Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
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<strong>The</strong> Tribal Warriors<br />
the Faqir of Ipi. ‘Both men fought against invaders and for the cause<br />
of <strong>Islam</strong>,’ said Mohabat Wazir a trader in Wana. ‘Like Faqir Ipi, they<br />
would never be able to get bin Laden.’<br />
<strong>The</strong> Waziris lived on both sides of the Durand Line between <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong><br />
and Afghanistan. Many of their men had taken part in the Afghan jihad<br />
in the 1980s and fought alongside the Taliban against the US forces and<br />
their Afghan allies. <strong>The</strong> men were born fighters and learnt the use of<br />
guns at a very early age in keeping with local traditions, acquiring more<br />
sophisticated fighting skills during the long years of the Afghan war.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y used that skill to put up fierce resistance to the <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i army.<br />
Though the tribesmen were religious, the rise of militant <strong>Islam</strong> in<br />
Waziristan was a recent phenomenon. In 1947, people were deeply<br />
unhappy to be part of <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong> and supported the Pashtun nationalist<br />
struggle for the establishment of an independent ‘Pashtunistan’. 14 <strong>The</strong><br />
movement, which had gained popular support in the North West<br />
Frontier Province in the 1950s and 1960s, was basically secular; it<br />
was in the 1980s that radical <strong>Islam</strong> took root. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i military rulers<br />
not only used <strong>Islam</strong> to mobilize support for the Afghan jihad against<br />
Soviet forces, but also to undermine Pashtun nationalism. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i<br />
intelligence agencies, in collaboration with the CIA, funnelled millions<br />
of dollars and weapons through the tribal area. <strong>The</strong> region became a<br />
conservatory which fomented the growth of radical <strong>Islam</strong>, sustained<br />
by a network of Saudi-funded madrasas. In the late 1980s, after the<br />
end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the supply of money<br />
and weapons had stopped, but foreign-funded madrasas continue to<br />
flourish. Less than 30 per cent of the tribesmen attended school, while<br />
90 per cent would drop out before completing their education. <strong>With</strong><br />
little economic activity, most people lived on smuggling, gun-running<br />
or drug-trafficking. <strong>The</strong> rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan had given<br />
further impetus to the spread of militancy. Thousand of tribesmen had<br />
joined the conservative <strong>Islam</strong>ic militia.<br />
Until 1997, the tribal areas did not have adult franchise and only<br />
a small number of maliks (tribal elders), had voting rights. Political<br />
parties were banned, and the vacuum was filled by the mullahs.<br />
Hence it did not come as a surprise when, in the 2002 parliamentary<br />
elections, the hardline <strong>Islam</strong>ic alliance, Muttehida Majlis Amal, 15 not<br />
only swept the polls in Waziristan, but also formed the government<br />
in the North West Frontier Province for the first time in 58 years. That<br />
had provided a conducive environment to the Taliban and al-Qaeda<br />
remnants to turn the tribal region into their sanctuaries.<br />
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