THE military actions being taken in South Waziristan by the Pakistan army, resulting in rising casualties on both sides, are beginning to take on aspects of a minor civil war.

Although the principal target of the security forces are the foreign (Afghan, Arab and Central Asian) fighters said to be in the area, the fact is that many local tribesmen and their families have been killed and wounded. These are all people who live by the code of the vendetta, and who never forgive or forget.

Clearly, the state has the right “ and the obligation “ to use force when necessary to impose the rule of law on any section of the population that resorts to armed resistance against it. Equally clearly, what is happening in several of the border areas is little short of insurrection, with bands of Taliban fighters and their Pakistani and foreign supporters crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks on civilians and government forces.

Legally and morally justified as it is, this operation underlines yet again what a violent society we live in. The entire arrangement to do with the tribal areas is an open invitation to crime and violence. Here we have a vast area with a significant armed population where the law of the land does not apply. Over the years, it has become a hotbed of gun-running, smuggling, the narcotics trade, kidnapping and car-theft.

But worse than the criminality this structure has bred, it perpetuates the sardari system that prevents development from reaching ordinary people. There are few roads, schools or hospitals in most of the tribal areas, and nobody is willing to invest in job-creating industries in a place where the tribal chief’s word is the law.

Against this backdrop, it is no surprise that the rest of the country has been infected by the fallout from the law-and-order vacuum that exists in this desperately poor and backward area. The most sophisticated automatic weapons from Darra, heroin from across the Khyber Pass, and stolen luxury cars find their way to virtually every city and town in Pakistan, fuelling the existing violence.

As it is, Pakistanis need no incitement to violence as we seem to have become a nation divided against itself. Many countries have their share of hatred and mayhem, but few have so many violently anarchic strands running through them. Since the creation of Pakistan, provinces, ethnic groups, sects and ideologies have clashed, producing civil violence and terrorism on a horrendous scale.

First, the Ahmadi issue sparked violence in the early fifties with riots in Punjab. This simmered on until the Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in the mid-seventies. But despite this, they continue to be targeted off and on. Religious minorities like the Hindus and Christians suffer from periodic intolerance and are given little protection by the state.

For the last two decades, the Sunnis have been persecuting the minority Shias, and hundreds have been killed on both sides of this sectarian divide. This mindless slaughter continues today, with mosques being the favourite killing grounds of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and its various offshoots.

In Balochistan, Baloch and Pathan tribesmen have clashed, while Shias have been killed in terrorist attacks. The peaceful Zikris have been subjected to persecution by fundamentalists. The terrorist attack that killed three Chinese engineers in Gwadar shows how even visitors from friendly countries are unsafe. Indeed, the targeting of American and European nationals has made Pakistan a no-go area for foreigners.

What has made Pakistan such a violent place? The easy access to sophisticated firearms is obviously one reason. The truth is that Kalashnikovs can be hired for a few hundred rupees a day, while killers charge ten thousand for a murder. So apart from politically, ethnically or religiously motivated killings, settling scores is a pretty cheap business.

Another cause is the ineffectiveness of the police and the court system. Quite often, the killers have links to religious or sectarian parties that are part of the government, and use this clout to have investigations into their crimes squashed. Even when the police do succeed in arresting a suspect, the chances are that he will be let off the hook.

But what motivates many of today’s terrorists is the conviction that they are right, their adversaries are wrong and that they are quite justified in killing them. The concept of civilised discourse and debate has been replaced by violent confrontation: after all, it is far simpler to pull the trigger than it is to construct a logical and coherent argument.

This phenomenon has been largely caused by a progressive debasement of the democratic process. As political space has been squeezed by the military over the years, people have come to accept the credo of might is right. Those political parties that do not have a hope of getting elected in a fair election now employ terror to advance their agendas.

This breakdown in civilized norms has been rapid and predictable. Indeed, some of us have been writing about the effects of cheap guns and drugs; the recourse to religiosity by the state; the use of jihadi elements for political purposes; and repeated military intervention for years. We are now reaping what Zia and his colleagues sowed.

While the past cannot be changed, we can at least make a beginning towards reducing the level of violence we have to put up with. One way is for the army to continue its operations in the tribal areas, and eliminate the gun and drug centres there. To do this, the government will have to bring these remote places into the ambit of the law of the land. This will require a degree of political will our present rulers have not displayed thus far.

But if Musharraf is to justify his continuation in office, surely he must break the mould and think of larger things than his own tenure in the presidency.