Confronting terrorism

Source: The nation
Published: October 7, 2009

THE resurfacing of Baitullah's successor, Hakimullah, with Waliur Rehman his alleged rival right beside him, certainly casts serious doubts on official claims that these leaders had been killed. But a more pertinent issue arises on the strategy to deal with the Taliban and other extremist groups perpetrating terrorism in Pakistan. Clearly, the militaristic approach cannot work in isolation. Even when the military clears one area of terrorists, they simply re-emerge elsewhere, where the writ of the state is weak. Interestingly, there are also rumours that most of the Al-Qaeda leaders and the Taliban linked to them, have either died or moved out into other Muslim lands, primarily Arab. So in many ways the Taliban structures have become decentralised and functionally autonomous. In such a situation, the military's strategy of surrounding the militants in FATA, using covert means to disrupt them from within and using positive financial lures was a more comprehensive and viable approach. Now the US is determined to undermine this and compel the military into launching a full scale, conventional military action into FATA which will have serious repercussions for the country - including impacting our security on the Eastern border with a presently belligerent India. To make matters worse, Interior Minister Malik has declared that we will fight till we have rid the country of the last Taliban. Such ridiculous declarations make little sense since when will we know there are no more Taliban in Pakistan? Can we devise a way to read people's minds or see what is in their hearts? The only way we can ensure the end of extremist militancy and terrorism is to bring the marginalised people into the mainstream, to ensure security for the ordinary people and to give them access to speedy justice. Otherwise we will continue to see the backlash of a singularly punitive approach in the form of acts of terror across the country.

The suicide bombing of the WFP office in Islamabad reflects this fallout of a military approach where operation areas are not sealed off - which they cannot realistically be in one's own country. If this is the result of Taliban on the run, it is a result we cannot afford to tolerate. If the war on terror is against non state actors, then the peace must also be made with non state actors - but from a position of state strength which requires assertion of the writ of the state. This does not simply imply the use of force, but through all the economic, political and social tools available to the state. Wherever peace has come, it has come through this route, including in Northern Ireland. Of course, it should also be remembered that the rising tide of terrorism in Pakistan is directly related to the Pakistani state's increasing submission to US diktat.