here is that of the extremists who seek to violate our peace. We need
to continue our efforts to expose them and keep them on the run.
The writer is an Islamabad-based consultant. She can be reached at contact@individualland.com
In : Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Notes