THERE can be little doubt that Osama Bin Laden, some ousted Taleban leaders and other top terrorist figures are still hiding out in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border. However little media attention has been given to the tough fighting with Islamic militants and locals in South Waziristan which, since the Pakistani Army launched operations last March, has claimed the lives of more than 100 soldiers.
The government in Islamabad is confronting local tribesmen who have traditionally been a law unto themselves. Because the local leaders feel themselves relatively secure in their own areas, which they know very well, the writ of Pakistan’s central government has not always run large in those areas. Successive governments have thus chosen to seek compromise and agreement with the fiercely independent leaders and their equally fiercely independent tribesmen.
Nevertheless, as its contribution to the global war on terror, President Pervez Musharraf’s administration has pursued a characteristically robust policy toward dissident tribesmen and the Al-Qaeda elements whom they have allegedly been sheltering. It is clear that Washington has been hoping that it can squeeze the enemy between its own special forces and Afghan troops coming from the west and Pakistani security forces moving from the east. The campaign has, however, proven both difficult and arduous. Because of the nature of the battlefield and the mountainous terrain, there has been little independent reportage of precisely what has happened. However, the ten-day cease-fire between Pakistani security forces and tribesmen which began Monday night may give cause for optimism that some damage is being done to the militants by government forces. Islamabad has been demanding that local leaders register and hand over foreigners who have been fighting alongside them.
The cease-fire has given an opportunity for talks between each side in which one of the region’s two legislators has taken a prominent role. Islamabad has wisely taken the view that negotiations are more likely to bring lasting benefit than is continued fighting. These talks are, therefore, to be welcomed. Nonetheless, it would be wrong to set hopes too high. The likelihood is surely that the fighting will resume, if only because the foreign fighters have nowhere else to go. However, even if some of the tribesmen who have been sheltering and defending them can be persuaded to give up, the position of outsiders will become far more perilous. Just as importantly, by agreeing to talks, the Pakistani authorities have demonstrated that the door to negotiations will always be open. There will thus remain a dignified way for these ferociously proud Pakistanis themselves to bring about an end to hostilities.
To Al-Qaeda terrorists, any genuine negotiations are of course anathema. They are committed to turning the world upside down. Waziri tribesmen who have placed their own communities in jeopardy to assist them have different priorities to which the government in Islamabad is very sensibly appealing.
