The war within… Shahzad Chaudhry
It may sound harsh but is worthy of introspection: forces meant to fight at the border and beyond to enhance their perimeter of security when forced to fight in KP, Balochistan and Karachi can only mean that the battle has been reversed. The perimeter of security was either breached or did not exist ceding critical space to the opposing forces, or diplomacy failed to garner the necessary zone of security along a border which has long been troublesome. A politico-strategic neglect, or failure, has forced the military to fight a rearguard battle deep inside its own territory. That the borders are routinely violated is another grave omission. Every other arrangement is exceptional and must come with sufficient safeties. If indeed a certain perimeter of security is essential it must take utmost priority as a government function.
The war within is literal. Our soldiers are losing precious lives. Our land has been desecrated by the presence of the enemy in our midst. There is a long list of how we got here but distractions are and have been the culprit. We judged wrongly when we hurried the US forces out of Afghanistan. And even though it was a decision for the US to make we could have done better in border control and assessed better the fallout of such a rushed withdrawal. We failed on both counts. What followed was suicidal when numerous, anywhere up to five thousand, terrorists/militants were released from Pakistani jails and enabled free movement, interaction and residence in territories which were previously threatened by their presence. The political and military leadership blundered into this decision. The notion of strategic depth continues to haunt our judgment. It must be buried forever lest it become a persistent recourse. Afghanistan’s past and present disposition towards us is enough to guide us to this conclusion.
KP continues to remain under assault while our troops fight on valiantly, giving the ultimate sacrifice in a war that need not have been. The nature of this war affords equal opportunity to an irregular and a trained soldier alike keeping the troops vulnerable to ambush and surreptitious IED attacks. Combing the nefarious elements out is painstaking in a terrain which remains one of the most difficult and complex to navigate. We need to graduate to technically and technologically nuanced options to minimize loss of precious lives and to shape the battlefield to own advantage. Equally important is to nip this evil at source than just combat it at the periphery of its presence. The recent upsurge in the depth of the KP province indicates the need to take the battle to the terrorists than letting the opposite take stance. This must be reversed.
An unstable political and economic environment makes this undertaking even more complex. The nursery of those that are used as fodder continues to persist at the hand of unflattering governance and economic hardship. The army chief was right in stating that the military was paying in blood the consequences of inept governance. The other war within is between political forces, and of political forces. The unfortunate state of politics that began in the Autumn of 2021 hasn’t yet settled. The players that became a part of the political saga were the same who judged the Afghan situation wrongly and incurred huge cost in men and material. The political fracas has bestowed continuing instability which just isn’t resolving itself.
It isn’t irresolvable. It is only being made to appear difficult to resolve. May 9th is a far more frequent mention of PTI’s political adversaries than the military itself. It seems PTI’s political opponents just don’t want the issue to die. And that is where selfish political gain seems to override the crying need for a calmer political environment so that forces that must instead pay attention to eliminating armed threats in our midst are embroiled in unnecessary internal strife and political grandstanding. May 9th was indeed significant enough but never as big as the security of the nation. We cannot let an unfortunate episode in our national journey be hijacked by vested interests who only have political gain in mind. It is time to get all ‘hands’ working to fight off an imminent threat knocking at the door to disrupt our future. Our challenges are just too huge to let personal biases and preferences come in the way.
KP is the case in point. It needs focused, hands-on governance. Instead, the CM who can be far more productive is immersed in party-driven agenda of agitation to find relief for his party chairman. He has been pushed into fighting this corner than administer a very tenuous and fraught province threatened with an active ongoing insurgency through unending terror. How can he be helped to keep off wasteful agitational politics and focus on what is his and his party’s primary task? Instead we seek patent political motives in his failing governance.
What does it take to help KP CM manage his province better? A fair and prompt process to attest the veracity of what is alleged against the inciters and abettors of 9th May and reach a quick judgment through a fair judicial process which can be universally acceptable. The earlier we put this behind us the earlier we can be united to confront the challenges that confound us. That will also eliminate the ruse employed by opposing political forces inciting the military as a proxy to serve their respective political agenda. As this distraction is removed those at the helm at the Centre and in the provinces can also return to their primary job of governance. Balochistan is crying for attention, along with KP, needing a recentred approach on politico-military and economic initiatives to profoundly eliminate the threat denying the people their fair chance at life, progress and relative prosperity.
The economy too has found its balance and can be shepherded to take off. Bolder policies and fearless enactment will only come if political skullduggery stops being the dominating agenda. Distractions will only help mediocrity and convenience find an easy escape. It is time to seek delivery for why the governments were put in place through an elaborate electoral process. Magnanimous handouts to each of the provincial governments in the NFC award should especially take our national attention to certify its use in public interest and save it from pilferage – the burden of debt continues to grow as we feed governments to fulfil their purpose. Instead, distractions shroud their conduct. There is a huge burden of responsibility on the military which must not only fight the menace of terror in our midst but must also share the epitaph of inept governance in a loudly acclaimed hybrid construct of governance. It is time to shed this label away. Eliminating distractions will greatly help.
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