daily News Record:

Pakistan Needs U.S. Support

Posted: June 24, 2014

By Ehsan Ahmed

Sunday, June 15, 2014, may turn out to be the most important day in
Pakistan’s war against terrorism. Pakistani military initiated a
“comprehensive” military action against Pakistani Taliban’s bases in North
Waziristan. This action has been long overdue. So-called Pakistani Taliban
has committed hundreds of terror attacks against security forces and
civilians since their inception in 2007. They have committed horrendous acts
of terrorism against men, women and children. I should note that these are
the same Taliban who were implicated in the murder of Former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto. They were also implicated in a foiled terror plot in New
York.

During the last seven years “Pakistani Taliban” have killed 40,000 people in
Pakistan by their terror attacks. When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took over
the helm of government last year, he announced his initiative to negotiate
with “Pakistani Taliban.” His government spent months trying to arrange for
negotiations. However, as predicted by many in Pakistan and abroad,
negotiations did not proceed well. These negotiations were doomed to fail
from the beginning. Taliban and their affiliated groups really have a
violent agenda. They want to establish their “state” with force. They do not
comply with any established Pakistani or international laws. Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif should have learned his lesson from Swat, where his
predecessor’s government had to take a decisive action to eradicate Taliban
from the area after the true agreement was not complied with by Taliban.
They only create negotiations’ façade to buy time and regroup themselves.
Last week’s major attack on the Karachi airport is a good example. It took
Pakistani forces five hours to defeat and kill all 10 terrorists.

It should be noted that all 10 terrorists involved in Karachi Airport were
Uzbeks. Pakistani intelligence sources have known for years that hundreds of
foreign terrorists have taken refuge in northern parts of Pakistan. This has
been especially true after the U.S. operations in Afghanistan in 2001. It is
no secret in Pakistan that Pakistani Taliban and their affiliated groups
have infiltrated into the other provinces of Pakistan. They have local
sympathizers in some mosques and seminaries in cities like Islamabad,
Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi. For this military action to be successful,
Pakistan needs to crackdown on suspicious persons in these mosques and
seminaries.

Pakistani government also needs to hold accountable several leaders of
religious political parties who have been sympathetic to Taliban. The most
notable of them are leaders of Jamaat Islami (Islamic party). Their (now
former) president condemned the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah
Mehsud by an American drone attack and honored him as a “martyr.” Leader of
Pakistan’s second largest party Imran Khan needs to come clean and
wholeheartedly support this military action. Otherwise, not only another
major political defeat is waiting for him in the next election, but he will
also be remembered as a leader who weakened Pakistan.  
Pakistani political parties need to wholeheartedly support this military
action. Pakistan’s long-term survival depends on the eradication of
Pakistani Taliban. It is imperative that Pakistan eradicate these people
from North Waziristan. Their presence in the Northwestern Province poses a
direct threat to Islamabad and rest of Pakistan. It should be noted that the
public at large supports the military action and wants the Pakistani
government to show strength and decisiveness.    

The U.S. government has been urging Pakistani governments for years to take
serious military action in North Waziristan. Now this major action has been
initiated, Pakistan needs strong U.S. support not only during this action
but after the action is completed. Pakistan will need assistance with
hundreds of thousands of civilians who are already moving out of affected
areas. I also urge the Pakistani-American community in the Valley and
throughout the country to support this major action against terrorists who
have killed 40,000 people and continue to spread mayhem in the entire
region. I am not exaggerating by emphasizing that what happens in Northern
Pakistan will have a major impact on the rest of the free world.

Ehsan Ahmed is the Department of Economics at James Madison University. He
lives in Harrisonburg.

 

 

Ehsan Ahmed

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Cell: 540-421-1798

Home: 540-434-6276

 


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