President Asif Ali Zardari’s admission about spawning terrorist groups within his country is welcome but he needs to do more than just talking. There is nothing new in what he said. The whole world has been pointing fingers at Pakistan for creating these monsters of violence for decades now. But it will be erroneous to belittle Zardari speaking out against terrorist groups, more significantly against the policy of creating these groups which means it was a subtle but a clear criticism of Pakistan Army. How seriously should we take his statement? That’s where the problem is.
Zardari admission is welcome but how seriously should we take his statement? That’s where the problem is..Zardari might have good intentions but he hardly has the power to do what he thinks, or at least says, what should be done, be it Kashmir or terrorist groups. Take for instance, the case of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), the terrorist group which carried out the Mumbai November attacks. There was enough evidence to nail the group, unravel its infrastructure and put its leadership on trial. But Pakistan chose to deny any such possibility, floating conspiracy theories on its television channels. Then when the international community, including the United Nations, leaned heavily on it, threaten to stop the money grail, Zardari’s Interior Minister Rahman Malik made a display of their `commitment to war on terror` and rounded up few terrorist leaders, including LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.
LeT is fast regrouping in Lahore where its extensive network remains intact despite the official ban. It has launched a new magazine, Zarar. Its website is down but Saeed’s speeches are available on blogs.Like everything in Pakistan, all actions must be allowed to ferment for six months to see the results. In case of LeT, it was clear within weeks though. Saeed was kept under house arrest, treated more like a guest of the State than a prisoner and charged with disturbing peace! His deputies were, however, locked up but they too, so far, have not been charged under anti-terror laws. A large number of LeT cadres escaped simply because they were forewarned about the crackdown; bank accounts were cleaned out before being frozen and training camps were relocated. But the `action` lasted till the coffers began to open in capitals across the world.
As Washington debated and decided on giving billions in aid to Pakistan, as did others, Pakistan conveniently turned its back on LeT, allowed Hafiz Saeed to be released, and chose to ignore warnings from its own police and intelligence agencies about the resurgence of these terrorist groups within Pakistan. LeT organised rallies, protest marches through Lahore against Saeed’s imprisonment, and surfaced soon after in refugee camps for fleeing Pashtuns from Swat, Bajaur and other areas. The group came with doctors, ambulances and voluntary workers, numbering over 2000, to these camps, quite like what they did during the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The relief and rehabilitation measures the group had carried out in PoK got them huge funds from charity groups and Diaspora, allowed them to establish sprawling training campuses in the area and most of all gave them respectability among the people.
There is evidence that LeT is fast regrouping in Lahore (where its extensive network of madrasas, mosques, schools, colleges and offices remained in tact despite the crackdown) and PoK. It has launched a new magazine, Zarar, since its regular magazines remained banned. Its website is down but Saeed’s speeches are available on blogs and discussion forums and Youtube. There is no evidence of LeT infrastructure in Sindh, Balochistan, PoK, North West Frontier Province and Punjab being dismantled.
There is lot President Zardari can do. He can ask his Interior Minister Rahman Malik to set up a task force to investigate and document the infrastructure, leadership, cadre and funding sources of terrorist groups like LeT. It should take not more than two months to do. Once such documentation is at hand, it will not be difficult to figure out how to disentangle terrorist infrastructure from social and welfare projects groups like LeT have initiated to entrench deeper into the society. This will help in isolating the group and render its public face of a charity ineffective. An important part of the action should be to interdict the funding pipeline which LeT has established over the years. Once the funding sources are blocked, the terrorist group will become crippled.
There is lot President Zardari can do to isolate LeT and render its public face ineffective. If funding sources are blocked, LeT will become crippled in just two months.But the War on Terror, President Zardari should by now know, does not end with police or military actions alone. These actions might be essential, and effective, but will not prevent the terrorist groups from regrouping into bigger entities to haunt not only Pakistan’s neighbours but Pakistan itself. This should be clear from what the Taliban is doing to his country and the impact of the military offensive Pakistan Army has launched against its own people in FATA and NWFP on the very idea of Pakistan. Zardari, therefore, has no choice but to act on his words, and save his country by disassociating from terrorist groups once and for all.
