Phoney war

[Cheetah786]

This is a letter published in Dawn.com


THERE has been a state of ‘phoney war’ between the state of Pakistan and the various terrorist organizations since 2001. We took some right steps in Swat years later, but once again we are on the verge of appeasing these neo-fascist pseudo-Islamist factions.

All this melodrama reminds me of the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain during a few years prior to the outbreak of World War II. We are bleeding, we are being bombed off to hell and all our Chamberlains seem to be concerned about is how to appease the Taliban and somehow, with some sort of sorcery perhaps, stop them from all this frenzy.

It will be for the first time in the history of modern states perhaps that a nuclear power has bowed down and given in to bullying terrorist bands.

Imran Khan and some other politicians are working hard to achieve ‘peace for our time’ like Chamberlain did once but it seems we have no Winston Churchill who could tell them that Pakistan had been offered a choice “between war and shame. It has chosen shame, and will get war.”

Didn’t this happen in Swat already? We gave the TTP and TNSM what they wanted. And did it stop them? What is different with Waziristan? We are again trying to choose dishonour just to avoid war and in the end we will be dishonoured and get a war.

We need a Churchill. We need someone to tell us ‘Gentlemen, We are at war because it is the only road leading to lasting peace.’ Are we going to live in this nightmare forever? Are we going to face this humiliation forever? Are we going to give in to those uneducated fanatics from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and what not? Are we going to let them destroy us because ‘they have some of our own people fighting among their ranks?’

A tree cannot be cut down until an axe is provided with a wooden handle. Solution? Destroy the axe with the handle if you want to save your tree.

Afaq Hussain
Karachi

 

[OrionHunter]

Solution:

> Make peace with India. Sign a No War Pact (That Pakistan has refused to do so far).
> Redeploy the PA on the border and LoC and send max troops to fight the insurgency let loose by the TTP which is the real enemy of Pakistan, not India.
> Use the 'Hammer and Anvil' tactics on the AfPak border, which is to first block all known routes of ingress and egress of the TTP into and out of Pakistan which would be the anvil.
> Use the hammer ie., max number of army divisions to smash the TTP.
> Use the FC for blocking all escape routes of the terrorists into Pakistan's hinterland as well as take over areas captured by the PA to relieve troops for further ops and provide protection to the lines of communications (Road protection etc).
> Simultaneously, get the police forces to clear out militant hideouts and sleeper cells in Karachi etc which I'm sure the intel agencies know by now but have failed to act due to political pressure.

This may take a few months.

However, all what's written above I feel is more hypothetical at this juncture as Pakistan, especially the PA, would never ever re-deploy its forces along the IB/LoC as they consider India as threat No.1. Thus they will never be able to muster enough troops to smash that hydra-headed monster. The ratio required for successfully destroying insurgents is 20:1 (20 troops for every insurgent). If there are a total of 10,000 insurgents from all terror groups put together, that means a minimum of 200,000 troops for the op (excluding the paramilitary forces). Now that's a tough call, without India's cooperation.

 

[illusion8]

Solution:

> Make peace with India. Sign a No War Pact (That Pakistan has refused to do so far).
> Redeploy the PA on the border and LoC and send max troops to fight the insurgency let loose by the TTP which is the real enemy of Pakistan, not India.
> Use the 'Hammer and Anvil' tactics on the AfPak border, which is to first block all known routes of ingress and egress of the TTP into and out of Pakistan which would be the anvil.
> Use the hammer ie., max number of army divisions to smash the TTP.
> Use the FC for blocking all escape routes of the terrorists into Pakistan's hinterland as well as take over areas captured by the PA to relieve troops for further ops and provide protection to the lines of communications (Road protection etc).
> Simultaneously, get the police forces to clear out militant hideouts and sleeper cells in Karachi etc which I'm sure the intel agencies know by now but have failed to act due to political pressure.

This may take a few months.

However, all what's written above I feel is more hypothetical at this juncture as Pakistan, especially the PA, would never ever re-deploy its forces along the IB/LoC as they consider India as threat No.1. Thus they will never be able to muster enough troops to smash that hydra-headed monster. The ratio required for successfully destroying insurgents is 20:1 (20 troops for every insurgent). If there are a total of 10,000 insurgents from all terror groups put together, that means a minimum of 200,000 troops for the op (excluding the paramilitary forces). Now that's a tough call, without India's cooperation.

Nothing of that sort will happen.

All of them (Pakistan, TTP, AQ, KSA) are ending up on the same side in Syria. I don't think that while playing on the same team elsewhere they'll fight against each other at home.

 

[OrionHunter]

Nothing of that sort will happen.

All of them (Pakistan, TTP, AQ, KSA) are ending up on the same side in Syria. I don't think that while playing on the same team elsewhere they'll fight against each other at home.

Good point, but where the TTP and their cohorts are concerned, Pakistan's existence is at stake. And that means it's priority 1 for them, whether they're all on the same side with the Syrian rebels or not.

 

[illusion8]

Good point, but where the TTP and their cohorts are concerned, Pakistan's existence is at stake. And that means it's priority 1 for them, whether they're all on the same side with the Syrian rebels or not.

It's clear as daylight.

They don't really intend to fight the TTP...the existence of the TTP will be intact if they attack anyone else (Syria, Afghanistan, India, Iran etc) other than Pakistan or its troops - .

The whole peace talks exercise was to bring them onto the same page and convert them too into strategic assets.

 

[OrionHunter]

It's clear as daylight.

They don't really intend to fight the TTP...the existence of the TTP will be intact if they attack anyone else (Syria, Afghanistan, India, Iran etc) other than Pakistan or its troops - .

The whole peace talks exercise was to bring them onto the same page and convert them too into strategic assets.

I beg to differ here. The overall aim and objective of the TTP is to convert Pakistan into an Islamic Caliphate with their version of Islam and Sharia. This goes against the grain of Pakistan and its very existence. This would never be allowed to succeed, as if it does, the consequences would be horrendous not only for Pakistan but for all of South Asia too.

 

[illusion8]

I beg to differ here. The overall aim and objective of the TTP is to convert Pakistan into an Islamic Caliphate with their version of Islam and Sharia. This goes against the grain of Pakistan and its very existence. This would never be allowed to succeed, as if it does, the consequences would be horrendous not only for Pakistan but for all of South Asia too.

They only have a problem with the version of Shariah, remember large percentages of Pakistanis are in favor of Shariah rule in Pakistan. Plus their idol - the Saudi's run Shariah - which is an inspiration for Pakistani's.

Hence the peace talks with the TTP to work out the differences in Shariah (plus all the other changes that comes with it) ultimately.