During my recent trip to Pakistan with Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, I found the people of Pakistan confused. Taking cue from the United States the educated and westernized elite believe in ‘crushing’ the Taliban while others believe Taliban are the only people standing up to the madness of the United States. The Pakistani government is weak and corrupt, garners no respect from the elite or the peasantry. Pakistan government abdicated its responsibility when it surrendered the country to the United States. Furthermore, to please the United States the government launched a major assault on its own people. To eliminate a few thousand Taliban the ‘operation’ has displaced over 3 million people from Swat, Buner and Deer and more are coming from South Waziristan as the army starts an offensive there.
By the time we arrived in Islamabad on the morning of May 25, 2009, the army ‘operation’ in Swat was well underway and the drone issue had taken the back seat in public consciousness. We spent the first two days meeting with activists/elites at civil junction. Almost everyone spoke English and was educated or had spent some time abroad. Majority of them supported the operation and believed in ‘crushing’ the Taliban.
We met displaced people from many villages and towns of mostly swat, some buner and deer. we met them living just outside Islamabad (Bara Koh, Satra Meel), in Attock, Swabi, Mardan (Haathia, Jallah), Tarbela, Ghazi and Hasan Abdal. We met them living in empty buildings (hospital, schools, colleges), private homes and tented camps.
Afghani Taliban has said there is no connection between them and the Pakistani Taliban and Taliban from swat are not the same as Taliban of south Waziristian. This also echoed by the displaced people we met. About two years earlier outsiders with long hairs and beards started to come into town and take over police stations. They promised nizame adle and quick justice. They also offered large sums of money and arms. Some locals - poor, unemployed and criminally minded - joined them. In the beginning people supported them. Women donated money and even their jewelry for the cause. Swatis are religious people; women dress modestly, observe pardah and believe in education for girls. We met several female high school and college students, in various camps.
When the so called Taliban started burning girls schools, forcing their way into the villagers’ houses in gangs of 10 or more and making unreasonable demands, those who criticized them disappeared, days later their bodies would be found decapitated, their heads hung in the village squares, only then the locals realized that these were not sincere Muslims. They did not observe normal Islamic code, among other things the obligatory prayers did not apply to them, and they even changed the ayas of the Qur'an to fit their purpose.
Taliban in South Waziristan, on the other hand, are left over 'mujahidin' from the time of Russian invasion. They married locals and have been assimilated. That’s where the US is conducting drone attacks. They are the ones fighting American aggression as they did Russians. Majority of the casualties from these attacks have been civilians. Traditional life of proud people of NWFP has been disrupted, there is no peace and no normal life we all take for granted.
A man from North Waziristan told us sad tales of the aftermath of drone attacks. He told us that hospitality is a Pastun tradition that applies to enemies as well as friends. If any Taliban visits them they feed and protect them. Quite often the drone attacks came long after the Taliban had gone. The villagers have to carry the injured for miles before reaching the paved road and wait there for any means to transport to reach Red Cross.
What is going happen to the displaced people when their homes, their crops, their fruit orchards and their livestock are destroyed? They are living under horrendous conditions; coming from colder climate the Punjab heat is unbearable for them. How and when are they going back to their homes? Who is going to take care of them in the mean times? United Nations is already overburdened and out of funds. Majority of the affected people (~80%) are cared for by the community and charity organizations, how long the goodwill and resources of these organizations can last?
The western media is raising the specter of Pakistani nuclear bombs falling into the hands of ‘terrorist’. Nothing could be further from truth. These are primitive uneducated people fighting a guerrilla war to preserve their centuries old life style and tradition and rid their country from the foreign meddling. They do not have the sophistication to assemble the nuclear bomb even if they stumble upon it. The Pakistan army is the only stable and over half a million strong institution in Pakistan. It is extremely unlikely of it succumbing to ragtag local Taliban. It is another scare tactic by the great super power to make it population close their eyes and let Uncle Sam keep them safe.
The drones, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), have been dropping bombs in South Waziristan since 2004. A Pakistani newspaper - The News, April 10, 2009 – report: Figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities show that a total of 701 people, including 14 al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed since January 2006 in 60 American predator attacks targeting the tribal areas of Pakistan. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21440. Since Obama took office the frequency of drone attacks has increased and expanded into Baluchistan. With every drone attack, with every casualty, the anger against the United States and the Pakistan government rises and more ‘Taliban/terrorists’ are created
Many people coming from different villages in Swat and Buner had stories to tell some general and similar many personal and heart breaking. How they had to leave with just the clothes on their backs, how they had to walk for miles sometimes for days before finding a car or a truck and shelter somewhere.
They were confused as to why the police yielded to Taliban take over so quickly; why the government didn’t stop Maulana Fazalulah from broadcasting on FM radio; why half a million strong army could not handle small group of renegades. In all the camps and private homes we visited, we were told that no one has received any assistance from the government. The NGOs and local communities are the only ones generously and actively taking care of the displaced people. People who still have relatives trapped inside the war zone are unable to contact them because all the telephone towers have been knocked down by the army to prevent the ‘Taliban’ from communicating with each other.
One woman told me one of her neighbor is beside herself because she lost her child whom she was carrying on her back in the rush. One woman handed her son to his father, he put the child on the ground for a moment and the child went missing. Father thought the child is with the mother and the mother thought he is with the father. An 8-year-old boy’s parents were killed and two of his siblings who survived are lost somewhere in the crowds. Only with time we’ll know the full extent of misery caused by the Pakistan army’s operation, which is going on and expanding to other areas.
PS. The army has ended the operation in Swat and people have started to return to their homes. What they found there and how they are surviving is not known.
