Pakistan's tribals decide to fight beside Taliban
ISHTIAQ ALI MEHKRI
Karachi September 19, 00:05
[k.ramesh, This was so interesting I decided to directly post it. Thanks, --fl]
Seven million tribals from Pakistan's eight Federally Administered Tribal Areas have decided to fight alongside the Taliban.
With the Taliban refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 US terror attacks, a scenario of devastation is now looming large over Pakistan. If the pro-Taliban response of fundamentalist organisations was bad news, reports of seven million tribals from Pakistan's eight Federally Administered Tribal Areas deciding to fight alongside the Taliban seem to a nightmare coming true for the military regime.
According to sources in Peshawar, the hub of Afghan refugees, around seven million people of the eight FATAs in northwestern region of Pakistan have formally formed an alliance to fight beside their Afghan brethren in the event of a US military strike. Taking into account the socio-political culture of these tribal people, along with their religious indoctrination, it is next to impossible to prevent the use of heavy and light weapons by them. They have now vowed to fight the Pakistan Army and resist Islamabad's decision to support the United States.
Alarm bells have gone off in the Pakistan government, apparently at a complete loss on how to convince the masses on the values of peace and national security. The only leverage the government enjoys in these tribal areas bordering Afghanistan in the north is the Political Agent, appointed by the federal government. However, in such an emotionally-charged scenario even his efforts seem to be useless.
Also, the constant influx of Afghan refugees across the border has further complicated the situation. Despite all measures on sealing the border, authorities confide it has been impossible to check the sneaking in of poor Afghan families into Pakistan.
This in-migration has further cemented the social bonds between the people divided by the border. Official sources in Islamabad closely monitoring the ISI- Taliban talks said that the delaying tactics adopted by Mullah Omar and his comrades have unnerved Pakistan as it reveals a loss of influence Islamabad has traditionally enjoyed over the student militia.
On the other hand, the decision by the Taliban to postpone the congregation of religious scholars to ponder over the issue of bin Laden's extradition and their unilateral declaration of a jehad against any US attack has dashed any hopes of saner religious elements prevailing over jingoism.
With every passing hour, the domestic situation in Pakistan is climbing the volatility scale. Tuesday's major event was the first mob march on the US consulate in Karachi and soaring anti-US sentiment in the country.
In areas bordering Afghanistan in Baluchistan province, sources spoke of the deployment of anti-aircraft guns by the Taliban militia along the border. However, diplomatic sources are of the opinion that even if the Taliban under compulsion decides to hand over bin Laden, the Americans would not stop short of cutting the Taliban and their covert jehadi network to size.
As pro-jehad and anti-American sentiment mushrooms in the garb of ethnicity and sectarianism, Islamabad is only getting deeper into a fix.
(The writer is a journalist with Dawn, Karachi) |
