Daily Times

Operation Zarb-e-Azb gave us its first real success on Tuesday when the military confirmed that it had captured terrorist commander Adnan Rashid, a former Pakistan Air Force technician who was arrested for the attempted assassination of former President Pervez Musharraf in 2003. His arrest then began an internal clean up by the military to root out terrorist sympathisers and informants within its ranks, a process that continues today. Rashid was in custody in Bannu until 2012, when he was broken out of Bannu prison along with 400 other Taliban fighters and subsequently led the assault on D I Khan prison that freed another 250 terrorists. This was perhaps the nadir of the security paradigm, when the security forces seemed completely paralysed by terrorist tactics. Because of his operational role and visibility, Rashid was considered a high-value target. He was captured in the Shakai district near the border of North Waziristan where the military said it tracked him after finding evidence of his presence in Miranshah. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sources claim that the Mullah Nazir group gave information leading to his capture and promised revenge on the group, which broke with the TTP after Mullah Nazir was killed in a drone strike last year. Rashid’s capture then is a dual success since it also involved a formerly hostile group in a region cleared of terrorists two years ago, which is now being patrolled by local militias. At the same time it points to difficulties in the operation and raises concerns about the future. Rashid escaped the military cordon around North Waziristan and it appears many other terrorist fighters were able to leave and spread out into neighbouring Agencies and Afghanistan before the operation began. Afghan cooperation has been limited, partly because the country faces political paralysis after a presidential run-off election, but mostly because of indifference born of a historically acrimonious relationship.

Afghanistan has its reasons, but this may be short sighted since, as this latest capture tells us, the theatre of war is not limited to one Agency or even one country. As international consensus develops around tackling terrorism as a regional problem, the theatre in fact extends across much of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and requires political coordination to manage. This has been sadly lacking. The Prime Minister has not addressed the nation and informed it about the consequences of the military action, or detailed a political strategy to deal with the region once the terrorists are defeated. Civilian law enforcement and investigative agencies will have a crucial role to play when military action ends and the absence of political leadership is a recipe for disaster. The operation has shown us that despite our best efforts, this war is going to be long and arduous. The government must step up to the plate and lead. *