WITH the beginning of the military operation against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Kurram Agency, a sixth front in the country’s border tribal areas has been opened.

The Kurram operation has been launched despite the fact that none of the missions in five other tribal areas has been brought to an end. North Waziristan is the remaining tribal agency where the Pakistan military is so far resisting US and Nato pressure to launch anti-militant operations. The military is currently engaged in clearing Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram and South Waziristan agencies of tribal militants.

The prime objectives, announced mostly on the eve of the launch of these military operations, pertain to flushing out local and foreign militants, stabilising the tribal regions and preventing them from being used by Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda as sanctuaries and grounds for launching attacks inside Afghanistan.

The tribal region stretching over some 27,220 square kilometres and inhibited by millions of tribespersons has been in the military’s control for the last several years. Being treated as hostile territory, the tribal people have suffered a number of deaths and unprecedented destruction, caused by militants and more by military operations. Today, after years of conflict, the region appears more destabilised and infested with more militants than it was prior to the current military presence.

Military operations have antagonised the local people as very often troops and officers being ignorant of local traditions and culture deal with every tribesman as a perceived enemy. There are stories galore of military highhandedness vis-à-vis the tribal folk. Public humiliation of tribesmen, who otherwise have a respectable reputation in their villages, is common, and minor provocations sometimes end in bloodletting.

One cannot really blame the officers and troops as this mindset is a typical one characterising the Pakistani establishment with regard to the tribal belt. Paying little heed to inbuilt mechanisms dealing with foreigners and managing conflicts, and that evolved through centuries of internecine warfare and foreign invasions, the military has in its pocket only quick-fix solutions.

From ordinary tribesmen to tribal elders and parliamentarians, the level of criticism of the military and its way of dealing with the situation without consulting the stakeholders is rising. There appears to have been little attempt to consult the tribal leadership and tribal political representation prior to sending in the troops. This has caused a loss of trust vital for the success of any military operation.

Then there is the question of protection from ‘targeted’ killings by ‘unknown’ people for the troubled tribal people that the military has failed to provide. Wrongly or rightly, the popular perception of many tribal people is that the majority of their elders have been targeted by the military, not the militants. In an informal conversation, a tribal parliamentarian referred to his discussion with a militant leader who while denying involvement in targeted killings said that had militants targeted the tribal elders they would have been murdered in their homes or hujras not on roads and highways as happens in most of the cases.

Another widely held perception among the tribal people is that the military has not come to the tribal areas to protect the people but for other motives as grand as legalising and marking the Durand Line. There is a feeling that Pakistan is not interested in finishing the job in Fata and is waiting until the situation in Afghanistan is resolved. Islamabad also wants the international community to accept it as a major stakeholder in the Afghan endgame, so keeping the tribal territory in a destabilised state is in the ‘greater interest’ of Pakistan.

In April this year, local military commanders were accused of killing 38 villagers at Sheikh Baba of Tehsil Lakaro in Mohmand Agency for apparently failing to identify a militant in the area. This issue was raised in the Senate by JI Senator Prof Ibrahim demanding an inquiry and the submission of a report. It appears that neither has an inquiry been conducted nor a report presented to the upper house.

Likewise, on the question put by Senator Salih Shah in the upper house, the government failed to present even 20 names and addresses out of over 3,000 Mehsud militants claimed to have been killed by the military in South Waziristan. These instances are just the tip of the iceberg in the wake of the media blackout in tribal territories.

The casual way of handling a serious situation in Fata by the civilian and military establishments will cost the nation dearly. Apparently, political forces have left Fata to the military to deal with the growing militancy and the military leadership in turn is ignoring the political leadership in matters related to tribal areas.

President Asif Ali Zardari is unnecessarily denying the extension of the Political Parties Act and political rights to the tribal people despite their demands. The apathy of the political leadership towards Fata is also evident from the fact that with thousands of troops engaged in anti-militant operations, neither the president nor the prime minister have bothered to visit the affected areas and see the situation at close hand.

There is a need to revisit the whole game plan with an open mind to see where we have gone wrong in the tribal region instead of letting the situation slip out of hand and reach a point of no return.

The writer is director of news and current affairs at Khyber TV, Islamabad. hasan.khyber@gmail.com