If one were to go by the claims put out regularly, it seems that Operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched in June last year, is progressing successfully and is going in the right direction. However, in the absence of any independent corroboration of these claims or our own reports from ground zero, one finds it difficult to state with any degree of confidence how this war is poised currently. One is not in any way questioning the ISPR claims but only questioning one’s own mandate to endorse or reject them in the absence of first-hand reports or independent corroboration. But going by the declining number of major terror attacks since the launch of the operation, one can say with some degree of confidence that things are, indeed, improving. There have been only five or six major attacks since the launch of the operation — on the Naval Dockyard in Karachi in September 2014, on the Wagah border in November the same year, on the Army Public School in Peshawar a month later, on the imambargahs in Shikarpur and Peshawar earlier in 2015 and on the two churches in Lahore’s Youhanabad area on March 15. These were the attacks that caused large-scale death and destruction, and their ownership was claimed by terror outfits. Still, the extent of the anticipated blowback appears to have been greatly pre-empted by the operation. That perhaps, is what Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tried to convey when he claimed on March 26 that Operation Zarb-e-Azb has started yielding promising results.
While the North Waziristan operation was thought to be the mother of all battles, the ongoing operation in Tirah, it is said, is turning out to be more difficult than had been anticipated. Lying close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the control of Tirah for the government of Pakistan has always been difficult. The area has remained virtually independent since colonial times. It was only in 2003 that Pakistani troops entered the Tirah valley for the first time since independence. It is also an area where the government has been trying to cut down on poppy cultivation. It has a history of kidnapping and bloody feuds.
Three militant factions — the Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the TTP Jamaatul Ahrar — are said to have ganged up to put up a united front in Tirah valley. On the first day of combat, there were more than 200 fighters, but their numbers have multiplied since then. Bunkers built in the mountains covered by a wall are said to have made it difficult for the military to attack targets. It was to overcome this difficulty that Pakistan’s indigenously-developed armed drone, Burraq, fitted with laser-guided missile, Burq, was used. This is said to have turned the tide against the militants in this offensive. Officials are claiming that senior militant commanders, including those from Mangal Bagh’s LeI and the TTP, were killed in Pakistani drone strikes. Analysts are quoted as saying that peace in the region now hinged on the outcome of the Tirah battle.
As the war continues to rage along most of the tribal region, more and more people are fleeing their homes and joining the camps arranged for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Every now and then officials claim that very soon the IDPs will return home. But on the ground, there is no sign of any such thing happening any time soon. No reconstruction work is said to have been started in the areas cleared of the terrorists. Generally, media access to IDP camps is highly restricted because of which it is becoming increasingly difficult to report on the factual conditions in these camps. The second-hand information reaching the media is not encouraging at all. Material and monetary support to the people living in these camps is said to be too inadequate, making it impossible for the IDPs to live in dignity and honour. Reconstruction and rehabilitation work, therefore, needs to be started soon so that the IDPs can return home without suffering any further psychological damage. While it is important to win in military terms, it is equally important that the civilian populations directly affected by the war are rehabilitated as soon as possible. Otherwise, the gains in military terms may end up going to waste. http://tribune.com.pk/story/860925/the-war-and-the-idps/
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