Tribal violence and state’s writ: Pakistan faces grave internal security threat

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

20 Jul 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

Tribal violence and state's writ: Pakistan faces grave internal security threat

By Kunwar Idris IN the din of condemnation by the opposition and false hopes held out by the government, the only distinct and unanimous voice heard (the prime minister being the sole dissenter) is about the grave threat to the security of the country. And the threat this time round is not external — not from India but from within, a part of our own country. The situation in the north-west tribal belt and its adjoining areas is getting worse with every passing day of the new democratic government. And yet no one in authority at the centre or in the Frontier province is prepared to say when, if at all, it will get better. Our own and Afghanistan's 'Islamic' warriors, joined by mercenaries from other parts of the world, have been a source of this threat for almost a quarter of a century now. The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) based in Afghanistan has served only to raise the level of that threat. Ironically enough, the force that America assembled to rid Afghanistan of terrorists — seen failing in that task — is now increasingly aiming its rockets at their suspected hideouts in Pakistan's tribal territory. Prime Minister Gilani's comforting words for his countrymen that "Pakistan is a sovereign, independent state and no one will be allowed to strike inside its territory" sound more like a cruel joke. Isaf didn't seek his permission before bombing tribal hamlets in Mohmand, Waziristan and Bajaur, terrorising and killing unwary inhabitants. Nor surely will it in the future if foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's meeting with Condoleezza Rice in Washington is any indication. Qureshi's public comment after that meeting was typical of subcontinental verbosity. The talks, he said, were "frank, candid, honest and realistic." Rice's was terse: "there's no meeting of minds." Against this backdrop it is hardly surprising that while the US has regretted the loss of civilian lives it has not apologised for intrusions into Pakistan's territory nor has it promised greater caution in the future. On the other hand, instead of saying it themselves the Americans have made their protégé Hamid Karzai say, and say it belligerently, that the retreating terrorists will be chased and killed wherever found in Pakistan. For his threat he relies on the right of hot pursuit in war, forgetting that the two countries are not at war but waging war together, so to say, against a common enemy. Pakistan indeed is a sovereign state — an undisputed fact that the prime minister needlessly stressed. But it is equally undisputed that Pakistan's rule over the tribal region has always been qualified and indirect. The tribes falling on Pakistan's side of the Durand Line (demarcated in the last decade of the nineteenth century), under the terms of various treaties, by tradition and for convenience, are administered by political agents through tribal councils better known as jirgas. The tribal hierarchy has elders but no chieftains. Through a slow, calculated process the influence of the government has been expanding but still few laws apply. Development of communications and economic stake of tribesmen in farmland, commerce and services in the settled area had, however, made some agencies more orderly and peaceful than the districts. But that was till the time the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Pakistan waged jihad to expel them. The emergence of the Taliban in the wake of the Soviet retreat and the events that followed have had the effect of shattering the tribal society on both sides of the border. Then, as a double whammy, came Musharraf's reforms to shatter the tribal administration as well. Though the political agent — unlike his settled area counterpart, the deputy commissioner — has survived the reforms his authority has been severely impaired in the absence of the backing of a powerful civil service cadre. In a state of commotion the military and paramilitary commanders assumed a role that belonged to the political agent. Force thus replaced persuasion. In a chronic war-like situation the tribal hierarchy and political administration both have all but broken down. The warriors and armed clerics with hordes of radicalised followers — local and foreign — freely roam the area and spill over into the settled districts at will. The question now is not of enforcing the writ of the government as the politicians of Islamabad assert they will one day. The writ of the government, in the sense it is normally understood, didn't run in the tribal territory even in the best of times. Mutual recognition of the rights of the tribes and authority of the political agent is the historical basis and still can be the only workable basis of administering the tribes. The war on terror is an extraordinary, hopefully short-lived, activity. The normal administration of the tribes should not become a casualty to it. All that can be demanded of the tribal councils and maliks is not to harbour fighters who are not from among them. To keep the tribes out of the war on terror, it would help if their administration were to be made a responsibility of the provincial government. The tribal agencies and the adjoining settled districts are inhabited by people who speak the same dialect, belong to the same clans and share each others' joy and grief. The recommendation of a forum organised by an NGO (Dawn, July 16) that the tribal areas should have a council of their own (implying a legislative body) has unseen and dangerous implications. Tribal members should sit in the provincial assembly with members from the settled area. The members from Hangu district, for instance, should not be raising their concerns about lawlessness in one assembly and of the neighbouring Kurram Agency in another. The war on terror can be won only if the unhindered movement of armed fighters across the international border is checked. The border is long, rugged and unguarded but the crossing stretches are well identified. The Americans should fence and guard them on the Afghan side. India has fenced the line of control in Kashmir. It has also fenced its border with Pakistan in Rajasthan. Investment in fencing and attention to the welfare of the people in course of time will put an end to terror. Blaming or threatening Pakistan, inciting the clerics or putting up stooges as leaders of the Afghans will not. kunwaridris@hotmail.com http://dawn.com/2008/07/20/op.htm