Ongoing operations in north-west

Asif Haroon Raja

Having forced Pakistan army to fight US dictated war on terror in FATA, Army was subjected to a willful propaganda campaign to defame it in the eyes of people of Pakistan. Doubts were created about the intent and capability of the Army to fight foreign sponsored militants. Operational pause was distorted as if the Army had lost heart. The plan chalked out by our adversaries was to fully prepare Swat and South Waziristan as major battlefronts and North Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand, Kurram, Aurakzai, Khyber Tribal Agencies, Hangu and Darra as auxiliary fronts to cause maximum destruction to the Army and fix it irretrievably in restive areas. These fronts had been gradually solidified with active assistance of RAW, CIA, RAAM and Mossad from 2005 onwards. Stocks included Kalashnikovs, MI-4 American rifles, Israeli sniper rifles, 12.7mm, 14.5mm and 107mm guns, mortars, pistols, RPG-7s, grenades, wire rolls, safety fuzes, detonating cords, electric detonators, explosives, remote control sets, jamming devices, sophisticated telephone and wireless sets, bullet proof and suicide jackets, camouflage uniforms, medical kits, currency of different countries. Large numbers of Pajero, Hiace and Hyundai vehicles were also found. 12 ft deep, 10 ft wide and 50-100 ft long tunnels were in use for multi-purposes.

It is evident from the thorough battle preparations made by Fazlullah led militants in Swat, Dir, Buner and Shangla that their backers had a definite agenda. They had hypothesized that the Army would get deeply stuck in Swat valley and with the activation of smaller fronts; GHQ would be forced to pull out more troops from eastern border. Some had predicted ten-year conflict.         

Once peace deal in Swat broke down and the militants began to assert their authority in Swat and neighboring Lower Dir and Buner under a pre-conceived strategy, the government was left with no option but to ask the army to deal with the situation and restore writ of the state. Gen Kayani had declared 2008 as the Year of Soldiers, which helped in raising their morale sky high. 2009 was announced as the Year of Training. From early 2008, soldiers had been receiving extensive low intensity warfare training and were in excellent professional mode.   

Once the green signal was given to the Army, it took less than two months to break the back of militants in Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand and other restive areas. Second and third tier leaders have mostly been killed, but Fazlullah who is seriously injured as well as Muslim Khan and Shah Doran are still hiding somewhere. Large numbers of caches of arms and ammunition have been seized and tunnels and hideouts destroyed. Militants are being killed or arrested almost on daily basis. Sizeable numbers including some prominent leaders have voluntarily surrendered and promised to lead a peaceful life. On 20 August, 60 militants surrendered and laid down their weapons in Swat. The IDPs have started to return to Lower Dir, Buner and Swat in big flocks and normality has returned but people are still fearful of return of Taliban. Collapse of Swat front caused a serious setback to the overall design of plot makers. 

It was heartening to note the enthusiasm of Swatis celebrating Independence Day. Troops are fervently taking part in relief operations and winning hearts of people. Emulating example of Upper Dir lashkar, smaller armed groups are uniting to form a bigger lashkar in Malakand Division from Swat and Chakdarra down up to Mardan and elsewhere. Dozens of would-be suicide bombers have been arrested from Swat and different cities of Pakistan mostly of tender age. These arrests have curtailed spate of suicide attacks that had spiraled in May-June but menace has not been eliminated completely. The tide of militancy in Swat and adjacent areas has been decisively reversed. The militants can only resort to pinpricks in the form of IEDs, random suicide attacks and small scale gunfights wherever opportunity come their way to keep militancy festering. The US has started to look at Pakistan with greater respect and appears eager to make amends for its discriminative and vindictive policies. Holbrooke was lavish in his praise during his recent visit to Pakistan.

Notwithstanding Army's brilliant successes achieved in Operation Rah-e-Rast bringing   main bastion of Swat under effective control and making the well-entrenched militants run helter-skelter, these achievements have been at the cost of heavy casualties. Over 150 officers and men have laid down their lives. New chapters of sacrifice and heroism have been written with blood. Gallant soldiers have demonstrated laudable spirit of sacrifice and valour while the families of the martyred have displayed empathy and forbearance to bear the irreparable loss with fortitude. Although the army is fighting the scourge of terrorism with exceptional fervour and tenacity, with the passage of time their human endurance would start getting affected. Besides loss of lives, wear and tear of weapons, equipment and vehicles has also been considerable. War munitions reserves too have been depleted.  In addition to over 2100 losses of militants, some civilians have also been killed in the cross fire and lot of destruction of homes and property has occurred in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir. This has occurred despite the troops taking utmost care and at times at the peril of their own safety. Detractors feeling upset at the soaring esteem and image of the Army have floated a wicked story of extra judicial killings and mass graves. Saddest part is that the clash is between own people in which a segment has gone astray. There is still a segment that doesn't consider the local Taliban as bad guys.     

Over two-division force is committed in Malakand Division including Swat which has been cleared of the influence of militants but hardly a day passes without small scale clashes or road side bomb blast. Rehabilitation of about three millions IDPs and reconstruction of destroyed homes and properties of restive areas is a cumbersome task particularly because of resource constraints. Civil administration, police and law courts are yet to become fully operational. The promised aid from Friends of Pakistan and Muslim countries is trickling in at a snails pace. With its fragile economy Pakistan at its own is not in a position to undertake rehabilitation and reconstruction works.

After toppling the defences of Fazlullah in Swat, the US was keen that Waziristan front should be fully heated up and Baitullah, Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur tackled simultaneously. Pressure was built up from mid May onwards but the Army scuttled it and proceeded its own way to suit its interest. It followed the dictates of military strategy of opening one front at a time and adopting a piecemeal approach so as to employ its precious assets judiciously. As against swift and violent military action in Malakand Division, it adopted a steady approach in Waziristan. It wanted to first consolidate its gains in the first front, let the IDPs settle down, carryout troop buildup, acclimatize them, isolate the major foe and then launch the decisive operation.

Troops in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) began to systematically tighten the ring around Baitullah Mehsud and his followers confined in area between Sarwakai and Makeen, and kept Maulvi Nazir, head of Ahmedzai Wazir tribe in Waziris inhabited area in SWA neutralized through tight control. Provocations by Haji Gul Bahadur led Uthmanzai tribe and by Dawars in North Waziristan were not paid back recklessly, but they too were not allowed to cross limits. Creeping forward strategy adopted by the Army in SWA restricted the movement of Baitullah led militants and immobilized Qari Hussain trained suicide bombers. Resultantly, they lost their overall liberty of action. It was due to successful policy of isolation that Baitullah, who was not keeping good health, became vulnerable and got killed in a drone attack on 5 August. I will comment about the incident in my next article. 

The writer is a defence and security analyst based in Rawalpindi and author of several books. Eamil: ah.raja@yahoo.com