December 28, 2008	Sunday	Zilhaj 29, 1429

LONDON, Dec 27: Essentially depicting Pakistan Army’s version of the ongoing war against tribal militants, a two-part documentary series titled “Pakistan’s War — The Battle Within” will be telecast by Al Jazeera on Sunday night.

The story-line contests the global impression that Islamabad is not doing enough on this front and reinforces the argument that the frequent US drone attacks in the tribal region have rendered the war unpopular inside Pakistan.

“We are suffering the maximum, we are contributing the maximum ... we are sacrificing for the sake of the world,” says a Pakistani army officer to presenter Rageh Omar in a tone dripping with a mixture of pain and frustration.

Shot on the battlefronts of Swat and Bajaur with glimpses of encounters, counterattacks, advances and retreats under heavy artillery bombardment the documentary throws into bold relief the difficulties and dangers of fighting a guerilla war in an un-chartered territory with the Taliban having a complete sway of the terrain.

A slick production, well researched and creatively edited, the documentary, a preview of which was seen by Dawn on Saturday, tries to trace the beginning of what has now become ‘the battle within’ to the Red Mosque bloodbath.

“The showdown for control of the Red Mosque marked a turning-point in Pakistan’s war with the insurgents -- the moment when the Taliban-backed insurgency moved from the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan to the heart of the capital, sparking an ongoing wave of violence inside Pakistan,” says the presenter Rageh Omar in the opening scenes of the first part of the documentary.

Intelligently juxtaposing archival scenes of Red Mosque, an interview of Baitullah Mehsud and videos of training camps of the militants showing summary executions with the clips of latest on the spot, talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of Frontier Constabulary Major General Tariq Khan and Muslim Khan, a spokesman for Fazlullah of Swat, the producer and the presenter try to establish that Pakistan Army is fighting a very difficult but also an unpopular war.

“I will take the writ of law to the ends of the last border post of Pakistan,” pledges President Zardari in one scene.

“That means there will be police stations, there will be judges, there will be civil society and civil law. We have to make people understand that they cannot challenge the writ of the state and they can not blackmail the world into listening to their point,” he says further.

In yet another scene the presenter says that three months before Al Jazeera’s crew arrived, 20 US drone strikes had killed more than 100 people.

This is immediately followed by Corps Commander General Masood asserting to Omar: “The majority of people in this area perceive the US presence in Afghanistan as occupation forces. So when the US starts acting inside Pakistan and any innocent civilian is killed by any of these attacks, it reduces the credibility of the Pakistan army to be doing something good.”

And perhaps to give a meaning to this argument, the spokesperson for the insurgency in Swat, Muslim Khan, is shown delivering a message to American viewers, saying: “The views of the new president that is coming, Barack Obama, are not good.

“I would like to send a message to the American people that their money that is being sucked out of them in the form of taxes is being used for bombs and killing innocent people ... If the jihad continues in the way at present, I also believe that America will become zero power not superpower – only God is superpower,” he declares.

Talking to Dawn, producer Farah Durrani said she was in Pakistan from August to mid-November 2008 for the filming. “We filmed for seven weeks. The editing took around seven weeks. In total it took five months to produce both films.”

She said she did some of the filming without Rageh and interviewed Asif Zardari.

“I was lucky to be granted unique access and followed him for 3-4 days as he went about his meeting at the presidential palace. I also travelled to Swat without my English crew to interview Muslim Khan.”

“It was tough shoot but I wanted to capture the reality on the ground for the Pakistan Army and met some amazing people along the way – Colonel Zahid and his wife Uzma showed tremendous courage as did the widow of Major Akbar, Tahira, and Maryam, daughter of Surgeon General Baig.

“I also met Umme Hassan and Humera Ghazi – wife of Rashid Ghazi. Her Son Haroun Ghazi, told me that he wanted ‘to carry on the vision of his father’.”