Surgical operation to cure cancer

Asif Haroon Raja

The US is being asked to carryout a clean surgical operation in Pakistan to eradicate the cancer without killing the patient. There are some hitches in this otherwise well-sounding advice. It must be remembered that it was the US which had declared neighboring Afghanistan dangerous and had cut it into pieces with the promise that the surgeon will stitch it up again and make it more vibrant once the diseased part is located and tumor removed. Pakistan was also coerced to become part of the operating team failing which it will also be operated upon. Instead of removing the so-called tumor of Afghanistan it was declared that the lump had wormed its way into FATA.

Whatever diseases Pakistan was afflicted with in 2001 were of minor nature and were curable. The notorious surgeon then decided to prick the infectious injection into the healthy body of Pakistan. Several quacks gave a helping hand to the chief surgeon to first dupe Pakistan’s leaders and then lull their senses through sweet talk to be able to quietly administer contagious injections into two parts of body of Pakistan (FATA and Balochistan). These healthy parts later turned cancerous. The cancer was allowed to spread into other parts of Pakistan. Latter was blamed that it was responsible for the disease and told to cure it at its own. No amount of pleadings melted the heart of the surgeon and his team. More Pakistan cried in pain, more ruthless he became in piercing injections.  

Bloodying of Afghanistan on false pretext gave the criminal minded surgeon and his assistants so much pleasure that they pierced the bloody scalpel into the body of Iraq as well under the same plea that the patient had contracted dangerous disease which was transmittable and required immediate surgery. In their bid to find and remove the malignant part, they cut open the whole body. Unable to trace a tumor, there was no regret or remorse over the criminal act of operating upon a healthy patient. Having brutally ripped Iraq, the novice surgeon neither knew how to stop the gushing blood oozing out of every part of the body nor made any attempt to heal the wounds.

Having put two patients on the operation tables the surgeon soon found that it was a difficult proposition to treat both at a time particularly when none gave any sign of recovery. His helpers instead of giving a helping hand to stop or minimize the flow of dripping blood, they started playfully applying all the tools present in the operation theatre on the third patient (Pakistan). More the patients cried in agony more sadistic pleasure they derived in prolonging their agony.

The hyper surgeon carried out unsuccessful operations repeatedly in Afghanistan since his scalpel got blunted due to excessive use. He achieved zero sum results except for bleeding the patient profusely. Failing at his end, he started concentrating more on Pakistan since he felt that roots of cancer lay in Pakistan. He asked Pakistan to urgently treat the part of Swat and surroundings since it had the potential of affecting its head. He next suggested South Waziristan which he described as heartland of cancer. When these two diseased parts were sufficiently cured, he pressed Pakistan to carryout another self-operation in North Waziristan (NW). In his view this was the most malignant part which was also affecting body of Afghanistan and deadly germs were likely to reach US homeland.

By then the patient had got sufficiently exhausted and requested for a breather to recoup from multiple major operations and to let the half-treated parts to get cured fully otherwise half-cured parts would again get aggravated. He was also reminded that Pakistan had also got afflicted with disease of floods which had engulfed the whole body and huge efforts were being made to overcome the new disease. The callous doctor however ignored the entreaties of the patient and arrogantly asserted that since he has been spending bagful of dollars for his treatment, he was bound to obey and keep bearing the pain without a whimper. To make him abide by his commands, he tightened the valve of the oxygen cylinder to make him gasp for breath and also intensified his digs in NW with drones.      

Ironically, the surgeon has been stabbing the already malignant part of the patient’s body very frequently under the plea that his incisions (Reapers) are similar to acupuncture therapy and would heal the wound. He turned a deaf ear to the writhing and screams of the patient beseeching the knife wielder that the knife was piercing the healthy portions and the pain was unbearable. He has brushed aside the suggestion that his reckless jabs are further aggravating the wound rather than healing it.  

Failing to coax the battered patient to carryout another operation on its body, the surgeon huffed and puffed and made threatening motions to frighten the already frightened patient. With his hands full with two patients, he threatened to undertake the operation in NW himself since the cancer was a threat to Afghanistan as well as USA and the world as a whole. When the patient stood his ground on valid reasons, the surgeon has now come out with his tried out sweet medicine, of which the patient is quite addicted to. He has offered five-year $ 2 billion military aid package but has cleverly spread the time period from 2012 to 2016 and that too subject to congressional approval, which has seldom been favorable. The surgeon is very hopeful that the desired operation will proceed soon and subject to progress made, promised aid in penny packets may or may not be delivered.

NW has already borne the brunt of several operations and is now suffering the pains of sledgehammers delivered by drones. Its people apprehend that new US inducement being too alluring will not be rejected. Fearing an operation, Hafiz Gul Bahadur Shura has sent out an intelligently drafted message through leaflets. On one hand Pakistan government has been reminded of the peace agreement which is intact. An assurance has also been given that its Mujahideen were not involved in recent incidents of violence. It went a step forward by offering to investigate the incidents as to who was responsible. After placatory words, the message in a way taunts the rulers that if they are so hungry for dollars, people of NW would collect $2 billion for them to restrain them from launching an anti-people operation.

Sentiments of people of Waziristan are roused by urging the regime not to demolish more homes as it had yet to rebuild houses of poor that it had destroyed or damaged earlier. The message sums up on a threatening note asserting that if the regime still opts for an operation under pressure from USA, in that case the militants might migrate to Afghanistan and fight an endless war. Having hosted Haqqanis for long, latter would be quite willing to host militants led by Gul Bahadur in Khost and surrounding regions where they are in dominant position.

Major constraints of Pak Army are that bulk of displaced persons from tribal agencies of Bajaur, South Waziristan, Orakzai and Khyber have still not returned to their homes. Unlike people of Malakand and Swat who returned home soon after the termination of successful operation and helped in restoring normal activities in war-torn regions, 400,000 people from SW are still residing in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank relief camps since October 2009 and are reluctant to return. They are fearful of backlash of militants and have expressed their inability to form lashkars and organize village defences. They expect the military to take on security aspects entirely. Besides, while militants have been displaced from their bases and their network dismantled, militancy has not been eliminated. This is mainly because of continuity of foreign support.

It is for this reason that normal administrative as well as relief and rehabilitation works have not commenced. System of lashkars in other agencies and Swat has otherwise not proven very successful except in upper Dir. In the absence of lashkars and village defences, the army units have to remain on high alert round the clock which is quite taxing. Any laxity proves costly since militants are on the lookout to pounce at soft targets or those violating SoPs. Besides employment of 150,000 troops in seven tribal agencies, troubled settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat and Shangla, almost 80,000 troops are still engaged in rehabilitating 10 million people affected by recent floods. Winter is about to set in and winter period in NW is very severe, which will be tough for troops. Management of displaced persons from NW in winters would become that much problematic. Almost $2 billion coalition support fund owed by USA has yet not been released which is affecting operational efficiency of Pak army.  It is also short of gunship and administrative helicopters, absolutely essential for unconventional war.

Kashmir front is gradually heating up due to India’s accusations that ongoing nonviolent movement in occupied Kashmir is being sponsored by Pakistan. Indian Army Chief Gen Singh has once again made unsubstantiated allegations that 60 training camps are operational in Azad Kashmir and level of infiltration across the Line of Control has increased. Karachi situation due to political polarization and target killings is another worrisome front and so is dwindling economy and shaky national political situation. Separatist movement led by disgruntled Baloch rebels and spate of target killings of non-locals is an added headache. Suicide attacks against shrines are an attempt by vested groups to trigger Barelvi-Deobandi religious clash.                           

With all the above noted constraints, operation in NW in current timeframe is least desirable. In all probability, if an operation becomes inevitable, a limited and surgical operation may be executed against two major towns of Miranshah and Mirali where bulk of militants of all hues is housed. I may hazard to add that certain cancerous parts are better to be left un-operated. As long as militants are based in NW, they remain under some constraints and are controllable since Pak Army is a dominant force in NW. Shifting either within FATA or across the border poses no problem for militants. Once Gul Bahadur led Othmanzai tribe along with Sirajuddin led Haqqani network opt to shift to Afghanistan, they will strengthen the hands of Jalaluddin Haqqani and will thus be uncontrollable. Combined Haqqani network will be much more dangerous than divided one. The surgeon trying to cure the cancer in Afghanistan for sure will meet a sudden death but at the same time he will leave behind an almost incurable disease for both Afghanistan and Pakistan.