Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 0 Frontline Pakistan
believed that martyrs would never die and their presence would bless
their homes.
Hundreds of villagers took part in the funeral prayers of the four
al-Qaeda fighters, whom they described as ‘holy warriors’. Many
policemen on duty had also joined the faithful. They had erected a sign
naming the site ‘martyrs of Islam square’, and lit candles in memory
of the dead. The shrine soon became the focus of anti-government
agitation. Thousands of angry protesters blocked the highway for
several hours shouting slogans in support of Osama bin Laden and
against the USA. Clashes between the police and the protesters had
continued for several days. Jarma was the second place in the North
West Frontier Province with a shrine commemorating al-Qaeda
fighters. Arwali Fort, in the Kurram tribal area bordering Afghanistan,
had also been turned into a shrine earlier that year when several al-
Qaeda fugitives were killed.
The war had come to Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban rule
in Afghanistan. Thousands of al-Qaeda fighters fleeing the US
bombardment of the Tora Bora 2 caves in eastern Afghanistan, crossed
over unguarded mountain trails and disappeared into the lawless tribal
areas. By mid December 2001, more than 1,000 al-Qaeda operatives,
including most of the chief planners and, presumably, bin Laden
himself, had managed to escape bombardment by American B-52s
and attack helicopters that were plastering the mountainous terrain.
Another wave of fugitives had entered Pakistan in March 2002, during
the allied force’s Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda positions in
the eastern Shahi Kot mountains. Many others followed in the next
several weeks. 3
There were not enough US troops to cover all possible escape
routes and Pakistani forces had serious problems sealing the border.
In early December there were only 1,300 US troops in Afghanistan,
spread over 17 areas, and hardly one-third were acclimatized to the
altitude. 4 Pakistani troops had entered the autonomous tribal areas
only once before – in 1973 – to put down a revolt. It was a bloody
18-month fight and the officers hoped never to repeat it. Musharraf
had spent two weeks negotiating with the tribal chieftains before they
finally agreed to the deployment. Troops had just started moving into
positions along the western border, when armed gunmen stormed
the Indian Parliament on 13 December. India immediately went on a
war footing, blaming Pakistani-based Islamic militants linked with al-
Qaeda for the attack. Musharraf halted troop deployment to the Afghan