Talks with the Taliban

Part - I
While listening to arguments on TV talk shows or reading articles of those favouring military operations in North Waziristan in Fata I am led to the conclusion that either they do not understand Fata and its people or do not attach enough importance to understanding certain factors crucial to ending the problem of militancy in that area.
They give the impression that the militants are simply sitting ducks there or living in isolated pockets far away from populated areas and the army simply needs to walk in and pick them off like stationary targets in an open firing range. I wish it were as simple as that.
Another important thing that has to be borne in mind when dealing with this problem is the way Fata has been treated by us since the creation of the country in 1947. Under the pretext of acting in accordance with tribal customs and traditions or their cultural values we have denied the tribesmen something we gave to all other citizens everywhere else in the country – rights and protection enshrined in the constitution.
Respecting traditional values is no doubt of paramount importance when dealing with people of the tribal areas but when has that been truly observed? To start with, even the promise made by the Father of the Nation was broken, after his death, by inducting the army without tribal consent. The same pattern was followed in the military operations that later took place and are the main reason for creating a wedge between the people there and the security forces. The general attitude of the security forces, including the humiliating checking procedures at numerous points one faces on a daily basis while travelling within Fata, further shattered whatever little confidence that remained.
Using untrammelled force as is done in occupied enemy territory, if applied in one’s own country, produces counter-productive results; where militants thrive and the locals suffer, militancy rules and the administration fails. This is precisely what has happened in Fata and still continues. That is why the people there are no longer in favour of military operations.
To fully explain the complexity of the situation I would also need to briefly mention some facts that some of our armchair strategists, sitting far away from an area they have never visited once, do not realise. We need to look into the root causes of this so-called war on terror and the main reasons that contributed to our children taking up guns against us. But of foremost importance are the factors that contribute to Fata being so different from the rest of the country.
For all practical purposes Fata is not fully covered under the constitution except for Article 1 which recognises it as being a part of the country. But the residents of Fata do not enjoy the same rights, protection and freedoms available to all other citizens living in the ‘settled’ areas of Pakistan. Under the constitution Fata is the exclusive domain of the president of Pakistan to administer as he wishes whereas the rest of the country is not.
For Fata residents there is still a set of rules applicable to them alone called the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), imposed by the British during colonial times, whereas all other citizens in the rest of the country are dealt with under the normal law of the land. There are no police stations or court system and all disputes and contentious matters are decided through the FCR/jirga system.
Fata is ‘administered’ and not ‘governed’; the rest of the country is ‘governed’ and not ‘administered’. To top the list of nays for Fata it does not have the right of representation in decision-making bodies and is not even consulted in matters directly concerning the area whereas citizens in the rest of the country have representation at all levels.
I would also like to point out that despite all the problems the tribal region faces neither the presidents nor the prime ministers have condescended to visit it in the last ten years. They have washed their hands of Fata, handing it over to the army as its exclusive domain to do with it as it pleases, unlike Karachi which is also beset with terrorism. Devastated by military operations, Fata’s IDPs are left to languish in the slums of Peshawar, D I Khan and Tank unlike those from Swat and Malakand.
Again, unlike the rest of Pakistan, Fata has been totally isolated and ‘blacked out’ from the rest of the world and is a ‘no-go area’ for outsiders or the electronic media.
These are some of the glaring differences that spring to mind, without going into too much depth, which have made and are still making Fata so dissimilar to the rest of the country. It would, therefore, be unfair to treat Fata similar to other areas in the settled districts of the country while tackling the problem of militancy. It has to be handled by people familiar with the area, the tribesmen culture, customs and traditions and who are capable of being sensitive to and understanding these traditions. Unfortunately, this was never done in the past and today the result is before us. Even now it is not too late and matters can be remedied if we take correct measures.
To be continued
The writer is a former ambassador.
Email: waziruk@hotmail.com