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H.D.S. Greenway: A violent history repeated in Pakistan
By H.D.S. Greenway Published: February 25, 2009
In the twilight of the 19th century, at the height of the British Empire, a young Winston Churchill accompanied a British military campaign to the northwest of India. In his first book, "The Malakand Field Force," Churchill described how, then as now, local tribesmen were challenging the government's authority in what is now Pakistan.
"The tribesmen ... thought that the soldiers there were the only troops (the government) possessed," Churchill wrote. "'Kill these,' they said, 'and all is done.' What did they know of the distant regiments which the telegraph wires were drawing from far down the south of India? Little did they realize they had set the world humming; that military officers were hurrying 7,000 miles by sea and land from England ... that long trains were carrying ammunition, material supplies from distant depots to the front ... that sharp politicians were wondering how the outbreak in Swat might influence the impending by-election."
Today, a century later, Swat is back in the news, and the great-great-great-grandchildren of those tribesmen are once again challenging the authority of the Raj's successor state, Pakistan.
What interested Churchill was the interconnectedness of his world. "Those ignorant tribesmen had no conception of the sensitiveness of modern civilization, which thrills and quivers in every part of its vast complex system of the slightest touch," he wrote.
Today, modern civilization thrills and quivers even more at the slightest touch, and the news from Swat has even more resonance than it did then. Politicians in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and, not least of all, Washington will have to calculate the consequences.
What has changed is that the tribesmen are no longer ignorant of the effect of their deeds. Linked by the Internet and modern communications everywhere, the tribesmen are well informed and can summon their own resources in the global jihad.
They know exactly how they can set the world to quivering.
The latest twist in this ongoing drama is that Pakistan, after first sending its own field force up toward the Malakand Pass, has now decided to stand down. A cease-fire has been arranged and Islamic Shariah law will be put more into use. It is unclear whether the religious oppression that Swat's extremists are imposing, the closing of girls schools, the beheadings, and the banning of music, will continue, but it doesn't seem that the Pakistani government has the will or the ability to stop it.
The British always wrestled with the choice of whether to adopt a forward policy, which meant controlling territory and subduing the population, or let the tribesmen rule themselves, sending troops to conduct punitive raids when the tribes got out of hand. It is similar to how Israel controls the Palestinian territories - occupying the West Bank, but relying on punitive measures to discipline and control Gaza.
Pakistan's tribal territories on the northwest frontier with Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden resides, was an example of the latter under British and then Pakistani rule. But Swat, although in the Northwest Frontier Province, is not in the tribal territories and is only 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.
The British recognized Swat as a princely state in 1926, a status that continued through Pakistani independence until 1969 when it was absorbed into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. It became a favorite tourist destination for its beauty and tranquility until the Islamists arrived.
Pakistan has tried cease-fires before, and hopes to buy a little peace by increasing Shariah law. But there is little prospect of peace for Pakistan as the insurgents rarely carry out their part of the bargain for long.
Northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan are slipping steadily into Islamic hands, and there is no coherent policy to prevent it. The Pakistani Army is trained and motivated to confront India, not home-grown counterinsurgencies. Pakistani intelligence services are still ambivalent about the Islamic forces they created but can no longer control.
This week, Washington will hold a summit meeting of sorts on Afghanistan and Pakistan, as the two countries merge into what has become the new president's most serious foreign policy problem, and the stakes are higher than anything Churchill could have ever imagined.
The Boston Globe
By H.D.S. Greenway Published: February 25, 2009
In the twilight of the 19th century, at the height of the British Empire, a young Winston Churchill accompanied a British military campaign to the northwest of India. In his first book, "The Malakand Field Force," Churchill described how, then as now, local tribesmen were challenging the government's authority in what is now Pakistan.
"The tribesmen ... thought that the soldiers there were the only troops (the government) possessed," Churchill wrote. "'Kill these,' they said, 'and all is done.' What did they know of the distant regiments which the telegraph wires were drawing from far down the south of India? Little did they realize they had set the world humming; that military officers were hurrying 7,000 miles by sea and land from England ... that long trains were carrying ammunition, material supplies from distant depots to the front ... that sharp politicians were wondering how the outbreak in Swat might influence the impending by-election."
Today, a century later, Swat is back in the news, and the great-great-great-grandchildren of those tribesmen are once again challenging the authority of the Raj's successor state, Pakistan.
What interested Churchill was the interconnectedness of his world. "Those ignorant tribesmen had no conception of the sensitiveness of modern civilization, which thrills and quivers in every part of its vast complex system of the slightest touch," he wrote.
Today, modern civilization thrills and quivers even more at the slightest touch, and the news from Swat has even more resonance than it did then. Politicians in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and, not least of all, Washington will have to calculate the consequences.
What has changed is that the tribesmen are no longer ignorant of the effect of their deeds. Linked by the Internet and modern communications everywhere, the tribesmen are well informed and can summon their own resources in the global jihad.
They know exactly how they can set the world to quivering.
The latest twist in this ongoing drama is that Pakistan, after first sending its own field force up toward the Malakand Pass, has now decided to stand down. A cease-fire has been arranged and Islamic Shariah law will be put more into use. It is unclear whether the religious oppression that Swat's extremists are imposing, the closing of girls schools, the beheadings, and the banning of music, will continue, but it doesn't seem that the Pakistani government has the will or the ability to stop it.
The British always wrestled with the choice of whether to adopt a forward policy, which meant controlling territory and subduing the population, or let the tribesmen rule themselves, sending troops to conduct punitive raids when the tribes got out of hand. It is similar to how Israel controls the Palestinian territories - occupying the West Bank, but relying on punitive measures to discipline and control Gaza.
Pakistan's tribal territories on the northwest frontier with Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden resides, was an example of the latter under British and then Pakistani rule. But Swat, although in the Northwest Frontier Province, is not in the tribal territories and is only 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.
The British recognized Swat as a princely state in 1926, a status that continued through Pakistani independence until 1969 when it was absorbed into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. It became a favorite tourist destination for its beauty and tranquility until the Islamists arrived.
Pakistan has tried cease-fires before, and hopes to buy a little peace by increasing Shariah law. But there is little prospect of peace for Pakistan as the insurgents rarely carry out their part of the bargain for long.
Northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan are slipping steadily into Islamic hands, and there is no coherent policy to prevent it. The Pakistani Army is trained and motivated to confront India, not home-grown counterinsurgencies. Pakistani intelligence services are still ambivalent about the Islamic forces they created but can no longer control.
This week, Washington will hold a summit meeting of sorts on Afghanistan and Pakistan, as the two countries merge into what has become the new president's most serious foreign policy problem, and the stakes are higher than anything Churchill could have ever imagined.
The Boston Globe
