Pakistan's security scenario

Pakistan’s security scenario

Sajjad Shaukat

A new wave of suicide attacks and subversive acts which have especially targeted the installations of the security personnel in the country in recent days cannot be seen in isolation. They are part of rapidly occurring inter-related developments.

Pakistan’s armed forces have been rapidly achieving successes in dismantling militant strongholds in South Waziristan where they have launched “Rah-i-Nijat” (Path to Deliverance). But, at the same time, as alarming development has taken place, as ISAF commanders have removed security check posts located on the Afghanistan side of the international border. This move entails multiple intriguing motives. First, it will encourage infiltration of militants into Afghanistan to justify the American claim that key Al-Qaeda-related insurgents are present in FATA and Balochistan. Second, the open border can be used by the Afghan Taliban commanders to send large-scale reinforcements in South Waziristan to sabotage the military operation. Third, route could be used by India to dispatch more suicide bombers in Pakistan.

ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abbas and Interior Minister Rehman Malik have openly talked of Indian Afghan involvement behind the attacks, pointing out that Hakimullah Mehsud, Chief of the TTP, “are the enemies of the state” receiving arms and ammunition through Afghanistan to destabilise the country. India has set up secret training centres in Afghanistan where its secret agency, RAW imparts training to new recruit militants. In fact, New Delhi has the support of Israel and US to weaken Pakistan which is the only nuclear country in the Islamic world.

It is pertinent to note that NWFP Governor Awais Ghani accused some world powers of trying to divide Pakistan in June this year, adding that if he were not governor, he would expose them, and in an in-camera sitting of the Senate, Rehman Malik displayed documentary evidence of Indian use of Afghanistan to create unrest in Pakistan. The in-camera session was intended to show CIA’s role against Pakistan. Significantly, America has been playing a double game: Tough conditions in the Kerry-Lugar Bill and prospective military aid coupled with praise for Pakistan’s successful military operations in Swat and now in South Waziristan. Moreover, some US officials indulge in a blame game against Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, while giving strong signals to widen the course of drone strikes in Balochistan.

The US machinations do not end here. Iran has pointed a finger at the US and UK for the recent suicide attack in Sistan (Iran) leaving behind 40 dead for which Sunni insurgent group Jundullah (God’s soldiers) that is proactive in Pakistan’s Balochistan. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, rightly, said that the blast was a conspiracy against Pak-Iranian ties.

It is quite clear that the multi-faceted crises of Pakistan are, in fact, part of the inter-related developments. By acting upon their dual approach, the US and its allies want to fulfil a number of designs. However. The truth is that the US is frustrated in its misadventure in Afghanistan, where defeat has virtually been admitted by the ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystal, who has requested for more troops. The New York Times reported on October 8, 2009: “President Obama’s national security team is moving to reframe its war strategy by emphasising the campaign against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, arguing that Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the United States.” BBC showed an alarming documentary on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the US-led NATO invasion of Afghanistan. It stated: “Now this war is being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and “it will soon spread to Pakistan.”

In the recent past, the US notorious private security firm, Blackwater have been found to be involved in questionable activities in our country with a new name as Xe Services. The police raided the office of its subsidiary, Inter-Risk, and arrested two employees along with unlicensed weapons. Meanwhile, India is not lagging behind in creating problems for Pakistan. It recently deployed Mig-29 fighter aircraft near our border. The situation is going from bad to worse. Undoubtedly, the Government of Pakistan needs to take very urgent and effective measures for the sovereignty of the nation.