Daily Times Editorial Dec 13, 2009

Widening offensive

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani may be forgiven for what appeared to be a Freudian slip or wishful thinking when he said that the military offensive in South Waziristan was almost over. That may be the hidden desire of many people in Pakistan, but the facts on the ground belie that hope. Of course, the prime minister attempted to correct the inadvertent impression he created earlier by stating that a military operation was in the offing in Orakzai Agency. Read together, the two statements reflect the complexity of the fight against the Taliban. Earlier in Swat/Malakand and now in South Waziristan, while the military has succeeded by first ‘emptying the sea’, i.e. forcing people to flee the theatre of operations to save life and limb, and then being able to bring to bear its superior firepower against any one remaining, presumed to be a militant, the fact that the leadership in both Swat/Malakand and South Waziristan appears to have escaped to relative safety indicates the nature of the present struggle. Guerrillas will preserve themselves by moving away in the face of overwhelming force, in order to live to fight another day. Thereby they are simply following the guerrilla precept of using space, time and will against a superior enemy to grind down his capability and will to fight. The temptation to declare premature ‘victory’ therefore should be tinged with the caution that this is going to be a protracted war and it would benefit the effort if the people are made aware of this aspect of the matter so as not to be disillusioned by a seemingly endless conflict. The prime minister reflected that perception by pointing out that no timeline could be given for an end to any offensive.
The military’s operations have been steadily widening to other agencies from South Waziristan. Actions against militants are ongoing or being planned in the following agencies: Kurram, Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand, and in the Lower Dir area. This is an indication that the militants, to escape the military’s onslaught, are dispersing to other agencies and carrying out attacks in those areas, partly to divert the main thrust of the military’s offensive by forcing a dispersal of troops, partly to keep the impression of a live and active movement intact. The pressures on the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan have been revealed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the successor to slain Baitullah Mehsud and current leader of the Tehreek, has been suing for peace and sent four offers of talks, all of which have been rejected by the authorities. Wisdom has clearly dawned on the latter that this talk about talks is merely a diversionary tactic to gain time, regroup, and take the offensive again against the state’s forces. After Swat and the outcome of the previous ‘peace’ agreements between the militants and the authorities, little room is left for illusions about the militants’ aims or their intransigence in wanting to impose their deviant interpretation of Islam on Pakistan’s Muslims.
Despite the mounting toll of Taliban casualties and the increasing seizures of weapons, ammunition and equipment, it is best to shun illusions of an early or easy victory over a very determined foe driven by the blinkers of an ideology that brooks no opposition. If the ‘jannat’ (paradise) captured the other day is anything to go by, the modern day Hashashin are amongst us, brainwashing children to become suicide bombers in a dubious, barbaric cause. Pakistan must stay the course if we are to see the back of this malignancy.