For the first time since the 2009 military operation in Swat and the rest of Malakand division, militants emerged from nowhere in the relatively secure Shangla district on the night of July 2-3 to attack a police post on the Chakesar-Karora road. Three cops, including an assistant sub-inspector of police, were killed and a fourth policeman was wounded. The dozen or so attackers managed to escape and remain unknown and untraceable.
It is an alarming development because the Pakistani Taliban, even at the height of their power, never had a strong presence in Shangla, a mountainous district carved out of Swat several years ago. There surely were militants in Shangla, but their numbers weren’t high. During the heyday of the Taliban, most of the militants who overran the poorly defended Alpuri town, headquarters of Shangla district, came from Swat and other neighbouring districts. The district administration collapsed and the outgunned police ran away as Shangla fell into the hands of the Maulana Fazlullah-led Swat chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The military had to launch a strong action, using helicopter- gunships and artillery, to evict the militants and regain control of Shangla.
The militants’ attack in Shangla would prompt many to argue that the Taliban are back. However, it doesn’t mean that they are back in force with the strength to control a specific area as they did during the peak of their power. Though striking in a place like Shangla where the militants have been weak compared to Swat and Lower Dir should be a cause of concern for the government, it ought to be seen as an isolated incident. The TTP will continue to strike at vulnerable and inadequately defended spots and launch attacks in places where they are least expected to strike. Similar surprise attacks were carried out by the militants in Matta, Kabal and Kalam areas of Swat in 2010-2011 and some politicians from the ruling Awami National Party were target-killed. Lower Dir also experienced terrorist attacks because some of the militant commanders from the district are still at large and able to organise strikes targeting the security forces and the police.
It was a coincidence that funeral prayers for the three slain policemen and five Pakistani army soldiers who lost their lives in fighting the militants in Mohmand Agency took place on the same day—i.e., July 3. The funeral prayers for the cops were first held at the Sher Ali Khan Shaheed Police Lines in Alpuri and subsequently in their respective villages in Abbottabad and Shangla districts. And the prayers for the five soldiers were performed in Peshawar before their bodies were dispatched to their villages for burial. The soldiers were from the elite Special Services Group and had died fighting the Taliban militants in Mohmand Agency’s Shonkerai area near the border with Afghanistan. The death of eight cops and soldiers in one day in just two theatres of the conflict in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) explained the deadly nature of the fighting and the huge challenges facing the state in dealing with homegrown militants.
Some figures recently provided by the Corps Commander of Peshawar, Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik, regarding the battle for control of Mohmand Agency, one of the seven tribal regions of Fata, are instructive. He reportedly said 58 soldiers lost their lives and 300 were wounded during the last three months while fighting the militants in Mohmand Agency. He also claimed that 200 militants were killed during this period as the military took them on in their strongholds in the Safi and Baizai tehsils close to the Afghan border. The military is claiming to have cleared seven tehsils, or sub-divisions, of the militants and obtained full control while fighting was continuing for the possession of the Safi tehsil.
The battle for control of Mohmand Agency, however, is by no means over. A significant number of families from the conflict area are still displaced, living in makeshift camps in Mohmand Agency and in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and elsewhere, longing to return to their homes. The tribesmen are complaining that the civil and military authorities have been forcing them to raise lashkars, or voluntary armed groups, to fight the militants and defend their own villages. There is no real peace and stability and the economy, always fragile in case of Mohmand Agency, has been seriously damaged. The militants, led by Abdul Wali, commonly known as Omar Khalid, still occupy certain places close to the Pakistani-Afghan border and are able to easily cross into Afghanistan whenever under pressure from the Pakistani security forces. They are also capable of striking back as they did by carrying out deadly suicide bombings twice in Mohmand Agency at Ekkaghund and Ghallanai and once at the Frontier Constabulary Training Centre at Shabqadar in neighbouring Charsadda district. More than 200 FC soldiers, government officials and anti-militants tribesmen were killed in these attacks and several hundred were injured. In fact, the Mohmand Agency militants have been able to track down pro-government tribesmen in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and even Karachi to attack and kill them.
The enormousness of the task of tackling the militancy can be judged from the three major cross-border attacks launched since April 2011 by the Pakistani Taliban, based in Afghanistan, in the Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts and Bajaur Agency with support from some Afghan militants. The lack of government control in the border areas across the Durand Line in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has enabled the militants to set up bases and operate with impunity. The Pakistani security forces had to retaliate against the retreating militants as they inflicted significant human losses in the attacks on border posts in Dir manned in most cases by ill-equipped and poorly-trained Levies and police personnel and some of the artillery shells and rockers fired by them landed in border villages in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, killing and injuring civilians and causing material damage.
The cross-border raids in Pakistani territory and the retaliatory strikes by Pakistan’s security forces have caused tension on the border and inflamed passions, particularly in Afghanistan, where members of parliament, government officials and sections of the media have tried to exploit the situation to whip up anti-Pakistan sentiment. A protest rally staged in Kabul against Pakistan was peaceful, but it reminded one of the violent attacks on the Pakistani embassy in the past. Protest notes were handed over to Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in Kabul and Jalalabad and an Afghan general, Aminullah Amarkhel, commanding the border troops in eastern Afghanistan, resigned while protesting the inaction of the Afghan government and the Nato forces in the face of cross-border shelling and rocketing by the Pakistani military. And in a tit-for-tat response, mortar shells fired by Afghan forces are now landing in Pakistani territory and causing harm to civilians. There was no emotional reaction by Pakistani politicians, the government and the media to the cross-border raids by the Afghanistan-based militants and the shelling and rocketing by the Afghan military. In fact, these provocative actions have gone almost unnoticed in Pakistan as if nothing had happened. There seemed to be greater interest in the musical chairs game that is about to start in Pakistan again as political parties with diverse agendas gang up in efforts to capture power or stay in power.
The unfinished job of defeating militants was undertaken in a new battlefield as Pakistani security forces launched action in Kurram Agency on July 3. Homework was certainly done before undertaking the military operation and the desertion of Fazal Saeed Haqqani, the TTP commander for Kurram Agency, and his revolt against Hakimullah Mahsud seems to be part of preparations to create a split in the militants’ ranks. However, large-scale military actions also cause civilian deaths, displacement and economic losses. Around 4,000 families have already been uprooted in Kurram Agency, adding to the number of internally displaced persons from South Waziristan, Mohmand, Bajaur and other places waiting to be compensated and rehabilitated. The long conflict facing Pakistan has created problems that will take years to resolve.
It is an alarming development because the Pakistani Taliban, even at the height of their power, never had a strong presence in Shangla, a mountainous district carved out of Swat several years ago. There surely were militants in Shangla, but their numbers weren’t high. During the heyday of the Taliban, most of the militants who overran the poorly defended Alpuri town, headquarters of Shangla district, came from Swat and other neighbouring districts. The district administration collapsed and the outgunned police ran away as Shangla fell into the hands of the Maulana Fazlullah-led Swat chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The military had to launch a strong action, using helicopter- gunships and artillery, to evict the militants and regain control of Shangla.
The militants’ attack in Shangla would prompt many to argue that the Taliban are back. However, it doesn’t mean that they are back in force with the strength to control a specific area as they did during the peak of their power. Though striking in a place like Shangla where the militants have been weak compared to Swat and Lower Dir should be a cause of concern for the government, it ought to be seen as an isolated incident. The TTP will continue to strike at vulnerable and inadequately defended spots and launch attacks in places where they are least expected to strike. Similar surprise attacks were carried out by the militants in Matta, Kabal and Kalam areas of Swat in 2010-2011 and some politicians from the ruling Awami National Party were target-killed. Lower Dir also experienced terrorist attacks because some of the militant commanders from the district are still at large and able to organise strikes targeting the security forces and the police.
It was a coincidence that funeral prayers for the three slain policemen and five Pakistani army soldiers who lost their lives in fighting the militants in Mohmand Agency took place on the same day—i.e., July 3. The funeral prayers for the cops were first held at the Sher Ali Khan Shaheed Police Lines in Alpuri and subsequently in their respective villages in Abbottabad and Shangla districts. And the prayers for the five soldiers were performed in Peshawar before their bodies were dispatched to their villages for burial. The soldiers were from the elite Special Services Group and had died fighting the Taliban militants in Mohmand Agency’s Shonkerai area near the border with Afghanistan. The death of eight cops and soldiers in one day in just two theatres of the conflict in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) explained the deadly nature of the fighting and the huge challenges facing the state in dealing with homegrown militants.
Some figures recently provided by the Corps Commander of Peshawar, Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik, regarding the battle for control of Mohmand Agency, one of the seven tribal regions of Fata, are instructive. He reportedly said 58 soldiers lost their lives and 300 were wounded during the last three months while fighting the militants in Mohmand Agency. He also claimed that 200 militants were killed during this period as the military took them on in their strongholds in the Safi and Baizai tehsils close to the Afghan border. The military is claiming to have cleared seven tehsils, or sub-divisions, of the militants and obtained full control while fighting was continuing for the possession of the Safi tehsil.
The battle for control of Mohmand Agency, however, is by no means over. A significant number of families from the conflict area are still displaced, living in makeshift camps in Mohmand Agency and in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and elsewhere, longing to return to their homes. The tribesmen are complaining that the civil and military authorities have been forcing them to raise lashkars, or voluntary armed groups, to fight the militants and defend their own villages. There is no real peace and stability and the economy, always fragile in case of Mohmand Agency, has been seriously damaged. The militants, led by Abdul Wali, commonly known as Omar Khalid, still occupy certain places close to the Pakistani-Afghan border and are able to easily cross into Afghanistan whenever under pressure from the Pakistani security forces. They are also capable of striking back as they did by carrying out deadly suicide bombings twice in Mohmand Agency at Ekkaghund and Ghallanai and once at the Frontier Constabulary Training Centre at Shabqadar in neighbouring Charsadda district. More than 200 FC soldiers, government officials and anti-militants tribesmen were killed in these attacks and several hundred were injured. In fact, the Mohmand Agency militants have been able to track down pro-government tribesmen in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and even Karachi to attack and kill them.
The enormousness of the task of tackling the militancy can be judged from the three major cross-border attacks launched since April 2011 by the Pakistani Taliban, based in Afghanistan, in the Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts and Bajaur Agency with support from some Afghan militants. The lack of government control in the border areas across the Durand Line in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has enabled the militants to set up bases and operate with impunity. The Pakistani security forces had to retaliate against the retreating militants as they inflicted significant human losses in the attacks on border posts in Dir manned in most cases by ill-equipped and poorly-trained Levies and police personnel and some of the artillery shells and rockers fired by them landed in border villages in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, killing and injuring civilians and causing material damage.
The cross-border raids in Pakistani territory and the retaliatory strikes by Pakistan’s security forces have caused tension on the border and inflamed passions, particularly in Afghanistan, where members of parliament, government officials and sections of the media have tried to exploit the situation to whip up anti-Pakistan sentiment. A protest rally staged in Kabul against Pakistan was peaceful, but it reminded one of the violent attacks on the Pakistani embassy in the past. Protest notes were handed over to Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in Kabul and Jalalabad and an Afghan general, Aminullah Amarkhel, commanding the border troops in eastern Afghanistan, resigned while protesting the inaction of the Afghan government and the Nato forces in the face of cross-border shelling and rocketing by the Pakistani military. And in a tit-for-tat response, mortar shells fired by Afghan forces are now landing in Pakistani territory and causing harm to civilians. There was no emotional reaction by Pakistani politicians, the government and the media to the cross-border raids by the Afghanistan-based militants and the shelling and rocketing by the Afghan military. In fact, these provocative actions have gone almost unnoticed in Pakistan as if nothing had happened. There seemed to be greater interest in the musical chairs game that is about to start in Pakistan again as political parties with diverse agendas gang up in efforts to capture power or stay in power.
The unfinished job of defeating militants was undertaken in a new battlefield as Pakistani security forces launched action in Kurram Agency on July 3. Homework was certainly done before undertaking the military operation and the desertion of Fazal Saeed Haqqani, the TTP commander for Kurram Agency, and his revolt against Hakimullah Mahsud seems to be part of preparations to create a split in the militants’ ranks. However, large-scale military actions also cause civilian deaths, displacement and economic losses. Around 4,000 families have already been uprooted in Kurram Agency, adding to the number of internally displaced persons from South Waziristan, Mohmand, Bajaur and other places waiting to be compensated and rehabilitated. The long conflict facing Pakistan has created problems that will take years to resolve.
