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

[log in to unmask]

Cell: 540-421-1798

Home: 540-434-6276