Azm-i-Istehkam was announced with great fanfare after a meeting of the National Action Plan Apex Committee, but the bristly reaction of some opposition parties and the Defence Minister’s loud protests, have made it seem that there is some doubt about its need. However, a spurt of violence in North and South Waziristan, as well as in Lakki Marwat, has made it clear any further delay will only lead to the need for a bigger operation, involving more effort, more lives and greater resources.
While the two actions in Waziristan showed that the Army was carrying out what had already been announced, an increase in intelligence-based operations, the attack in Lakki Marwat showed how the police are being targeted. There was another attack in Tappi in North Waziristan on a police officer’s house, which left three women injured. Clearly, the level of conflict in KP is increasing, and whether the PTI, which rules the province, likes it or not, action will have to be taken. The federal government will also have to take up the matter of safe havens with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The troubled area is apparently limited to the two Waziristan ex-tribal areas, and the adjoining settled areas of Bannu and Lakki Marwat. This may be too close to home for the liking of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur (whose native Dera Ismail Khan division includes South Waziristan), while Lakki Marwat falls within neighbouring Bannu division, which also includes North Waziristan. However, the problem has to be faced squarely. The militants operating in this area generally belong to the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan, and are apparently closer to the Afghan Taliban than their much-vaunted handlers, for they continue to give them material support, both in the form of abandoned American arms, as well as safe havens.
The crackdown on militants will only succeed if they are based on good intelligence, and are not shots in the dark. The keen edge of professionalism may not be there, which means that intelligence-based operations may end as did those in North and South Waziristan, with t5he killing of young men who joined the Army for something else. Indeed, the death of a civilian bearer in the South Waziristan attack indicates that military personnel are being attacked. Policemen alone are not being attacked, but their families are too. So far, military personnel’s families are safe. However, unless tackled, the terrorists may reach out to safer areas. Instead of chasing after political opponents, intelligence on terrorists must be sought.
