Daily Times

It looks like Zarb-i-Azb has started paying off and for the first time in 13 years three important players fighting terrorism, the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan have converged on a common cause to pull down the edifice of terrorism without discrimination. While this understanding sinks in, one can only wait to see the war against terrorism coming to a logical conclusion after having chased the last remnant of terrorism out of this region. Adnan el Shukrijumah’s killing in South Waziristan (SW) and the drone strikes killing the Pakistani Taliban hiding in Afghanistan has stirred this hope. Shukrijumah was a senior al Qaeda militant. He was killed in a raid by the armed forces of Pakistan. The security forces had given up on the struggle to capture one of the most wanted terrorists who had $ 5 million bounty on his head, and was considered to have fled either to Syria or Iraq. He had been invisibly operating by finding sanctuary in North Waziristan. Second-in-command to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, Shukrijumah was accused of planning to bomb trains in New York and London. He was born in Saudi Arabia and had lived many years in Florida. Shukrijumah’s capture from SW is a sign of extended military initiative in areas other than where the operation has been launched, North Waziristan (NW) and Khyber. Denying every opportunity to the militants to flee the battle laid for their final round up is essential if there is a need to give Pakistan and resultantly Afghanistan relief from the scourge of terrorism. There have been doubts expressed on the claims Pakistan’s army chief was making during his recently concluded visit to the US (given the track record of his predecessors of saying one thing and doing another) on taking on the militants without discrimination. But General Raheel’s dogged pursuit of the militants and the capture of high profile terrorists shows a shift in the army’s policy away from playing double games to playing fair this time. However, there are still many stages on the way, from capturing al Qaeda operatives to fighting the Haqqani network. Zarb-i-Azb could just be the beginning to challenge the terrorists, and as General Raheel has said, we have yet to fight the mindset that gives rise to the varied manifestations of terrorism before believing that we have won the war.

Across the border, US drones have killed some Pakistani Taliban. These strikes are important for the success of Zarb-i-Azb. The 1,500 kilometre porous border shared by Pakistan and Afghanistan has become the international breeding ground for militancy and terrorism. Pakistan had been complaining to the Afghan government against the bunkers made along the Afghans side of the border, lying adjacent to NW and apparently giving refuge to the militants fleeing military operation. With the US finally targeting these hideouts, one could see the Afghan government too making a shift from its policy of just complaining against Pakistan and doing little on its side to combat the terrorists. There is no doubt that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan can fight militancy without the help of the other. We need an equal effort on both sides to hold back a growth in militancy.
Coming back to Pakistan, General Raheel Sharif’s reading into the reality that Pakistan is faced with an enemy from within must not go wasted. The civilian leadership should come out of its complacent posturing of simply praising the armed forces and doing the real job of hunting down the enemies hiding in the urban areas. The nation is still waiting to see the security policy rolled out, NACTA finally made operative and the Joint Intelligence Directorate formed. In the meantime the armed forces deserve congratulations on making Zarb-i-Azb a success. *