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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Caught in the middle

By Kamila Hyat
July 28, 2016

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Do we recognise the full dangers of the geopolitical reality we are getting caught up in, sandwiched to the east and west between two hostile neighbours, India and Afghanistan? The tight embrace both these countries have been locked in for over a decade and a half, following a policy initiated after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 in Kabul, threatens to stifle Pakistan – caught as it is in the middle.

Afghanistan has today become the arena for a new proxy war between New Delhi and Islamabad, and right now this does not augur well. The distance from Kabul has been growing, with President Ashraf Ghani now open in accusing Pakistan of backing specific militant factions active in Afghanistan. These include the Haqqani Network and certain Taliban groups; historically the so-called ‘good militants’ in the perspective developed by Islamabad.

That this notion may still be adhered to was brought up once more by remarks made by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, suggesting it was unnecessary to go after militants who were doing the country ‘no harm’. Foreign Office claims of misrepresentation by the media did not prevent Kabul from pouncing on the comments, which also go against the claim that Operation Zarb-e-Azb targets all militants without discrimination.

The controversy has been heightened by documents produced this month by a former Kabul intelligence chief; according to him, the documents showed Pakistan’s collusion with militant elements active inside Afghanistan.

The question of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ militants is one that has hugely damaged Pakistan in the past. Interpretations of who was good and who was bad may have varied slightly but essentially focused on jihadis battling Indian forces in Kashmir being on the right side of the divide along with Taliban-style groups which did not stage attacks within Pakistan, instead focusing their efforts inside Afghan territory.

But things will become increasingly complex as the friendship between Kabul and New Delhi grows. The new Salma Dam in Afghanistan’s eastern Herat province, the turbines of which were switched on by President Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modhi earlier this month in a gesture marking closer cooperation is symbolic of this. India has poured $2 billion into Afghanistan since 2001 and today is benefitting from the warmth it receives from Kabul with new corridors linking Afghanistan, Iran and India with Central Asia on the table in plans from which Pakistan has been omitted.

Historically speaking, Pakistan has every reason and plenty of ground for a close relationship with Afghanistan. The two countries have ethnicity, language, wars fought against common enemies and a great deal else to share. There has been a failure to build on this. Instead, we today have a clearly alienated Afghanistan.

Yes, it is quite true that India may have played a part in leading the way for this divide, but as the loser we need to think where things went wrong. The antagonistic relationship that now exists could surely have been avoided, one way or the other. The policy for this should have been set in place decades ago, although there were opportunities even after this.

A great deal of the problem is linked in to Pakistan’s own worldview. Yes, we have stated publicly that we are engaged in a fierce battle against military and extremism. To a certain degree at least, this may be true. But there are gaps in the battle; areas where problems lie and which are painted in shades of grey. It appears we still seek to protect some militants in the belief that they will help us gain strength against our neighbours. This is a dangerous ploy, essentially because it weakens us internally.

As repeated studies have shown, the complex network of militant forces active in our country form linkages at many levels. The Haqqani Network is well respected by many groups with different ideologies as are the factions that we know as the Afghan Taliban. They act to give protection to other forces operating within our borders. Also, as a matter of morality, the stress should not be on who is harming our country and who is inflicting the same kind of damage in the form of bomb strikes or terrorist attacks in other places.

Militancy essentially is heinous. So is extremism. It does not matter whether it is Pakistanis who are killed, Westerners, or Afghans. The same principle applies to all as humans. People everywhere have the right to live in dignity, without being subjected to the orthodox, extremist views that Taliban-affiliated forces unleash, targeting minorities, women and other vulnerable groups most specifically of all.

It is also obvious we cannot limit a war which takes place at our borders to outside these often invisible frontiers. When we in any way back militancy in Afghanistan, the effects will trickle over to inside our own country. The guns and violence will come across and so will the mindsets of intolerance and hatred that have become more and more marked in our society.

Today, we accept far too much. We are essentially unmoved when we read about an attack on an Ahmadi or of a bombing which kills a handful of people at some checkpoint in the tribal belt. We also appear to have become engaged in an increasingly nonsensical debate about what the role of women in society should be. This debate ignores the constitution of the country which of course gives them a status as equal citizens.

The existence of this debate stems from the grounds we have created for militant groups to prosper in the country, set up seminaries and other institutions and propagate their essentially absurd beliefs without any check. These policies have today created an essentially right-wing media, a distorted notion of what is ‘liberal’, much confusion about what we think and believe and also the suggestion in minds that some militant groups, even if they occasionally kill, maim or behead, may not be bad after all. Even senior public figures seem to believe in this, adding to the general lack of clarity.

Things are very straightforward. All groups using violence, whether they use it against Pakistanis, Afghans or other persons who after all are also human beings, deserve to be hunted out and punished under the law. They certainly do not deserve to be protected or given cover as persons who are not hurting us. Essentially, they do hurt our country by making it harder and harder for us to retain a place among the countries of the world as a credible nation and also as one which seeks peace and cooperation in the region.

The battlefront opening up with Afghanistan is a dangerous one. We have been engaged in that country’s internal affairs for far too long, using proxy players. Other regions are now guilty of using entirely the same tactics – this time against us. Developments need to be watched carefully and a rational policy developed. We cannot afford the kind of animosity that now surrounds us from all sides. It is dangerous at both the external and internal levels.

We need to find a way out of the situation and also build the idea that any battle against militants cannot be complicated by defining the enemy as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. This simply makes it impossible to win any war.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com