I agree. Its a huge error. You can never play with your people like that and you should never interfere in another country unless there is a very solid gain for you. I could comment on this further... but the thing is I have done so on multiple occasions and I usually look at the final result. Its a bygone... but we can salvage something from here.
I thank you Secur. The change started when I saw Altaf's speech. I still identified strongly as a Mahajir at that time, but I was a Nationalist even then... maybe much stronger and more emotional than I am now. When I saw that speech on partition I nearly cried. I wanted to break the laptop screen. That was the start of a marked change. You can check my 2007-08 posts... I would be sympathetic to MQM and ethnic politics. After that ethnic politics and those who divided my people became an enemy.
I agree. Its fairly easy to use tribal cohesiveness to form a movement. People are loyal to their tribe and eventually some flock to it just because its about their tribe... some are criminals by nature. I include one such person in my book which is set in Ladha, SW
But the thing is my book tries to promote the other side actually-which is the side of Pashtuns as not just what we hear on the news (terrorists) but as the victims... look at things from the narrative of the local people.
See in a region where GDP per capita... these tribals are ready to fight for us. They liberated 3/5th of Kashmir which is now Pakistani Kashmir but the issue is when a region is deprived, the unemployment and illiteracy rate as I demonstrated before is extremely low... how can we not expect this exact same thing to happen? There are no jobs. Its like Congo/Zaire man. You pay someone $200 monthly they will surely join you.
I believe there is a foreign hand or a hand of someone very powerful is involved... but I am a liberal. When I say this among other liberals (being a Nationalist I don't always just like ramming the blame onto ISI without proof) they just laugh, so I usually don't say it. Next I will prove why I believe so
The moment we criticize US policy the hawks jump at us even though I am sitting in another country but they can't stop the Taliban? Are they trying to tell us they can't stop these people? In this article I outlined many things and with a team struggled for months to figure out their finances. But the thing is my paper has no value... no one will believe it. I can keep working for my country but is there any opportunity for me?
I could think of more ideas but I usually think when I know those ideas will get somewhere. I just feel useless when I know I am just a plastic soldier with no value. I thank you Secur and am glad to know you, @
A.Rafay, @
Hyperion, @
Armstrong, @
Andromache @
AstanoshKhan and many good people are on defence.pk.
Also by saying no one could control the tribals... I meant by force! I am basically a person who receives information from a number of sources who are in Waziristan or the tribal areas, I filter it with my nationalism but there are some people who have stories... they say we always were loyal to Pakistan...never sided with the Taliban and our homes were destroyed. And 80% of these take place during artillery bombardment and airstrikes which I really believe have the potential to make us lose this war.
I am with the army 100% secur... but you see its not helping win the war if we by mistake hit Taliban. We have also blown up the main market of Makeen 3 times. For what? its collective punishment to the local people, the villagers. We can't be oblivious to this. Patriotism doesn't mean we ignore things like this.
Secur, the ways of the tribals are different. But we Pakistanis are a federation. I am not by birth a Pashtun... our family would piss everywhere in fear if they even saw a Wazir marriage-even the Attan is firing everywhere
. We are very meek people. But I understand that the only way is to love our people and respect them and the culture... if I adopt another culture, khair de! I will build unity... and i love Pashtuns too!
Yes , the greatest blunder made in the history of country , honestly ! You dont manipulate your whole population with lies and propaganda just so you can fulfill the agendas of a few and prolong your rule ... We shouldn't have involved ourselves in a world domination struggle between two super powers ... What benefit did it provide to us ? A few F16's and infectious AID !
.... You are right though , what is done , is done , we need to look at the future , rectify our mistakes and take this country to prosperity , not extremism !
I do not know what took you so long to realize that but such was always known about that traitor that he despised the creation of Pakistan ... I mean , there were some very genuine reports about his party's involvement in creation of Jinnahpur or whatever fancy name he gave it ... The MQM is nothing but a groups of " armed goons " and mafia ( involved in every single crime you name it ) supported by sadly mistaken Muhajirs again due to our negligence ... I used to be like that too , but I after wards realized that there is no benefit in associating yourself with your ethnicity first rather than country because when an enemy attacks you , he doesn't ask your race , he attacks you because of the nationality ... Unfortunately , such ethnicity and " divide and rule " technique is the cornerstone of politics and the declared policy of almost every single party functioning in the country ... I really hope that some day my brethren realize that casting your vote on ethnic ground is futile , rather support the one who can take the country to the right path regardless of these ...
If people are die hard loyal to their tribe , cant we use this to our benefit ? Use them to work for the country and integrate them with the rest of society ... I can understand the " victim " side of the picture , but an army fighting such a long war with an unknown will make mistakes , not that they would bomb/kill their countrymen intentionally ... I hope that better intelligence , resources and identification will prevent this in the future ... But still you are right , there's no denial it has happened and resulted in TTP getting sympathy from the tribals to convince them that somehow the army is the enemy ... Unemployment and illiteracy of course can make people very vulnerable to getting to do anything for even a minute amount of money , I agree ... These tribals responded to the call of Jinnah when Gracy disobeyed a direct order and despite heavy odds , liberated what we call Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir today ... Pakistan needs to develop these regions better so these tribes prosper , after all FATA is a part of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the people , our people ...
I myself strongly belief that some foreign hand is indeed involved in the funding and training of these militant outfits because of their expensive toys and the training that has been observed in the battlefield lately ... Many Pakistani commanders have spoken about it , also the origin of the weapon recovered gives weight to this theory and its not something unlikely or in the realm of fiction , why wouldn't an enemy want to destabilize Pakistan and what easier way to accomplish would that be ? Just pay , train and provide weapons to these brainwashed Jihadists and convince them through their leaders ( who are a part of the conspiracy ) that indeed blowing themselves is a service to religion and harms the infidel Pakistan Army ... Now the Govt has been really silent about this , which I hate the most ... Because they need to come out in the open , provide the evidence that we have gathered and confront the perpetrators at UNO ! ...
Actually , it appears quite strange that even after 10 years of coalition efforts , these militant outfits and factions control majority of the Afghanistan , can cross Durand Line at will and launch attacks at Pakistan's regions from there ... When you have the most powerful army on earth , these things are unimaginable that you weren't able to clear this menace even after a decade ... The total coalition's causalities in the War on Terror is < 5000 while the same for Pakistan exceeds 40,000 ... What is the reason behind that ? Is US unwilling to fight ? Where does the money for the Taliban come from ? They aren't fighting for free , no one does except a patriot ! Or does US has some other agenda in mind which has nothing to do with combating terrorists and the very extremist ideology which we created ourselves by " importing a certain rigid and wrong interpretation of the religion " that we claim to follow ? ... Is the US now using it to its advantage since they have got nothing to lose by abandoning the country ? Only the neighbors of that country will have to suffer from the civil war that will start in Afghanistan for dominance and rise to power after 2014 ... Why do you think that the " human ideas " , " critical thinking " and " reasoning " doesn't have any value , mate ?
These very things are what bring change into the society ... That is what great nations do to analyze their policy and strategy , correct their errors and mistakes and set course to right !
I think its easy to look down on FATA people... when they were fighting for us they became assets... now that their regions are the heart of the Taliban they become a headache. I suggest:
1) Development in FATA, basically this is the game-changer. Employment opportunities and literacy will automatically improve things.
2) End of the FCR-short for Frontier Crimes Regulation which holds an entire tribe responsible for the action of few miscreants. What this is doing is allowing a person to go to Bannu kidnap people and then escape any punishment just by paying part of the ransom money he receives. To FATIAN's its a negative too because basically there have been times when the army has razed entire villages based on this old British era law because they found a suicide jacket factory. In FATA because of the tradition of Badal-which means revenge you can't do this. Internecine warfare between locals is extremely common here.
3) Political parties being allowed to operate openly and FATA people being allowed to develop a party of their own.
4) Stop keeping FATA off-limits. Even westerners can get there more easily. (We should have done this before though because now its much more unsafe)
5) Urbanization... there was a bill signed and Khar in Bajaur was chosen as a location... basically look at the Zimbabwe example... many scattered communities with a low population in scattered, remote villages. They moved them to places where they could more easily provide basic facilities.
Now these are great practical solutions to the problems that we are facing within the tribal areas ... We do not need to use them as " assets " , we recognize that mistake of ours but rather use them as " a group working for the country " ...
Fortunately , you aren't a plastic soldier ... Only by understanding can there be recovery ... Which is exactly what we do in this forums ... We are ready to accept our mistakes , talk amongst ourselves and awaken the silent majority that has suffered for so long now !
Sorry , I took it the wrong way ... I thought they cant be controlled by any means ... Note that controlling doesn't mean bringing them to submission but into the very fabrics of Pakistani society ... I can understand these are true stories , the tribals aren't lying in such case , even the forces have admitted and repeatedly apologized ... I am sure they also hide some to control the anger of the public , non-combatants are sometimes killed mistakenly , their homes destroyed/damaged and that is translating into more recruitments for the Taliban ... Mate , first of all , we need to abolish this fucked up FCR which contains some ancient things like " collective punishment " ! What the hell that is , I have heard for the first time here ... I usually heard on TV that a jirga has taken place , deciding that those who give refuge to militant , their houses will be razed but this really is something new for me and unacceptable !
... Patriotism shouldn't be blind , never !
I agree , brother ... Pakher Raghle !
" entertainment, a jester is a prized possession of the court. 
Kashmir is more than just the valley, it's the literalistic embodiment of a collective struggle for 200 years 
I think Jinnah would have been contempt with an independent Kashmir ruled with freedom and equality - I like to think that the fabric of Kashmir is what Jinnah always aspired to: cultural and religious harmony in a progressive environment. But that's for another time.
