A view of Namaz-e-Jinaza of Captain Umar Zaib Afzal who embraced Shahadat during the operation Rah-e-Rast at Tamergara held at Rawalpindi Race Course Ground on Friday. (22-5-2009)-Photo ISPR

Operation Rah-e-Rast launched in Malakand Division and Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan have full backing of the whole nation including political and religious parties, religious groups, ulemas and Mashaikhs. Complete harmony exist between the power troika of President, PM and GHQ and between service chiefs. Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Tehrik-e-Insaf and Jamiatul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) are opposing military operation in their own ways. Latter led by Fazlur Rahman wants to have the pudding and eat it too. He is playing his usual double game by neither quitting the government nor ending his opposition to military option.

Well meaning Imran Khan is not in favor of violence and has also disagreed with radical views of Maulana Sufi. In his view, barring a small segment who have gone astray, by and large Taliban from tribal areas are good and reliable people and should be won over through dialogue and pacification measures. JI chief Munawar Hasan sticks to his uncompromising stance and his denunciations revolve around Anti-Americanism, it is US war imposed on Pakistan, Islam in danger, and leadership sold to Americans. His ideas are fixed and unidirectional with no room for conciliation. Such people are causing more confusion than helping in tiding over the dangerous situation. It is disservice to the nation to sympathise with so-called Taliban going about slaughtering people like goats and having no concept of essence of Islam. Ironically, none of the Taliban apologists have any influence over Baitullah or Fazlullah or have an alternative solution. Process of dialogue and peace deals is in vogue since July 2005. Each deal led to temporary halt in infighting, but at the cost of losing more space and letting militants regain balance.   Having successfully over powered the militants in Malakand Division, focus of military operation has now been diverted towards South Waziristan which will be a tough nut to crack. In case operation in Waziristan proceed slowly because of terrain friction, army would again be made butt of ridicule saying that while it indulged in avoidable collateral damage and caused sufferings to people, it could not get rid of menace of Taliban. One such insidious attempt has been made by Abdus Sattar Ghazali in his article captioned 'Swat operation fomenting separatism in Fata', dated June 3. Without having sufficient knowledge of history he has equated Operation Rah-e-Rast with Operation Searchlight launched in March 1971 in former East Pakistan. He says that Pak Army is notorious for using brutal force against own population, as was the case of Lal Masjid. He has played up issue of IDPs and again equated it with refugee exodus in East Pakistan.  He goes to extent of saying that only Sudan, Iraq, Colombia, and Rwanda human displacements match recent exodus of Pakistan.

Based on hearsay he claims that unaccounted civilians died in Swat as a result of artillery shelling. He has tried to stoke ethnic tensions by painting a picture that Pashtun IDPs having been denied entry in Punjab and Sindh and the army and US military gearing for final kill have placed the Pashtuns in vice of death of destruction.  He winds up his article by posting the warning of Eric S.Margolis that 26 million Pashtuns will be forced to secede and join Afghanistan to form independent Pashtunistan.

I may like to remind Ghazali that Operation Searchlight was launched on night of 25 March 1971 on orders of then President Gen Yahya Khan when ten-day negotiations with Mujibur Rehman led team failed and a state within state had been created. From 1st March till 25 March, activists of Awami League indulged in unspeakable atrocities against non-Bengalis and pro-government Bengalis and killed over 100,000 people, destroyed their property and raped hundreds of girls. Officers and JCOs serving in EPCAF and their families were brutally slaughtered. During this period of genocide, large number of non-Bengalis and pro-government Bengalis fled to India to save their lives while troops were forced to sulk in barracks. 12000 troops and their families confined to cantonments were deprived of fresh rations and milk and had to live on tinned rations. All sorts of humiliations were hurled on the army. It was deliberately done on the advice of RAW to provoke the army to an extent that it loses its head and goes berserk. International media persons based in Dacca shut their eyes and didn't report the massacre of civilians. Once the military launched an operation to crush rebellion, majority which fled to India was Hindu Bengalis. Others were later on frightened to flee. Figure of two million refugees was blown up by India to ten millions to earn aid and subsequently it was made into an excuse to

carryout naked aggression against East Pakistan. When biased journalists were shunted out of Dacca by Gen Tikka, offended journalists moved to Calcutta

and launched a venomous media campaign against the army {The worst among western reporters on East Pakistan was the New Delhi correspondent of the New York Times, Sydney Schanberg .  His reports were colored with terms like "genocide" and "mass rapes."  He left no stone unturned in creating raison d'etre for India to invade East Pakistan. Schanberg was "awarded," a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting.  The controlled Pakistani media could not challenge such reporting, neither did the denizens of foriegn Office. Unfortunately, Pakistan never responded to his canards, and as they say, "if you speak enough lies, some of them tend to stick as truths in public minds. An example of such lies is a Schanberg report, "At the end of June 1971, Schanberg visited the town of Faridpur and reported on the persecution there:'The Pakistani Army has painted big yellow "H's" on the Hindu shops still standing in this town to identify the property of the minority eighth of the population that it has made special targets... In April, as a public example, two Hindus were beheaded in a central square in Faridpur and their bodies were soaked in kerosene and burned.  Every Indian and Bengali Websites on 1971, quotes Schanberg. Editor's note, UQAAB} Indo-UK media played the most devious role in fabricating stories and magnifying events.. Soldierstrying to safeguard integrity of homeland were demonized and painted as human eating monsters. Strength of eastern corps was raised to 45000 regular and paramilitary soldiers who fought with ½ million strong Indian army, 250,000 Mukti Bahinis and massive air, tanks and naval support. Lots of Bengali writers of conscience like Matiur Rahman have written books and rectified distortions.

In case of Operation Rah-e-Rast, army was requisitioned by elected NWFP government in aid to civil power. Prime Minister gave go ahead signal while addressing the nation on TV. In All Parties Conference, all political parties as well as religious groups and Mashaikhs of all hues supported the military operation. Above all, the nation as a whole

including the people of Swat welcomed military operation since they had suffered a great deal at the hands of fake Taliban, disinterested in Nizam-e-Adl. Peace has been restored in Malakand Division and people have started to return to their homes. His ludicrous allegation about huge civilian casualties in Swat due to artillery fire is figment of imagination and far from truth.

Next I will discuss his wild accusation that Pak army is notorious for using ruthless force against its own people. May I ask the learned writer as to which army of the world has refrained from using force or ever used polite force to crush rebellion, insurgency or lawlessness?

Does he know the track record of India which is infamous for using massive force against dissent? Its forces have killed over 100,000 Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir alone and its killing spree is continuing unabatedly?

As regards IDPs, they are not living under ideal conditions but are also not languishing in Indian refugee camps in inhuman conditions. Sympathies of whole nation are with them and efforts are in hand to alleviate their sufferings at the earliest. I want to assure

Ghazali that all would be rehabilitated despite RAW sponsored suicide bombers hampering relief work in Peshawar. As regards entry of IDPs in Sindh, Ghazali should know that most Sindh nationalist parties are pro-India and do as directed by New Delhi. As regards grievances of Pashtuns, only handful of misled and RAW cultivated Pashtuns like Fazlullah, Baitullah and his types are nurturing grandiose plans. What has landlocked and impoverished Afghanistan to offer to Pashtuns who are leading a prosperous life in NWFP to tie a knot with it?

Afghans trek into Pakistan for employment and to earn livelihood. Over 2.9 million Afghan refugees are still residing in Pakistan since 1979 and refuse to return because of precarious conditions in their homeland. Noose is being tightened around troublemakers and not against non-militants wedded to Pakistan who have now girded up their loins to confront foreign and local miscreants.

Swat operation will not foment separatism in Fata but would help in promoting

cohesion. Military prong will soon be backed up with socio-politico-economic prongs to win hearts and minds of affected people.

The writer is a defence and political analyst based in Rawalpindi. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it