Pakistan: 'Through hell' and
onwards By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - In the valley of Kalooshah, in the
South Waziristan tribal area, the seven-day bride of Nek
Mohammed received the blood-stained body of the
charismatic former Taliban commander, rather than the
lavish wedding gifts she might have expected.
The young bride's shock, though, is matched
throughout the tribal areas, with both his followers and
the Pakistan army reduced to a state of stunned
inaction. Since Nek's death late last Thursday in a raid
on the house in which he had taken shelter near Wana,
army raids to track down foreign and Afghan resistance
fighters in the area have stopped, as has local
resistance to the army.
The hiatus is expected
to last several days for the duration of Nek's
post-funeral rituals.
Nek's funeral procession
on Friday drew one of the largest crowds even witnessed
in South Waziristan, and in death he appeared more
powerful than when he was alive. In the past few months
the 26-year-old had become increasingly isolated in his
single-minded opposition to the presence of the
Pakistani military in the tribal areas.
Nek was
a linchpin in supplying foreign fighters and Afghan
resistance figures in the tribal areas with hideouts,
rations and recruits, and in March led fierce resistance
that gave the Pakistani army a bloody nose and forced it
to back off.
But under severe US pressure,
Islamabad sent in the troops again earlier this month,
and also put the squeeze on Wazir tribal elders and the
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) to distance themselves
from Nek. The MMA put in a strong showing in the 1992
national elections on the basis of its pro-Taliban
slogans, and formed governments in the Pashtun-dominated
provinces of Balochistan and North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) - the tribal areas fall in NWFP.
Judging by the mood at Nek's funeral, and
subsequent feedback given to Asia Times Online, there is
a new conviction that there will be "no retreat from the
[Nek's] cause" once rituals are completed. Nek has been
succeeded by Mohammed Umer, who has already said the
opposition to Pakistani troops will continue, although
he has not ruled out talks.
Debate over Nek's
death Different theories are circulating from
Wana's bazaars to the BBC's offices in London over the
circumstances surrounding Nek's death. Most reports say
that he was pinpointed at the house of tribal leader
Sher Zaman after making a lengthy call on his satellite
telephone, and then killed either in a rocket and mortar
attack, or by single missile strike from an unmanned
aircraft. Four tribesmen and three foreign suspects also
died in the attack, according to Pakistan officials.
As Pakistan does not have very sophisticated
tracking technology, and certainly no unmanned aircraft,
the widespread conclusion is that the strike was carried
out by US army personnel operating out of the Pakistan
army camp at Zerian Noor, South Waziristan. (Asia Times
Online earlier pointed out an agreement between
Pakistani and US authorities allowing their respective
soldiers to operate on either side of the border with
Afghanistan - Pakistan: After the hammer, now the
screws , May 19.)
Backlash True or not, such a
conviction will only fuel the flames of resentment in
the tribal areas over Nek's death. And as a Pashtu
Pakistani, not a foreign jihadi, his death is all the
more deeply mourned. The Pakistan military was reluctant
to go after Nek because they feared a backlash. He was
even offered the chance to go into hiding until the heat
was off, but he refused, and continued to make public
statements, finally forcing Islamabad's hand.
In
an interview given to the BBC Pashtu service shortly
before his death, which is now in wide circulation, Nek
commented: "When I fired the first bullet on the
Pakistan army it was the most painful moment of my life
... as we brothers killed each other ... only because
the US prompted the Pak army to kill tribals, who in
retaliation kill army men ... the US will be the sole
gainer ... we are both losers."
Nek was probably
not familiar with British statesman Winston Churchill,
who once commented that "if you are going to go through
hell, keep going". The "terrorist", "extremist",
"resistance fighter" or "renegade", he was called all of
them, was never afraid to keep going.
For the
common Pakistani, especially a Pashtun, Nek was like
Taliban leader Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden in that he
was deeply committed to a cause, and they remember the
picture that was circulated after the first Waziristan
operation in March was called off - Nek being hugged and
decorated with a garland of flowers by the Corps
Commander Peshawar, Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain.
Now that same military has killed Nek (or, if
the US connection is true, conspired to do so) Nek's
resistance can be expected to continue, while radical
elements are certain to cash in on the prevailing mood
to launch terror attacks on precise targets all over the
country.
Even President General Pervez Musharraf
admits this. In an interview published in the online
version of Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper at the
weekend, Musharraf said he hoped fighting would not
spread to other tribal areas.
"These people have
contacts elsewhere in the country and they can retaliate
in the rest of the country in the form of bomb blasts,
attacks on important persons and installations - and so
we have to guard against that," said Musharraf.
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