Azm-e-Istehkam Will Face the Same Fate as Zarb-e-Azb
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
11 July
2024
Azm-e-Istehkam Has Put The Political And
Religious Parties In Real Dilemma
Main Points:
1.
Religious parties resist any
offensive against terrorist groups.
2.
Mullahs back militant groups to get
leverage in political affairs.
3.
Nawaz Sharif supported Taliban to
win elections.
4.
Imran Khan supports TLP to get
political strength.
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The
Azm-e-Istehkam military offensive against the terrorist groups active in
Pakistan has caused much confusion in political and religious circles of the
country. On the very first day of the announcement of the ambitious programme,
some members of the national assembly vowed to oppose the operation tooth and
nail. The operation has been flagged off under the threat of the Chinese
government which has invested billions of dollars on CPEC and in Gwadar and
under pressure from IMF and World Bank. Pakistan expects a bailout package from
IMF soon. But Azm-e-Istehkam may meet the same fate as Zarb-e-Azb launched in
2014 because the whole Pakistani polity has been radicalised. Radical rebels
have infested the academia, politics, military and the police. The major
political parties of Pakistan vie for the support of these rebel and terrorist
groups to win elections or to remain in power. Nawaz Sharif's party won
elections with the help of Taliban while Imran Khan's party PTI draws its
strength from its proximity to the TTP. It was Imran Khan's government that
facilitated the return of thousands of armed TTP fighters from Afghanistan.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a PTI bastion is a stronghold of TTP. This is the reason
PTI has opposed Azm-e-Istehkam.
The
Pakistani politicians, generals, bureaucrats and other sections of the
Pakistani elite have always hobnobbed with the militant or terrorist groups.
Former chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif allowed Taliban to operate in
his state. Bhutto family also benefitted from these rebel groups. But they keep
ranting about eradicating terorism and extremism from Pakistan. The Panama
Papers exposed the double standards of the Pakistani politicians, generals and
bureaucrats. Religious parties like Jamiat Ulema Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rahman
draw strength from these rebel groups and therefore, Fazlur Rahman finds
himself in a tough situation as he has to return the favours of these rebel
groups by diluting the governments offensive. The government and the military
must push for the offensive because of the pressure from the US, IMF and China.
The rebel
groups like BLA and TTP have intensified their campaign against the government.
BLA is fighting for the independence of Balochistan due to economic
exploitation of the province while the TTP aspires to establish Sharia law in
the country aka Afghanistan. But fighting against the two rebel forces needs
different approaches. The BLA is the outcome of decades of economic exploitation
and deprivation of the Baloch people thanks to the wrong policies of the
government. The repressive steps of the army and the government agencies
against the general people of Balochistan has created a deep rooted sense of
alienation among them. Forced disappearances, abductions and target killing of
activists, journalists and political leaders has brought Balochistan to this
stage. Therefore, to tackle rebellion in Balochistan, a number of economic,
political and social initiatives need to be taken instead of a military
offensive which will kill more innocent people than terrorists and cause
further alienation of the Baloch people. To tackle TTP, a comprehensive
deradicalisation plan needs to be launched along with target based operations
against the rebels. The religious curriculum needs to be revised and reformed.
Unless it is done, no military offensive will succeed in eradicating terrorism
and extremism from Pakistan.
-----
The Rise Of Radical Rebels In Pakistan
By Bhopinder Singh
05 July 2024
This
alarming rise in extremism has prompted Pakistan to initiate Operation
Azm-i-Istehkam, an ambitious effort aimed at eradicating terrorism
Clergy has
always played a pivotal role in the Pakistani narrative. The indelible impact
of the ‘Mullahs’ has historically cut across institutions of power like the
Military ‘establishment’, political parties, civilian society, academia et al.
Each has, in their own way succumbed to puritanical displays and appropriations
to posture alignment befitting the “land of the pure” or Pakistan. However, it
must be said that many of these institutions have also privately harboured the
exact opposite instincts and preferences, from what has been prescribed by the
clerical order. These institutions have pandered to religiosity only to tick in
the box their own false, and publicly fronted sense of piety to legitimise
their relevance, whilst indulging in vices, degeneracies, and excesses.A
cursory look at the long list of the Pakistani infamous in the Pandora Papers
or Panama List is a veritable who’s-who of the Pakistani elites, who posture
simplicity, austerity, and god-fearing honesty in the public sphere. This has
led to the elites leading notoriously duplicitous lives with ill-gotten
properties and excesses across the world, whilst injecting toxic-religiosity
and religious extremism back home.
The bunny
of religion is essentially for public consumption to be invoked whenever
everything else fails e.g., beseeching Arab Sheikhs or Turkey for
life-sustaining aid in the name of a “brotherly Muslim nation”. The personal
lives of the ruling Sharif family and the feudal Bhuttos are hardly the modicum
of religious idyls, and the same discomfort applies to the Westernised Generals
who are increasingly facing the wrath of the angry, long-bearded, armed, and
madrasa-educated tribals. Today, it seems the ability of Pakistan’s ruling
elite to successfully play the patented double game has run its course. Not only have the radicalized masses
(generously fanned by the elites in ‘Olive Green’ or Servants) refused to take
orders, but far worse, they have turned on their begetters! Creations like the
‘Taliban’ which was a joint project between the wily politicians, amoral
Generals, and unhinged clergy, simply refuse to take orders from their
progenitor. The product i.e., Taliban, which was made for the export market, is
getting unwantedly imported back to its original source.
The elite
finally realise that it cannot differentiate between “Good Taliban” and “Bad
Taliban”, for at the end of the day it is “Taliban”, an unhinged outcome of
affording extra generous space to religion in governance. Terrorism has gripped
Pakistan with elements ‘within’, going rogue. Elites now sense that not only
must they take on the terror elements directly (as they have done multiple times,
still terrorism worsened), but it must also snuff out the oxygen that breeds
and nurtures the terror industry i.e., religious insistences and outreach, in
every sphere of Pakistani reality. Pakistani dispensation has come up with
Operation Azm-i-Istehkam which seeks to eradicate terrorists, and religious
extremism, and deradicalize society, in a holistic and comprehensive manner. It
is easier said than done, given the deep-rooted grip of religiosity.
This
refreshing acceptance (though time will tell if it is sincere or posturing) of
religious overload needs to be unloaded.
For
starters, it will diminish the role of Islamist political parties like Maulana
Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), or even the various militias and
formations of sectarian denominations who have contributed to the morass. Such
parties have not only imported strains of alien Wahhabism or Salafism but have
been instrumental in ensuring that the Pakistani ‘establishment’ goes slow on
anti-terror operations in restive areas.
Caught
between offering perfunctory platitudes towards the integrity of Pakistan and
the safety of its citizens – they are also simultaneously offering
mealy-mouthed suggestions to not partake in militaristic operations. They are
truly caught between the devil and the blue sea, for their wishy-washy stand
will neither endear them to the frustrated Pakistani Government (which they are
no longer a part of the ruling coalition), nor to organisations like
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who would want them to be bolder and indulge
in plain-speak in favour of religious and radical bodies.
Nonetheless,
these religious parties are mulling putting together an ostensible ‘resistance
movement’ against Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, and they are unlikely to find too
many partners to go along with them. Forces that are key to bailing out
Pakistan economically from sure ‘failed-state’ status e.g., China,
international multilateral agencies (IMF, World Bank etc), Western Powers or
even Arab Sheikhdoms are pitted against the agendas and outcomes of religious
parties.
The
so-called ‘iron brother’ Chinese have invested over $62 billion in the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridors (CPEC) and they cannot allow the
religio-extremist Baluch insurgents to attack Chinese interests as part of their
‘sacred’ duties. Middle Eastern
countries too have had their own tryst with the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood
and their offshoots from Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, and have
clamped down on the same. Now with the Taliban Government in Kabul thawing
relations with outsiders and no longer surviving on Pakistani doles, Afghans
also cock a snook at historical equations and madrasa-fed ranks from Pakistan.
All this diminishes the relevance of religious parties in Pakistan and if the
Pakistanis grasp the opportunity, they may just be able to overcome their
history and instincts.
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Bhopinder Singh, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman
& Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal
Source:
The Rise Of Radical Rebels In Pakistan
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/azm-istehkam-face-zarb-e-azb/d/132679
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