Looking at the developments in Pakistan, particularly the attack on the army’s general headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, one is reminded of the story of Bhasmasura one comes across in the Hindu mythology.
The legend says that the demon had prayed to Lord Shiv for powers to kill anyone whose head he touched with his hand. The Lord was pleased to give the boon but to his dismay, he was made to run for life by Bhasmasura who tried to test his boon on the Lord himself. Vishnu appeared on the scene and did a rescue act.
In the Pakistan context, we don’t know as yet, who that Vishnu is going to be if at all there is going to be a Vishnu but what we are clear is that the militants of all hues so fondly created and nurtured by the Pakistani establishment, especially its military, have now decisively turned on their masters as the modern day Bhasmasura. This much became clear from the daring attack on General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Army, which along with the other two ‘A’s- Allaha and America is known to decide the destiny of the country. The October 10 seize of the GHQ in Rawalpindi resulted in the death of a Brigadier, a Lieutenant Colonel and 17 others.
Masquerading as soldiers under the leadership of Aqeel, who also goes by the nom de guerre Dr Usman, an army defector, a handful of militants drove to the GHQ in a vehicle that bore an army number plate and insignia of GHQ on the windscreen. Within five days, the militants carried out another daring attack, this time in Lahore, on a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, a premier law enforcement organization that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism. Simultaneously, gunmen attacked three police stations in Lahore, and a suicide bomber killed eight people in the north-western town of Kohat.
All these dare devil acts have pushed the Pakistan army to the back foot at a time when it is getting ready for ‘a date yet to be fixed’ big offensive in South Waziristan, widely believed to be a safe heaven for militants of Al Qaeda, Taliban and their associates. In the words of Pakistani interior minister Malik, there is ‘no alternative’ to the offensive. If that is indeed so, why this dilly-dallying on the giving the go-ahead for the operation?
Two questions arise. First, is this because the Swat operation is not a crowning success?
Second, is it because of the fond hope of some how hoodwinking the Americans or because of fear created by the sudden appearance of militant commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who was presumed dead only last month in a drone raid in North Waziristan?
Ilyas, a Kashmiri by birth, had his terror baptism in Harkat-ul Jihad-i-Islami and graduated to head the ‘313 Brigade’ that gave nightmares to the Indian security apparatus in Kashmir for years. Today he is al-Qaeda's head of military operations.
After re-surfacing, Ilyas invited Karachi based Asia Times Online journalist to his secret hideout in the South Waziristan-Afghanistan border area, ‘where drones regularly fly overhead’ and spoke of his strategic vision and said the world should expect attacks on targets in Israel and the USA. ‘The Mumbai attack (Nov 26, 2008) is nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future’, according to him.
The Ilyas interview puts to naught the theory so carefully crafted by Pakistan and sold effortlessly to its peers in the United States of America that there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ militants. The ‘good’ Taliban militants need all the protection from the state because the ISI has ‘assigned’ them ‘the task of teasing, tormenting and hurting India with a view to eventually breaking it’ and of securing the strategic depth in Afghanistan’.
Not all the ‘good’ militants need shelter in areas like South Waziristan when POK (the Pak-occupied Kashmir territory) offers them ample facilities. That is because the militants groups in Pakistan have integrated a lot and have been moving from one corner of the country to another to help each other and blur their identities as members of different groups. That had become necessary after many militant outfits were ‘banned’ in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the US soil in 2001. The ‘ban’ and the ‘new avatar’ were also prompted no less due to threats from the then US President George W. Bush that Pakistan would be bombed ‘to stone age’ if it did not renounce its ties with groups like Al Qaeda and Taliban.
There are no ‘bad’ militants in popular Pakistani conception, if not the government, till recently because their fight against the US and other forces that have ‘occupied’ Afghanistan is a cause that enjoys ‘people’s. Such is intensity of anti-American jingoism that has been sweeping the country. The militants sullied their record and became marked as ‘bad’ only when they invaded ‘settled’ areas and sent shivers down the spine of the privileged sections, for instance, in South Punjab.
Lately, a lot of foot soldiers of the ‘good’ Taliban have been crossing over to help the ‘bad’ ones who come under regular heavy fire by US drones and as a result see many of their comrades killed. A bond has developed between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ Taliban in Pakistan as the former (the ‘good’ ones) entirely support the anti-US forays that the ‘bad’ guys launch from their hideouts.
The lone surviving GHQ attacker, Aqeel is a ‘Punjabi’ Taliban who is involved in almost all the previous major terrorist attacks in Pakistan, such as the attack on Sri Lanka cricketers, the attack on a police academy in Lahore, the bombing of Marriott Hotel, the assassination bid on previous president, Gen Pervez Musharraf and even a plot to assassinate Benazir Bhutto after she returned to Pakistan from Dubai in December 2007. Aqeel has been associated with various militant groups like Tahreek-e-Pakistran, Lashkare-Jhangavi, Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islam and the now dismantled Harkat-ul-Ansar. Of course, it will not come as a surprise in India if Pakistan presents Aqeel as a RAW agent!
It is still not very clear whether the Pakistan army, with its pro-jihadi indoctrination, is enthusiastic about going fully after the ‘bad’ Taliban though the militants’ incursion in Swat has allegedly created an anti-Taliban wave in the country. Frankly, after coming under repeated attack from the militants, the Kayani army does not look like capable of challenging them. Besides, an all-out military campaign against the ‘bad’ Taliban will not go down well among the ‘good’ ones who have enjoyed almost open State and popular support.
Public opinion in Pakistan can swing against the rulers and the army if the militants known to fight the ‘enemies of Islam’, a euphemism for the Americans and the Indians, are targeted to please the newly crowned Nobel Peace Laureate. The India-obsessed politicians as well as the public will not accept a situation where an army offensive against the ‘bad’ Taliban also mows down the ‘good’ jihadi heroes who battle against India in addition to the Americans.
It may be that forced by ‘international’ (read the US) pressure, the offensive against the ‘bad’ Taliban does take place. But Pakistan is a past master in duping its Western benefactors, especially the US. If it could divert American military and economic aid in the past to target India by dodging the American spy satellites, it will not be a problem to mislead the Masters of the West now. Any how, the US has the propensity to turn a deliberate blind eye towards Pakistani indiscretions.
Even some ‘cosmetic’ offensive in South Waziristan may result in a self-goal for Pakistan army and political establishment and pit them against a large section of people. Of course, there is nothing to stop even that sham action soon after launching no more than a peripheral attack on one of its lawless tribal areas. Pakistan can hope to get away by raising the old India bogey on the eastern border. And the Pakistanis are very good at playing charade with the West.
Given the high stakes to the USA in Afghanistan, this time around the old tricks may backfire and harm Pakistan beyond its imagination ala Modern Bhasmasura. More demoralizing and telling blows such as the attack on its GHQ cannot be ruled out. Will that wake up Pakistan to the dangers it faces from within and spur it to make genuine efforts to eliminate the scourge of terror from its soil? We will know soon.
- Asian Tribune -
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