ANALYSIS: State collusion with the Taliban? —Farhat Taj - Saturday, November 20, 2010

Source : http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\20\story_20-11-2010_pg3_4

The lashkar leaders have many complaints against the federal government as well as the security forces of Pakistan. They argue that the Taliban are carrying out criminal acts with impunity against the people of Adeyzai and that state authorities are doing nothing about it. They also accuse the authorities of not even permitting the lashkar to take any action against the Taliban in the surrounding areas

There is a small village in rural Peshawar, Adeyzai, located on the border with Darra Adam Khel in FATA. The village is also in close proximity to Khyber Agency and FR Peshawar in FATA. The Taliban based in all the three FATA areas have been attacking people in Adeyzai, but Darra Adam Khel Taliban have been in the forefront.

The late Haji Malik of the village formed an anti-Taliban lashkar consisting of 200 to 300 armed volunteers in 2008, in the face of a complete collapse of the state’s writ in the village due to a Taliban incursion from Darra Adam Khel. The police could not come out of the police station. People, including policemen, were publicly killed and kidnapped. Girls’ schools were bombed. The lashkar has successfully countered the Taliban. Law and order was restored, girls’ schools started functioning again, and the police were back on normal duty.

But to do so, the lashkar people had to render many sacrifices. In November 2009, Haji Malik was target killed in a suicide attack by the Taliban. In November 2010, the new lashkar leaders, including Dilawar Khan and Noor Malik, were twice attacked, but they survived. Between November 2009 and 2010, there have been several clashes with the Taliban in which at least 40 lashkar people have been killed and many injured. These also included women and children, who died when Taliban-fired rockets fell on the houses of the lashkar leaders and volunteers. Despite all odds, the lashkar, made mostly of local farmers and workers, continued to protect Adeyzai from Taliban onslaughts under the leadership of Dilawar Khan, after the assassination of Haji Malik.

The ANP-led provincial government encouraged the lashkar’s formation and promised official help in terms of weapons, logistics and money. The ANP government almost never delivered on its promises. With the exception of a few Kalashnikovs given to the lashkar leaders by the police in 2008, no state help, moral or material, was ever provided to this lashkar. The lashkar members say that the nationalist ANP government has abandoned them to the brutalities of the Taliban. This does not concur with the ANP’s tough stance against the Taliban. They fail to understand why the ANP government is not supporting them despite the party’s political stance against the Taliban.

The lashkar leaders have many complaints against the federal government as well as the security forces of Pakistan. They argue that the Taliban are carrying out criminal acts with impunity against the people of Adeyzai and that state authorities are doing nothing about it. They also accuse the authorities of not even permitting the lashkar to take any action against the Taliban in the surrounding areas. The government did nothing when the Darra Taliban killed the brother of Dilawar Khan, the lashkar leader. The police registered criminal charges against the lashkar leaders when they captured the nephew of a Darra Taliban commander in response to the assassination of Dilawar Khan’s brother. The nephew had to be freed under the authorities’ pressure.

The lashkar leaders are disappointed with the operations conducted by the security forces in the surrounding FATA areas against the Taliban. In the view of these people, the clumsy operations underline that the government lacks long term planning as well as the will to eliminate the Taliban in the border areas along Peshawar in order to secure the capital, including their little village, Adeyzai. The lashkar volunteers participated in anti-Taliban operations in the surrounding tribal area along with the security forces of Pakistan. They complain that the government usually announces the launch of operations before they actually start them. This enables the militants to run away and, as a consequence, the operations never lead to the desired result, i.e. elimination of the Taliban.

Secondly, in clashes with the Taliban, the lashkar volunteers have suffered huge losses in terms of life and property; no compensation whatsoever has been provided by the government. The costs of standing up to the Taliban without state support have been high and the Taliban have attacked the villagers, burnt their shops and houses and have tried to stifle them economically. The lashkar leaders and other villagers in Adeyzai criticise the government for paying compensation to those who were killed in suicide attacks in other parts of Pakistan but ignoring those who died fighting the Taliban in Adeyzai.

The lashkar leaders urge that they made the lashkar out of harsh compulsions caused by Taliban brutality and absence of state protection. They emphasis that they would be most happy if the government restores peace and eliminates the Taliban. There would be no need for the lashkar and all lashkar volunteers could go back to living normal lives under the writ of the government.

Several complaints by the Adeyzai lashkar against the government and security forces of Pakistan are valid. Why can the security forces of Pakistan not launch unannounced and targeted operations against the Taliban? Why is it so important to announce the operations before they are launched? The Americans promptly respond upon actionable intelligence by activating the drone system to eliminate the targeted militants in FATA. Why can similar unannounced and prompt assaults not be carried out against the Taliban in FATA by the security forces of Pakistan?

What justifications do the provincial and federal governments have for denying compensation for the losses suffered by the lashkar volunteers and their families? Both governments are showing extreme indifference towards the people of Adeyzai and in their courageous stance against the Taliban. This indifference simply does not concur with the anti-Taliban political stance that the two proclaim with pride.

The government and security forces of Pakistan should fulfil their constitutional responsibility and establish the writ of the government in the tribal areas surrounding Adeyzai. If not, they must support the lashkar. In the absence of both, Adeyzai has become a case that substantiates the perception that the intelligence agencies of Pakistan are in collusion with the Taliban and stifle anti-Taliban elements, like the people in Adeyzai, on purpose.

The writer is a PhD Research Fellow with the University of Oslo and currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban