While the US-led coalition forces prepare for withdrawal from Afghanistan the Pakistan army too is re-fixing its priorities in its fight against militancy and extremism in the troubled north-west of the country. As to what it would like to do, and would like the Zardari-Gilani government to do, to expedite progress towards its new goals, some broad hints were provided by Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani the other day.
Addressing the audience of the 'National Seminar on De-Radicalisation' at Mingora - which was organised by his force and the invited speakers included Prime Minister Gilani - who left no one in doubt that in the fight against extremism the armed forces can do only as much. It has cleared the Swat region of militants and even weaned a big chunk of extremists away by undertaking their de-radicalisation, but at a cost no less stunning.
In the Swat operation, he said, the Pak Army suffered 985 casualties (including 228 officers and men killed and 757 wounded) 'with the highest officer-to-troop ratio 1:8 in known history'. He also gave some details of the de-radicalisation programme conducted by the army with the obvious message to the government that the task was not easy as it required deep understanding of what afflicted the Swat militants.
Whether the government would be able to follow suit in the rest of the restive extremists' pockets another participant of the seminar, Mushahid Hussain, was quite less optimistic: 'None of the (Pakistan) governments had so far been able to devise a national policy with the support of the stakeholders', he said. Of the stakeholders he referred to, the one that should top the list are the people of Swat - who in the beginning when Sufi Muhammad raised the banner of revolt against the local administrative set-up in the name of delivering justice to the people at their doorsteps through the Qazi courts, had supported the enforcement of Shariah in the Malakand Division.
Well, the de-radicalisation carried out by the army would persevere but only if the civilian set-up effectively delivers on public concerns. No surprise then that Army Chief General Kayani has sought the 'support and initiative of the society, intellectuals and policymakers to take the lead and put into effect a counter-radicalisation construct'. That's a huge challenge especially in the obtaining conditions given the abysmal failure of the government on multiple fronts. Since military strategy could only provide an enabling environment which the Pakistan Army did by taking back Swat from the religious fanatics, now the ball is in the court of the civilian authorities, which in the words of General Kayani, "warrants a comprehensive response entailing synergy by all elements of national power".
Going by the words of Prime Minister Gilani, spoken at the seminar, it appears that the government has got the message of the military top brass. In his speech, in English apparently directed at the foreign audience, he tended to convey that the 'red lines' which of late the Americans had violated almost with impunity, would be protected with all the force at his government's command. Without prejudice to such bravado on his part on earlier occasions, one would say he was speaking from his heart in resonance to the sentiments of the broad masses of Pakistan. That he spoke from the platform provided by the Pakistan Army clearly reflects the thinking of the country's armed forces, which rightly feel that it is being unjustly targeted by the Western governments and media.
Departing from stock phrases and duplicitous expression, the prime minister happened to be quite forthright as he accused Washington of pursuing "narrow interests that hurt Pakistan's sovereignty and self-respect". Instead of exerting pressure on Islamabad through media leaks, the coalition partners, he said, would be well-advised to bridge the trust deficit to 'allow Pakistan space to manoeuvre and contribute significantly without international pressure'. If radicalism is still a rage in Pakistan, the one prime cause is the incessant use of drones in the Pakistan territory, the prime minister asserted.
Undoubtedly, the Pak-US partnership in the war on terrorism has arrived at the cross-roads. Should the Obama administration persist in its mindset that the use of military force is the only option available to Pakistan government, the co-operative relationship would further deteriorate and may degenerate into open hostility. Already, the unhelpful attitude of the coalition forces in north-eastern Afghanistan has prompted a series of cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban into Pakistan.
Is it that the US and its coalition partners want the Taliban to succeed in Pakistan - because all that is now coming from official and media sources from the West in terms of threats and insinuations tends to undermine Pakistan's determined effort to defeat terrorism and extremism. Pakistan would rather like to be left alone to deal with its own demons than to be the victim of 'friendly fire' from across its national borders. One unmistakable message the army chief has delivered to our government and its so-called supporters abroad is that the military is no solution to terrorism.