Swat and the Pakistani Army

[Solomon2]

Swat and Pakistan Army
Posted on October 17, 2011

Yousaf Alamgirian

Swat is considered one of the beautiful valleys of the world. Thousands of tourists used to come here to witness its magnificent beauty. Unfortunately due to the extremists’ involvement and then their resolve to govern the valley the way they wanted, badly affected the tourist activities and above all it paralyzed the routine life of the locals as they fell hostage to them. The extremists tried to rule the area with the power of gun and terror which was not acceptable to the locals and to the state of Pakistan. The locals, the citizens and the state decided to take an action against the militants in order to eradicate the same. Pakistan armed forces launched an operation and in the record three months of time ensured that the valley was to be freed from the hands of those who believe in making the people enslaved to get their agendas fulfilled. Army is still there as political government has abortive to depute civil administration to run the affairs. Since civil administration is not visible, Army has to be there to keep the scattered groups of the militants away which are looking for an opportunity. Now one can see the routine life is back, people are doing their businesses. Children are going to schools. Tourism is re-flourishing. Functions are being held. Recently a mega seminar on de-radicalization was held in Swat. It may be first of its kind which was attended by a large number of intellectuals, writers and journalists from world over which depicts the lively activists are being encouraged there in Swat which are having the full support of the locals. Swat festival was another hallmark which depicts the normalcy of the situation and shows happiness and full participation at the part of the masses.Yet, I went through an article ‘Gods of Swat’ by Kahar Zalmay in English daily of October 12. Zalmay has termed ‘the presence of military in Swat as no more a pleasure; people are highly perturbed’. The article immediately reminded me the recent statement of ANP’s senior Swat leader Afzal Khan Lala who while talking to a delegation of locals said the other day that unfortunately there are some people in Swat who do not represent even a smaller segment of society, but they remain critical of the armed forces. “I have repeatedly asked them one simple question, where were they when the terrorists had been slaughtering our children. A father was hanged in front of his children. The terrorists burnt our houses, schools and hospitals. It is our homeland and we are ones who represent people of Swat. You go to the Peace Committee chairman, Saifullah, or you talk to the chairman of Village Defence Committee, Idress Khan who are indeed the real representatives of the people. We are thankful to our forces from the core of our hearts.” He said if they are proposing of removing the security mechanism, “one must ask them, do they have the alternative?”We are not at all safe, he added, without the security forces’ umbrella and we are always ready to side with them against any unwarranted situation again. Afzal Khan Lala who has suffered assassination attempt said, “Why should we embrace and kiss those who kill us and shoot us. To bring peace one needs to fire two bullets in response to one. The officers and jawans have laid their lives to bring us peace and security. We are thankful to them and respect them as our saviours. They brought back an independent social life which is our right. I take it as my responsibility to remind those friends and educate our masses to realize the difference between misleading lie and the truth.” Criticizing for the sake of the criticism never serves the purpose. Nation is aware of the fact that how Pakistan army troops laid down their lives to restore peace in Swat and Malakand. It fought with extremists and forced them out from the area, provided the locals an opportunity to live in peace and harmony. The writer has willfully blamed the army for ‘killing innocents and harassing the masses’. He has mentioned a few typical names from the area that are known for their critical views towards army.If criticism comes from enemies it is understood, but when it comes from own people for whom certain institutions and its men are giving sacrifices it seems a bit shocking. Yes one can’t rule out one odd case of negligence as the security forces people are also from the same society and they can also make faults. But taking the example of exceptions if people will start blaming and defaming the forces it will lead them towards the demoralization. One thing has to be remembered that demoralized forces can’t fight with the enemy and our forces are at war with the both internal and external enemies for the last ten years. It is on record the army has asked many a time the civil governments to effectively hold the fort by deputing a competent civil administration. Unfortunately the civil administration has failed to do the needful. Armies are not meant to maintain law and order in the cities. It is not basically their job. Army’s role is to do operation, restore peace and pull out troops from that area to give space to civil administration to serve the people. But Pakistan army has to be there in Swat as civil administration is totally missing. It is on record that Pakistan army has trained as much as five thousand police officials to perform duties in order to maintain law and order. Prolonged stay of the armies at some civil place performing duties of civil administration is not the long-term solution. The terrorists are still lurking in the wings of the area. They do make tries to create unrest by doing terrorist activities. Recently Pakistan security forces had to go for two to three small operations to hit the terrorists hard and make them realize that they have no chance to come again. But it will only be possible when people are intact with the state policy and civil administration is fully active and equipped to fulfill their duties.The eradication of extremists from Swat and Malakand was a gigantic task which the security forces have completed with the unprecedented support of the citizens and of the political government. We being the patriotic nationals of the Pakistan must avoid losing this chance by unduly criticizing the things. Such baseless stories are just written to undermine army’s role and efforts. Happily living people of Swat condemn and reject all such reports. They fully understand the motives and know the forces that are out to throw us again in the situation of chaos and turmoil.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Police force n levies should be trained by the army and further arm n equip them to fight the talifags... and the civil managment should be made stronger.

 

[Solomon2]

Police force n levies should be trained by the army and further arm n equip them to fight the talifags... and the civil managment should be made stronger.

Police skills are not soldier skills. Indeed, a mark of this war on terror has been U.S. police training U.S. soldiers in detective and forensic skills. My understanding is that such skills and equipment are not up to par in Pakistan today. Yes, the police have a lot of local knowledge and their beatings may yield confessions from suspects but to show the judge you've really got the right man over the testimony of five cousins providing alibis you need evidence.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Police skills are not soldier skills. Indeed, a mark of this war on terror has been U.S. police training U.S. soldiers in detective and forensic skills. My understanding is that such skills and equipment are not up to par in Pakistan today. Yes, the police have a lot of local knowledge and their beatings may yield confessions from suspects but to show the judge you've really got the right man over the testimony of five cousins providing alibis you need evidence.

Agreed that’s where the age old Khasadar, frontier force and scouts come into play that go back the day of the British Raj and even beyond. the system ensured stability with peace keeping forces that were raised from local population and backed by the local elders and a political agent in the tribal areas, due to its proximity with the FATA, Swat is very similar to “Malik” system.
The region needs political stability and security for any meaningful judicial and policing system to establish itself and earn the trust of the population without which people seem to back to “not so perfect” trial system but its less expensive and swift and not always about lashing and executing which seem to get the main attention, there are far more amicable, peaceful and even happy resolution to mutual disputes as well but sadly outsiders are kept in the dark about them as they don’t really sell well and do justice to the channel ratings.

 

[Solomon2]

Posted by Gouhar Ali

Horrors of 2007 in Swat: We need the Army

June 14, 2013

The people of Swat feel safe with the help of the Pakistan Army. Why would you want to pull-out now? PHOTO: AFP

Yesterday I was reading The Express Tribune, when my eye caught an interesting statement made by the new elected chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

He was boldly talking about pulling out the Pakistan Army from the Swat. I will refrain from criticising any party directives or policies here; all I want to do is to provide a clearer picture of the situation in Swat, and let the people be the jury of such an action.

I remember when the Pakistan Austrian Institute for Hotel and Tourism Management (PAITHOM) was targeted by the Taliban in the Swat valley in August 2007. This kind of Taliban was generally a lesser known entity at that time. PAITHOM was a joint venture by the Republic of Austria and Pakistan to promote the tourism industry in the Swat valley. I was working at PAITHOM as an assistant teacher at the time. Although the school was only producing alumni based on tourism and hotel management, it was soon labelled as promoting ‘secularism’ because the name was linked to Austria.

One day, a friend of mine asked me what we were really doing in the school. I explained to him that it was a normal school like any other school in the country. The only difference was that we had a new curriculum of tourism and hotel management. However, the Taliban propagated PAITHOM as promoting secularism and maligned it as a place for selling alcohol and promoting other immoral activities.

In August, 2007, we first received a letter from the Taliban to stop dressing in ‘Westernised’ clothing. Even though the Taliban were not the force of terror they are today, we took the letter quite seriously and advised the students to come to class in traditional attire.

However, the threat was just the beginning.

As many students were accommodated inside the school building it was vital that we took initiative to provide security. This was because the school was located 12km away from main Mingora city and there was no nearby police station. Therefore, we asked the police to provide us with the necessary security for our school.

This ended as a fruitless venture as they apologised saying, they did not have enough resources to provide us with such assistance.

We then turned to the Frontier Constabulary (FC) to help us. The FC agreed to provide security to our school and finally made a compound at the entrance.

One day, I went to a nearby mosque and I saw some long-haired suspicious looking people carrying arms. I ran back to the school in a state of complete panic and told everyone that we were no longer safe. Not only was the school in danger, but Swat valley as a whole could be lost to the Taliban too. They had continually propagated an agenda for jihad and this time they were ready for action.

A few days later, I got a phone call from a colleague who was residing at PAITHOM itself as he had travelled from Lahore. The phone call sent chills down my spine; he told me that this night could be his last. He wanted to talk to each one of us before he left this world. I could hear the noise of the gunfire in the background.

I asked him what had happened, fearing I knew the answer. He said the Taliban had finally attacked our school. I called up the police in a state of panic and horror, however, they had already been informed about the situation, but were waiting on a certain helicopter that was meant to come from Peshawar. Until the next morning, no action had been taken by the police. They did not even try to save the FC personnel.

When I went to the school the next morning, I saw blood everywhere. Pages of the Holy Quran were scattered and desecrated; we we collected these with our hands.

Our students and associates were safe as they were hiding in the underground compound. The blood was from the FC personnel who had bravely done their duty to provide security. The Holy Quran also belonged to those martyrs.

In September, 2007, I left Swat to pursue further studies in Austria.

My own words to the people of Swat still haunt me; the Taliban would destroy their homes, and so far they had. We saw (and still see) the Taliban terrorising our school children and demolishing schools.

This is a point that deserves your attention, dear Chief Minister.

The people of Swat feel safe with the help of the Pakistan Army. Why would you want to pull-out now? Have they completed their job yet? Are the people of Swat safe yet? They are our country’s army, here to protect our people. What’s the guarantee that the Taliban will not return?

There are plenty of other problems to address rather than putting the people of Swat into further distress.

We do not want another Malala getting shot. Please don’t make it happen. Please listen to us.

 

[Leader]

We have to carefully examine the situation, clearly the army has violated and used its powers as if they conquered Swat, hence the deteriorating civil-military relation.

now the army needs to understand that it cannot just occupy the valuable land of the people in the name of security.

if they want to stay for long, develop your own out of town facility. thats how it should be.

else the military would face backlash. one needs to remember how Swat got radicalized over a period of 10 years and the intelligence was so poor that it overlooked even the mullah radio.

now the army should step back and let things normalize and go in hands of civil administration.

 

[Rafi]

Idiots like you, make you realize why your enemies call your leader Im the dim.