New Pakistan leaders target
militants By Syed Saleem
Shahzad
KARACHI - With Pakistan's
democratically elected government now installed
and Yousuf Raza Gillani sworn in as the new prime
minister, the administration can get down to one
of the main businesses of the day: dealing with
militancy.
There has been much talk of a
public backlash against the military operations
orchestrated by President Pervez Musharraf against
militants in the tribal areas and that the new
government will seek to reverse the policies he
adopted in the "war on terror" during his eight
years as a military ruler.
However, Asia
Times Online investigations reveal that the ruling
coalition, dominated by assassinated former
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan
Peoples' Party (PPP) and the
Pakistan
Muslim League
(PML) of Nawaz Sharif, will attempt, through
dialogue, to split the militants so that the
Taliban and al-Qaeda will be exposed, much as has
happened with the Sunni-dominated Awakening
Councils that have turned against al-Qaeda in
Iraq.
This decision comes at an important
time. The Taliban have opened up a new front in
Khyber Agency in Pakistan, as predicted by Asia
Times Online last week (Same game, new rules in
Afghanistan) . On
Sunday, about 36 oil tankers that supply fuel to
United States-led forces in neighboring
Afghanistan were blown up in Khyber Agency. At
least 70 people were injured. On Tuesday, US
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte began
talks in Pakistan to discuss, among other issues,
the new government's role against militants.
Asia Times Online contacts maintain the
government will stick to a script agreed with
Washington before February's elections that all
efforts will be made to bring public support
behind the "war on terror" and more military
operations against militants.
"Everything
will remain the same. The only difference is that
politicians will do their job and the military
will do its job. Nobody will try to overlap with
another," said a contact who is a close aide of
the PPP's co-chairman, Asif Zardari, and who is
also close to Washington.
The main role
will be played by the Pashtun sub-nationalist
Awami National Party (ANP), which leads the ruling
coalition in North-West Frontier Province. The ANP
has already scheduled tribal jirgas
(councils) aimed to demilitarize the tribal areas
and separate local tribals from radical jihadis,
whether they be local or foreign.
Indeed,
the anti-Taliban networking has already resulted
in several al-Qaeda and Taliban targets being hit.
And importantly, leading Taliban commander
Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani,
who is on a "most wanted" list in Afghanistan,
have left the North Waziristan tribal area for a
safer district.
Government at work, eyes on
Sharif Apart from dealing with
militancy, the new government has already tackled
some sensitive issues.
On Monday, dozens
of judges detained under emergency rule were
released on the orders of Gillani, including
former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The judges
were sacked last November by Musharraf shortly
before the Supreme Court was to adjudicate on
whether his re-election as president was legal.
The government is now expected to seek the
release of insurgents from Balochistan province.
Former premier Sharif is said to be a
conservative and he has already opened up dialogue
with militants. He is using several channels, one
being Javaid Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of
Parliament from Sharif's PML who openly provided
shelter for Arabs who had fled from Afghanistan
into Pakistan after the US-led invasion there in
2001.
According to sources close to
Sharif, the dialogue is aimed at stopping the
militants from attacking Pakistani cities. But
this does not mean that Nawaz is soft on the
militancy. Rather, the sources say, Sharif's aim
is to isolate the al-Qaeda leadership to get it
arrested.
For the militants, the battle
continues. "We will continue to choke all the
supply lines to NATO [North Atlantic Treaty
Organization] forces that go through Khyber
Agency. At the same time, we will also cut off
food supplies that go over land routes. If this is
successful for a few months, it will be more
devastating than a spring offensive," commented a
top Pakistani al-Qaeda leader from the tribal
headquarters of Miranshah in North Waziristan.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
(Copyright 2008 Asia
Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
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