The Pakistani military claims it has re-captured a number of towns held by Islamic fighters of cleric Fazlullah, but the job is far from over. The Swat valley rebellion is the first open challenge against Islamabad’s rule in the tribal areas. The Pakistani army is used only to the conventional warfare it has fought against India. The threat from Swat is altogether a ball game.
The military will have to get used to the guerilla tactics used by the Islamic fighters. The US army is facing it in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Indian army has faced it in Kashmir for nearly two decades now. Pakistan should perhaps take lessons from the Indian army. This will dilute somewhat the traditional antipathy the two countries have had for each other.
The people in the Pakistani tribal areas are anyway hostile towards the ineffectual local government which has failed to respond to their needs. If the Pakistani army tries a fully military approach in the Swat valley, the resulting civilian casualties will alienate the locals further. This will only help the hardliner Islamists like Fazlullah to gain deeper roots. Though, the army claims that only 30 civilians have died till now, yet their statements have to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Even assuming that Fazlullah’s fighters will be completely neutralized, the ideas raised by the radical cleric will remain. Years of appeasement by Islamabad has allowed Islamists to propagate their brand of radical Sharia in the tribal areas including the Swat valley. Top Pakistani army officers say that after Fazlullah’s revolt is over, the government will take steps to enforce Islamic law in the region. So Musharraf will allow oppressive strict Sharia to flourish here. What about the curtailed freedom of Pakistani women? What if this spreads from Swat to all over Pakistan? It seems Musharraf’s aspirations of becoming Pakistan’s Kemal Ataturk are dying a slow death.
