The military option: Khawaja Asif warns of possible operation against TTP in March

“We have evidence that India is meddling in Afghanistan, no doubt,” says Khawaja Asif.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan could launch a full-scale military operation against the Pakistan Taliban insurgents in the tribal areas as early as this month, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, warning insurgents against violating a ceasefire.

In an interview with Reuters, he said the government could bomb militant hideouts or send forces into the tribal areas if the Taliban did not abide by the ceasefire announced last weekend. “If there is a ceasefire, it has to be complete.”

Asif, long considered a pro-talks politician, is now one of a growing number of members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet who believe it is time for tougher military action against Pakistani Taliban strongholds.

In February, the government launched talks with the Taliban to find a negotiated settlement. But hopes of a peace deal have been crushed by a series of attacks and counter-attacks by both sides. “If we are attacked, the state is attacked, civilians are attacked, military personal are attacked, we will retaliate. We will retaliate in kind,” said the defence minister.

“The Taliban have not even condemned this so-called splinter group four days after the attack. They are saying, ‘We have not violated a ceasefire, these are peripheral groups, they are not under our control,’” Asif said.

The Nawaz government’s insistence on pushing for talks with the Pakistani Taliban is driven by the fear that the end of the US combat mission in 2014 could energise a resilient insurgency. “If in the post-withdrawal period, the Afghan Taliban become stronger and carve out an area of influence next to our border - that’s a scenario we should even avoid thinking of,” Asif said. “Because then the Pakistani Taliban will have a powerhouse behind them, to support them.”

There is another scenario Pakistan wants to avoid at all costs: an unfriendly Afghanistan-backed by India. As Nato’s presence fades, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has turned to India. “We have evidence that India is meddling in Afghanistan, no doubt,” Asif said. “But I’m a believer that if the conditions in the four walls of your own house are stable, nobody from outside will try to enter. We give India the opportunity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2014.