If Pakistani forces take back control of the country’s borders, terrorists are thrown out, drone strikes will stop.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: The early morning drone strike on May 29 in North Waziristan which took out the Pakistani Taliban’s deputy head, Waliur Rehman Mehsud, falsifies the propaganda by religious parties that the tribal belt is an island of peace and prosperity and drones are attacking peaceful citizens. All these drone strikes, which have eliminated a number of Pakistani and foreign national al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, commanders, mentors and operators prove the point that the tribal belt is infested with militants, who are out of reach of Pakistan’s security forces. Why these are out of reach of our forces could be due to a number of reasons, including hostile and inaccessible topography, lack of capacity and capability to fight an enemy in a mountainous terrain, political discourse and agreements at the local level, etc. Regardless of all these reasons, if the course of action is not to strike back in an allout way against militants who have gathered in the tribal belt from across the globe — Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya, Arab countries, etc. — and continue to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty, then someone has to fill this vacuum.
We know that the incoming governments in Islamabad and Peshawar have plans to negotiate with the Taliban and stop the drone strikes. Also, the Peshawar High Court has ordered the government to ask the air force to strike down any drone violating Pakistan’s air space. Regardless of these pledges, one thing is sure that as long as militants continue to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty by operating on its soil and attacking other countries, the world will be taking counter measures to eliminate the imminent danger posed by terrorists.
If Pakistani forces take back control of the country’s international borders and foreign terrorists are thrown out of Pakistani soil, drone strikes will stop the same evening.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2013.
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