LAHORE: Amidst endless American drone strikes and bullying statements coming from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking Pakistan to do more in the war on terror or face severe consequences, Islamabad seems under renewed American pressure to launch a major military offensive against the Haqqani militant network in North Waziristan, especially in the wake of Faisal Shehzad’s arrest and the subsequent US findings of his having travelled to Waziristan early this year to seek terror training.
North Waziristan, a strip of land bordering the Khost province of Afghanistan, rugged and sparsely populated, has acquired international notoriety because of Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American of Pakistani origin, for his botched attempt to trigger a car bomb in the Times Square of New York. Faisal is said to have travelled there to train as a bomber. His choice of North Waziristan can’t be faulted – it has been, for long, the nursery of extremist militants wishing to acquire the skills in making improvised explosive devices or firing AK-47s. One of the seven tribal agencies comprising FATA, North Waziristan is the refuge of veteran Afghan mujahideen commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, who orchestrates the Taliban fight in the strategically important Khost province of Afghanistan.
North Waziristan reportedly bustles with militants of all hues – from Jalaluddin’s own Afghan militia to Hakeemullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to Punjabi Taliban fugitives belonging to the Lashkar-e-Zil led by Commander Ilyas Kashmiri, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) led by Maulana Masood Azhar, Harkatul Jehadul Islami led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi led by Akram Lahori. Worryingly for the United States, it is also supposed to be the hiding place of some top fugitives of Al-Qaeda and Taliban, including Osama bin Laden and Dr Ayman Zawahiri.
The surge of militants in North Waziristan is not only because of its proximity to Afghanistan, but also because of the fact that the Pakistan army’s sweep of South Waziristan and Swat prompted the TTP leaders to take refuge in Maulvi Haqqani’s fiefdom. Although Haqqani network is a separate militant group, it pledges allegiance to Mullah Omar, the fugitive Ameer of the Afghan Taliban and has a history of links to the Pakistani establishment, since the days of Afghan jehad. As far as shelter for terrorists go, North Waziristan is relatively quite safe because the Pakistani establishment is reluctant to move against the man whom it views as a strategic asset, and who could play a vital role in Afghanistan once the American troops pull out from there. No wonder, the Times Square incident has goaded the Americans to mount pressure on the Pakistan army to conduct a South Waziristan-like operation there as well to nip the evil of Haqqani militant network in the bud.
The Americans began to target the Haqqani network ever since Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi – a suicide bomber from Jordan, who was trained in North Waziristan, killed seven senior CIA officers in the Khost province of Afghanistan on December 31, 2009. Jalaluddin’s son, Mohammad Haqqani, was killed in a subsequent American drone attack in North Waziristan on February 18, 2010. However, his elder son, Sirajuddin, also the chief operational commander of the Haqqani militant network, miraculously escaped unharmed. As recently as May 11, 2010, a volley of US drones killed 28 militants and villagers in North Waziristan, hardly 24 hours after Hillary Clinton warned Pakistan of “severe consequences” if it is linked to a terror attack in the US in future. She even went to the extent of stating for the first time that some Pakistani officials do know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Going by Hillary’s statement, it seems senior US government officials still suspect Pakistan as a trusted ally in the war on terror, chiefly because of Islamabad’s aversion to send its forces to North Waziristan. The Obama administration has made it abundantly clear through recent diplomatic overtures that the Pakistani establishment has been sleeping with the enemy in North Waziristan for far too long now and it was high time that Pakistan Army launches a massive military offensive in the largely lawless region to extirpate the formidable Haqqani network from North Waziristan. Some in the Pakistani establishment believe that the US drone attacks have been successful in North Waziristan because of the cooperation from the Pakistani intelligence. However, diplomatic circles in Islamabad insist that Washington and Islamabad are not on the same page on the issue of attacking the Haqqani network, prompting the Obama administration to carry out solo efforts through hi-tech drones
North Waziristan is also witnessing a brewing conflict between the pro-Kashmir Punjabi militants and the Afghan militant groups [still owing allegiance to the Pakistani intelligence establishment]and those which have become independent of its control. This is best illustrated through the abduction and killing of former ISI official Khalid Khawaja on April 30, 2010. Khawaja was travelling in the area with another ISI official Col Sultan Amir Tarar, commonly known as Colonel Imam, and a British journalist of Pakistani origin, Asad Qureshi. The two officials were there to ostensibly assist Qureshi in shooting a documentary on Taliban commanders, but most believe their real purpose was to convince the TTP leaders to call for truce.
Significantly, shortly before Khalid Khawaja was killed, the Asian Tigers had released a video in which, among other things, he had asked the question: why is the Pakistani establishment selective in targeting the various militant groups? Why are certain militant groups being attacked, while others like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Harkatul Mujahideen are being allowed to collect funds in Pakistan? These three groups are said to be under the control of the Pakistani intelligence establishment and often employed to wage jehad in the Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir.
At the same time, however, there are those in the government circles who argue that the Faisal Shehzad episode should not be used by Washington as a stick to beat Islamabad with. Rather, it is the common enemy — the jehadi monster — that need to be fought.
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