War on terror: Army rues ‘absence of political ownership’

Officials say countering militancy seems to be only army’s battle.

ISLAMABAD:

The recent brazen terrorist attack on the Peshawar airport appears to have exposed differences between the civilian government and the country’s powerful security establishment on how to fight, what many believe to be, the battle for survival.

With the country still reeling from the latest attack, the Pakistan Army has voiced concerns over what it says is the ‘absence of political ownership’ of the ongoing battle against militancy, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In a background briefing, senior security officials claimed that political ownership was needed for the decisive push against militants, who, in recent months, have launched some of the most daring attacks.

“Can you recall a single instance where our civilian leadership visited the troops at the front line?” said a senior military official, who asked to remain unnamed due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The official added that it appeared that this was only the military’s battle and civilian authorities had nothing to do with it.

His remarks suggest uneasy relations between the government and military authorities, who have always been accused of dictating the country’s national security policy. However, the official blamed ‘political expediency’ as the main reason behind the lack of a clear-cut policy to deal with the terror threat.

A senior member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid acknowledged that the army’s ‘grievances are justified.’  “Yes, there seems absence of political ownership and decisive leadership on the counter-terrorism strategy,” said Senator Mushahid Hussain, who heads the Upper House’s Defence Committee.

In an effort to rectify the issue, Mushahid told The Express Tribune that a Senate defence panel would visit troops on the frontline in tribal areas to show their solidarity with security forces.



Military authorities were also upset over the slow progress towards removing flaws from the existing anti-terrorism laws, which many critics believe are too weak to successfully prosecute terror suspects.

“We have to fight this battle on many fronts. Unfortunately, the slow rate of prosecution of terror suspects is also hurting our cause,” said another official.

It is believed that army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani raised the issue of early approval of a new anti-terrorism law, with the government, which is currently lying with the concerned parliamentary committee.

The proposed Fair Trial Act 2012 seeks to strengthen the hands of security agencies in an effort to ensure that terror suspects do not go unpunished.



However, it is not clear when Parliament will finally approve the draft legislation as the main opposition parties have voiced concerns on some of its provisions, which, they say, may jeopardise personal liberties.

Security analyst Brig (retd) Mahmood Shah said the government has to launch a full-scale operation against the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates before it gets too late.

“The involvement of Uzbeks in the Peshawar airport attack confirms that it was planned in North Waziristan Agency,” added Shah, who also served as Secretary Security for the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

He said it appears that the government was in a fix over ordering the operation in fear of negative fallout regarding its bid for seeking a second term in office in the upcoming general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2012.