The Siege Within! A Wake-Up Call for Bush, Musharraf and Manmohan Singh

Within the past one week India’s two major dailies have carried in-depth news stories about the spreading terror of Naxalism (extreme Left) in India’s 14 federal States; and, in Pakistan, the Taliban being on the verge of creating a new country of their own in the tribal area of Waziristan on Afghanistan border, an epicentre of USA’s ‘War on Terror’.

“As if a hostile neighbourhood and long unresolved borders with Pakistan and China were not enough, India is under siege from within. Heavily armed Naxalites pose an internal security nightmare with well-trained guerrillas bleeding the country from Uttaranchal in the north to Kerala in the south,” reports the Times of India.

The Financial Times of the U.K. in its report from New Delhi (April 14) stated: “Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, on Friday warned that revolutionary Maoist groups posed the single greatest threat to India’s internal stability and democratic culture. The Maoist insurgency, which has ideological and logistical links to guerrillas in Nepal, has affected around a quarter of all administrative districts in the country.

“‘The challenge of internal security is our biggest national security challenge,’ Mr Singh told state chief ministers, who gathered in New Delhi to discuss the Maoist threat.”

The Times of India had a banner headline on its front page (April 10)- ‘Naxal teror goes hi-tech’: “Gone are the days when Naxalites had to depend on the traditional bow and arrow while taking on the might of state agencies. They are now well-equipped to fight security forces and strike at will anywhere in as many as 170 districts across 14 states, using sophisticated weapons like INSAS and AK-47 rifles and explosives ranging from locally available Gelatine sticks to smuggled RDX.

“Figures with the home ministry suggest that the Maoists have a strength of nearly 10,000 guerrillas with over 20,000 modern weapons, looted from security agencies over the years. Besides, they have unestimated numbers of country-made arms procured mainly from Munger in Bihar and Gorakhpur and Ghazipur in UP.”

Today’s Hindustan Times (April 16) has a major story which has grave security implications for Pakistan.

This New Delhi newspaper states: “Last Monday, the Taliban offered Islamabad peace — from within Pakistani territory. From Waziristan, a mountainous tribal area on the Afghanistan border that’s just a bit bigger than Tripura (in India) but that has become the epicentre of the USA’s War on Terror. It’s also become another war against the Pakistani state from within, joining Balochistan, Gilgit, and Karachi.

“And despite Islamabad having sent six divisions of the Pakistan army — pulling several from the India border and equipping them with helicopter gunships, jet fighters and heavy artillery — to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda, Waziristan continues to slip out of its grasp. Another six months, say government sources in New Delhi, and the war in Waziristan would have a momentum of its own. “Azad Qabailiâ€? (Free Tribals) would become a reality, and the Taliban would have found a new country of their own.

“North and South Waziristan are two of seven Pushtun regions known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). No one has ever subjugated FATA, from Alexander of Macedonia to the Imperial British. The Pakistanis kept a ‘hands off’ policy, but did not hesitate to use the Waziristan tribals to invade Kashmir in 1947, or help in the anti-USSR jihad in the 1980s.”

Just think for a moment that India and Pakistan are at the forefront of the USA’s War on Terror! With all those years of strong-arm measures things are still getting out of hand.

India’s soft-spoken Prime Minister, who enjoys excellent rapport with President Bush, seems to have begun to think of alternative strategy. Reports another website: “Referring to the need to address deprivation syndrome, the Prime Minister emphasised on proper implementation of targeted schemes like Rural Employment Guarantee, better utilization, monitoring, no leakages, waiver of debts by money lenders, compounding/closure of petty forest offences, cover every poor family in core affected districts under a scheme, price and procurement support, and better relief and rehabilitation to those displaced.”

Which means that the USA, India and Pakistan have to think of the poor helpless masses who are caught between the proverbial ‘devil and the deep sea’. They are being terrorised by militants/terrorists, on the one hand, and by the government forces on the other. Force alone will not help.

As the Hindustan Times report says: “Under pressure from the Americans, the Pakistanis have run several operations in Waziristan since 2002, each successive one growing in lethality, and achieving nothing more than driving the local population deeper into the Taliban embrace.

“Despite deploying nearly 80,000 troops — a bulk of them drawn from the border with India, evidence of Pakistani desperation — and 80 check posts (to keep an eye on the border) in the area, there have been no gains for Islamabad. Partly this is because of Pakistan’s approach to the US ‘hammer and anvil’ strategy, wherein Pakistan is supposed to push Taliban/jihadis across the border for the US—Afghan forces to neutralise; on the ground, very little US—Pak coordination appears to be happening.”

So if the War on Terror goes on without the cooperation and help of the people (and also by closing one’s eyes to their problems/aspirations), it seems unlikely that the American/Indian/Pakistani war machines alone can achieve much success. Let us change our strategy otherwise we are in for an unending strife and struggle. Pray, for what?
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The writer has worked as journalist with national and international media. At present he is Media Consultant with Press Institute of India, New Delhi. He is also Trainer/Mentor with BBC World Service Trust. Email: swaraaj47@gmail.com