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EDITORIAL: Ignored victory in South Waziristan

On Tuesday the Pakistan army took control of Sararogha in South Waziristan, the nerve-centre of the operations launched by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) into the populated heart of the country. As the troops entered Sararogha and were carrying out search and clearance operations the rest of the country was busy witnessing the falling apart of the political order brought about by the 2008 general elections. But the success achieved by the Pakistan army is extremely significant in the context of what is expected to transpire in Pakistan in the coming days.

Sararogha was where the TTP Shura met and decided the targets the Taliban suicide bombers were going to hit. This is where the various branchline warlords streamlined their plans and the spokesmen of the TTP made important announcements about the crimes the TTP had committed in the name of their dubious sharia. The taking of Sararogha was important after the capture of the symbolic Kotkai, the home of the current leader of the TTP, Hakimullah. It is too soon to say if this latest victory is going to lead to the disintegration of the Taliban, but it will definitely relieve some pressure on such important cities as Bannu, which lie right next to Sararogha.

The final success of the operation will depend on the ability of the Pakistan army to prevent the expanding of the war front. The Taliban must be engaged within the territory controlled by Pakistan and the enemy must not be allowed to flee to areas where Pakistan army cannot pursue them. If the enemy were able to flee across the Durand Line and regroup on Afghan territory, the effectiveness of the operation would be halved, putting pressure on the paramilitary forces that the army will leave behind after ‘pacifying’ South Waziristan.

It is for this reason that Pakistan was upset earlier on when it saw that the US-NATO forces were seen to remove their border posts, which later was said by the Americans to be mere “readjustment”. Already a large part of Afghanistan is said to be the target of Taliban forays because the US-NATO forces do not control it or control it only temporarily. The Taliban strike not only in the heart of Kabul city but anywhere in the country at will, and even more freely in southeast Afghanistan, which is predominantly Pashtun territory. It is more or less known now that the Taliban on both sides of the border are acting under one shared command. Hence, the success of the Pakistani operation in South Waziristan will depend on how well the US-NATO forces are going to coordinate with the Pakistan army.

There is hardly any doubt about the importance of the South Waziristan operation in the eyes of the US and its allies. The view on the other side of the border is that men coming across from Pakistan carry out most acts of terrorism committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. For instance, the attack on the UN guesthouse was blamed on suicide-bombers that had come from Pakistan. Pakistan is often subliminally blamed for not guarding the border well enough, but the same charge could be made about the allied forces guarding the border on the other side.

President Barack Obama faces his own dilemmas on the subject of Afghan policy. Should he go for reconstruction or counter-terrorism? Since reconstruction is impossible without control, he has to beef up the ability of the allied troops in Afghanistan to handle the Taliban aggression. The US army chief in Afghanistan, General McChrystal says 40,000 more American troops are needed, but that balks the Pakistan army on other counts. The last time the Taliban came under pressure from the American troops they made a beeline for Pakistan. When the additional troops put pressure on the Taliban they will retreat into Pakistani territory for regrouping and in the process negate the success achieved in the Tribal Areas by the Pakistan army. Clearly, both sides are pointing to the same weaknesses that they actually share. The only way is to coordinate and tackle the menace jointly. *

SECOND EDITORIAL: 17th Amendment as safety valve?

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has told the National Assembly — once again — that his government would seek early restoration of parliament’s powers. He has asked the chairman of the joint parliamentary committee charged with amending the Constitution to expedite recommendations for the curtailment of presidential powers, meaning the abrogation of the controversial 17th Amendment that disallows the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif to become prime minister for the third time.

Surprisingly, the opposition politicians who a day earlier wanted nothing short of a no-confidence vote, thronged his desk and congratulated him for saying something that he had said many times before. Perhaps they liked the words the prime minister used about the 17th Amendment: “the controversial 17th Amendment that legitimised General Musharraf’s military rule and his assumption of the prime ministerial powers to dissolve the National Assembly and appoint armed forces’ chiefs, provincial governors and the chief election commissioner.”

Whether this will appease Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan or Khwaja Asif is hardly certain. As the prime minister spoke, the PML-N was busy commemorating the tragic event of November 3, 2007 and marching up to the Supreme Court with black bands on their arms as if anticipating the case the honourable Court will soon hear on the issue of the NRO. The chairman of the constitutional committee, Mian Raza Rabbani, is moving deliberately ahead with the discussions on the portmanteau 18th Amendment that will remove all sorts of undesirable accretions on the Constitution in one go. It is hard to believe that the PML-N is now interested in the long drawn out process of passing a comprehensive amendment that carries within it other concerns that have nothing to do with the 17th Amendment.

In fact the 18th Amendment has been delayed by the wrangling that has been taking place on such demands as the NWFP’s new name Pakhtunkhwa, which the PML-N doesn’t favour too much, and autonomy to Balochistan, which in its purest form is more like separating the province from the federation. Buried in all this is the 17th Amendment and its provision that prevents Mr Nawaz Sharif from becoming prime minister again. The ‘excessive’ powers of the president of course will revert to the prime minister but then President Asif Ali Zardari as party chief will always remain more powerful than the prime minister. *

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