THE British were smart and intelligent people. They ruled the subcontinent for 200 years and when they left in 1947, they left behind a system not only for the two dominions but also for the unruly and seemingly ungovernable tribal regions.

The system was time-tested and proved itself for over fifty years or so, at least as far as the tribal regions were concerned.

Then came 9/11 and US war on terror brought the Pakistan Army, for the first time since the birth of this country, to the western borders. And thus began the unravelling of the political system that had come into being through numerous expeditions and interactions with the tribal people that inhabited the craggy border region.

History we don’t read but we could at least have learnt from our follies and mistakes in the hope of not repeating them. Had we done that, Waziristan, North and South, would not have been in the mess it is today.

Under pressure from the US, the military already deployed in South Waziristan lost patience with the political process of the administration involving tribal elders in jirgas to resolve issue. The process by its very nature is long, complicated and exhaustive. As the political administration engaged tribes to enlist their support against foreign militants, the military, weary of the long jirga processes, conducted raids with little or no success. The tribes locked in negotiations saw it as a betrayal and violation of their customs and traditions, with the result that the maliks or tribal elders lost the little influence that they had on their own tribes.

There was and still is no coordination, apparently due to lack of trust between the political administration and the military operating in the area. At times the political agents have to be called upon to do fire fighting after things go awry.

The March 2004 debacle in Kaloosha, South Waziristan, in which the security forces suffered massive casualties, changed the whole dynamics of the situation, forcing the military to sign peace deals with militant commanders including the top commander , Nek Mohammad.

The questionable step empowered the militants on the one hand and weakened the political administration on the other to the extent that the militants began negotiating directly with the military, circumventing not only the political administration but also the tribal elders and maliks. This has had negative fallout on the tribal psyche, which saw a shift in power equation—from the political administration to the military and from the maliks to the tribal militants.

This emboldened the militants and their foreign comrades to wield new power and influence. And thus began a vicious cycle of violence in which the militants killed pro-government tribal elders, suspected government agents, intelligence operatives and journalists. The figure about targeted killings remains disputable, but approximately 120 pro-government tribesmen, government informers, intelligence operatives and journalists have been killed since 2001.

There is little doubt now that the militant commanders, are violating the peace deals and continue to harbour foreign militants, recruit and train people for ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan, and target government and security installations.

The government that had sought to neutralise the militants and their foreign guests stands neutralised itself. There are more foreign militants in Wana, South Waziristan, now than at any given time in the past. It has lost complete control in South Waziristan and its writ is now limited to the mud walls of the Scouts Camp that houses the offices of the political administration and the Frontier Corps.

The situation in North Waziristan is no different. The political administration is fast losing ground to the militants, who in a recent public display of their strength and power executed a local gang, beheaded their members and displayed their decapitated bodies for the people to see. Video CDs of the whole gory drama are widely available, showing the growing strength of the Taliban.

What had started off as a war on terror in the tribal region has now become a serious security situation with grave implications for Pakistan. The region serves as a safe haven and training ground for jihadis.

The growing Taliban influence has now spilled over into the neighbouring semi-autonomous Frontier Regions, Bakka-khel and Janikhel, where they have set up check-posts and administer justice. There are indications that the Taliban influence would soon penetrate he settled districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu. They are already a force in Tank district.

The situation calls for immediate rethinking. There is a need for a comprehensive strategy involving all the stakeholders, the civil and military bureaucracy and the intelligence apparatus. That means better coordination between the political administration and the military the civil and military strategy to deal with the situation.

The government needs to strengthen and reinforce political administration by placing security forces at its disposal to act on good, actionable intelligence.

The situation unfortunately has come to a pass where the military would have to step in to restore the writ of the government, but it should then step back and let the political agent takeover from there on.

It will also have to devise a strategy that involves thousands of unemployed and impoverished youth, which have become ready recruits for the militants.

The government,through the political administration, should use both stick and carrot to buy over tribal elders and make concerted efforts to bring militants, including those who have signed peace deals, to justice, to deny the Taliban their leadership.

The government’s whole initiative to bring about economic development in the otherwise under-developed tribal region, has come to a grinding halt owing to security problems. There obviously now is the question of law and order and it has to take precedence over everything else.

MEXICO CITY: Of the many things the swank hotel aspires to be, an unwitting symbol of US imperialism is not one of them. But such has been the case since February 3, when staff at the US-owned hotel just across from the American embassy politely suggested that 16 visiting Cuban officials check out.

The problem: US Treasury officials had told the hotel owner based in White Plains, NY, that taking money from the Cuban officials violated the four-decade-old US embargo against the Communist-run island.

Faced with the choice of being sanctioned, and being selectively inhospitable, the hotel reluctantly chose the latter.

Mexicans exploded at the notion of US laws being enforced on Mexican soil, and called for authorities to shut the hotel down.

On Tuesday, the leftist-controlled Mexico City government finally succeeded in getting the 755-room hotel shut down. Or so it seemed.

Red stickers announcing ‘Closed’ were pasted to the front doors. Various government officials pronounced the hotel closed, effective ‘immediately’. Mexican television announced that all guests would be evicted ‘in two hours’. City inspectors posted a series of handwritten notes on a hotel bulletin board in a half-dozen languages announcing to the guests that they would have to leave. Then the inspectors went home. Two hours passed. The hotel remained open.

Arriving at the hotel just after sunset on Tuesday, British guest Anthony Thompson set down his bags, frowned at the ‘Closed’ signs and uttered an English expletive well understood by the Mexican journalists camped outside the lobby.

A concierge in a natty aqua-marine uniform told Thompson not to worry, then escorted the guest into the hotel.

“It’s open,” the concierge told another guest in Spanish. “If the reporters ask you questions, don’t answer.”

Under US law, the sanctions apply to all US companies and their foreign subsidiaries.

The Cuban officials were meeting with US oil executives. Despite the US embargo, Mexico has retained diplomatic relations and commercial exchanges with Cuba for decades. The eviction of the Cuban officials quickly became an issue in the country’s on-going presidential campaign.

“The expulsion of the Cubans. . .is a shameful act,” Humberto Musacchio wrote in the Mexico City newspaper Reforma. His was one of a flood of columns in the Mexican media denouncing the hotel. The eviction of the Cubans was ‘practically a declaration of war’ because Mexico’s ‘national honour has been sullied’.

Raymundo Riva Palacio, a columnist for the newspaper El Universal, wrote that it was common knowledge that the fifth floor of the hotel once functioned as ‘the headquarters of the CIA’ in Mexico. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was drawn into the fray. “US law would apply to US corporations or subsidiaries of US corporations no matter where they may be,” McCormack explained, “whether it’s in Mexico City or in Europe or South America.”

Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, a member of the conservative National Action Party, initially said the Mexican government would not intervene. Later, in the face of mounting criticism, Derbez said the hotel chain had shown a ‘disregard for Mexican law’ that could lead to ‘appropriate sanctions’.

Mexico City’s government, controlled by members of the Democratic Revolution Party, whose presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was once mayor, beat the federales to the punch. City building inspectors showed up days after the eviction. Virginia Jaramillo Flores, head of the city borough where the hotel is located, said on Tuesday that the inspectors had found dozens of violations at the hotel.

In a nation where illegal construction is the norm, the hotel was cited for allegedly failing to obtain a permit for 32,000 square feet of new construction. In addition, inspectors were shocked to find drinking going on in two bars lacking licenses, and that there were not enough parking spaces.

Jaramillo said city inspectors were not aware of the violations at the landmark hotel — President Kennedy stayed there in 1962 — because no one had complained before. The closure would commence ‘immediately’, and remain in effect until the offending construction was removed and 1,000 parking spaces added, Jaramillo said. Plus, there was a $15,000 fine to be paid. An hour later, inspectors were pasting the ‘Closed’ signs on the hotel’s doors, which nonetheless remained unlocked.

“The Hotel Sheraton Maria Isabel expresses its great surprise in response to this action,” Laura Canepa, a representative for Starwood Hotels, told the reporters gathered outside. “At this moment our lawyers are evaluating the legal, administrative and business implications of this measure.” By late Tuesday afternoon, as the hotel’s lawyers conferred in the lobby, it remained unclear if the hotel’s hundreds of well-heeled guests would be forced to seek new lodgings.

“The hotel is still operating, even with the (closure) seals, which are really bad for Mexico’s image,” said Jorge Hernandez Delgado, president of the Mexican Association of Travel Agents. “We’re doing the best we can to bring tourism here, only to have these types of political actions that ruin everything.

Guests continued to check in to the hotel well into the evening, however. Mexico City authorities took no steps to stop them. The hotel also was still accepting reservations. “The hotel is definitely closed,” a spokeswoman for the city government explained. “At this moment, it really shouldn’t be operating.” —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service