Towards an anti-terror strategy

Countering terrorism in a holistic manner is often difficult because the easier option is to simply resort to the use of overwhelming military force which is always available to the state. Unfortunately, as in any asymmetric or unconventional conflict, this response undermines the effort and creates a more enabling environment for the militants/terrorists. After all, while foreign sponsors may play a critical role in providing funds and weapons for the terrorists, most of the manpower involved is local which is why they are able to hide amongst the population.
In the case of Pakistan there are a number of strands of militancy and terrorism that are prevalent today within the country and unless the critical difference in the characteristics of each strand are recognised, it will not be possible to develop successful counter strategies. However, the one common prerequisite for operationalising an effective counter-terrorism strategy is to create an enabling environment. An enabling environment implies the prevalence of a situation on the ground where there is public trust and support for the government and its policies so that the terrorists are denied refuge amongst the people and denied future recruits.
In terms of typology of terrorism, in Pakistan presently there exists the post-9/11 extremist militancy now coming under the broad label of Al-Qaeda-Taliban; then there is the already existing current of sectarian terrorism that, to some extent, may well be enmeshed with the former but has its own roots in the country; finally there is the sub-national terrorism of separatists which is purely political in nature and has been flourishing because of disastrous federal policies and massive external support for dissident leaders from overseas sources. Finally, there is the now increasing threat of suicide terrorism coming not just from extremists, but also from the growth of poverty in the country which is pushing people into increasingly desperate acts. The overall environment is also not an enabling one so the state has been unable to deal with any of these types of terrorist threats and the major reason for this has been not only a lack of clarity of policy post-9/11 but in fact a lack of national policy because the successive governments have chosen to follow the US-led military-centric approach to combating “terrorism” which has already shown failure in Afghanistan and which has left Iraq in the throes of violence and sectarian rifts - and has provided a growing space for Al-Qaeda globally. In the case of Pakistan, this alliance with the US has also created a new type of terrorist threat - that of state terrorism from US drones and other covert activities - as well as being a major factor in vitiating the operational environment for combating domestic terrorism.
So as a first step towards formulating a national strategy for combating terrorism, the government needs to delink itself from US policies in the region. This can be done by reducing the number of US personnel present in Pakistan; calling for an outright halt to drone attacks and if this does not happen, actually using the PAF’s growing capabilities to bring down the next drone over Pakistan; and removing the military from FATA to be replaced by paramilitary forces as the military is redeployed along the eastern border and the western one to ensure no intrusions by either Afghan militants or US/NATO military forces; and a halt in the NATO military transit route. Bases given to the US must also be immediately taken back. Without a move to create this visible delinkage, no counter-terrorism strategy will work because of the negative operational environment. However, the moment the Pakistani public perceives this policy shift on the part of the government, the entire environment on the ground will become operationally positive for the state to tackle the menace of terrorism. Of course, what may take longer to dismantle are the octopus-like inroads the US has made into Pakistani society and intelligence agencies.

Posted in: Current Affairs, News, Pakistan Defence

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