Trapping the Pukhtoons Nationalist

A maxim in Pashtu language says that a clever bird is always trapped by both legs. Like a clever bird, the Awami National Party has been trapped by owning the US war on terror on its soil; adopting Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf’s three-pronged policy and believing in the figures and reports of the spy agencies on presence of foreign elements in the tribal belt.After the provincial ANP leadership, a leading partner in the NWFP coalition government, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti admitted on the assembly floor Thursday that operation in Bajaur Agency was inevitable. The foreign elements, mostly Arabs and Chechens, were going to declare a separate state where they had already set up a parallel judiciary and administrative system, the chief minister told the house while wrapping up the debate on law and order situation in the province. He delivered a lengthy speech to take into confidence the elected members about the ongoing operation in Swat, Hangu districts and Bajaur Agency. He also explained the three-pronged policy of his government against the militancy. It includes resolving the issue through political process and dialogues; improving socio-economic condition in the affected areas and using force against militancy as the last resort.But one has to look into the background that prompted the NWFP chief minister and other ANP leadership to justify bombardment by the jetfighters and gunship helicopters in Bajaur Agency, triggering the biggest-ever internal displacement in the history of Pakistan. A briefing for the coalition partners, including ANP, Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and some of the pro-government independent MPAs was arranged at the Frontier House on August 9 to apprise them of the actual position of law and order in the province and adjacent tribal areas. Additional Chief Secretary for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Habibullah Khan briefed the treasury MPAs. An MPA, who attended the briefing, told that the chief minister appealed to the participants not to oppose the government if they could not support in its drive against the terrorists. While quoting some reliable sources, the additional chief secretary for Fata disclosed that 18,470 foreign terrorists were present in the tribal belt. Giving the break-up of the foreign nationals, he claimed the presence of 5,000 Saudis; 4,500 Uzbeks and Chechens; 3,000 Yemenis; 2,000 Egyptians; 2,800 Algerians; 400 Tunisians; 300 Iraqis; 200 Libyans; and 200 Jordanians. However, when asked about the origin of his source and exact presence of these foreign nationals, the official declined to reveal the sources. Footages of the activities of the terrorists, including slaughtering of human beings and torching of school buildings, were also shown to the participants. Question arises who should be believed about the actual number of foreign nationals in Fata as the army, the federal government and now the NWFP government have different figures. Former president Gen (R) Musharraf had once claimed the total strength of foreign nationals had reduced to 500-600. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was quoted as telling that the number of foreign nationals in Fata stood at 1,200 while Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik had put the tally at 8,000. Claiming to be the champion of the Pakhtuns’ rights and embodiment of non-violence, the ANP has always opposed war and violence in the region and cited the active role of local and international spy agencies behind the war and internecine clashes in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan. The Pakhtun nationalist party is on record to have declared ‘mujahid’, ‘Taliban’ and ‘al-Qaeda’ as brainchild of the US and Pakistan’s spying agencies, which brought, trained and assisted them in the Afghan War against the former USSR. However, for the last one year the ANP leaders kept calling Taliban as their ‘brothers’ while the al-Qaeda as ‘guests’ of the Pakistani establishment, knowing well their hideouts and shelter in the tribal belt, bordering Afghanistan. After emerging as main political force and forming government in the Frontier province as result of February 18 elections, the ANP offered an olive branch to the local Taliban in Swat and signed peace deals with them to restore calm to the province. Apparently, the provincial government was fully committed to the 15-point peace deal with the Taliban in Swat, signed on May 21, 2008 in Peshawar but Taliban had time and again violated certain conditions of the accord, which virtually ended after re-launching operation in Swat on July 29. The Bajaur operation was launched on August 6, which continued to date, rendering over 300, 000 people homeless. Like the propaganda of Peshawar slipping into the hands of the Taliban, the 37-year-old chief minister was convinced that after taking hold of main towns in Bajaur, the foreign terrorists were going to invade Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency, if the security forces had not taken action against them. “Though it is a bitter pill to swallow, we have no other option,” the chief minister said and called for joining hands with the government against the terrorists on Pakistani soil.