Pakistan Journal of Criminology

Vol. 10, Issue 4, October 2018 (71-82)

War on Terror and Pakistan’s Policies towards Militancy

Saiful Islam1, Muhammad Zubair2 and Faiza Bashir3
Abstract
The weak border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and old
administrative structure in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (generally
called FATA or shortly tribal areas), made this region a hub of international
militant organizations during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. After the 9/11,
the tribal areas remained the focus of world attention for the security threat to the
world in general and the region in particular. To make the rest of the country more
secure, Pakistan army launched military operations against the foreign militants in
the tribal areas. The government then struck peace agreements with them in the
following years as well as the military operations continued in different parts of
FATA against militants. National Action Plan (NAP) was the final step towards
combating militancy. This paper examines the questions: which policy of the
government was successful in countering militancy in the tribal areas as well as in
the country? Was a comprehensive policy needed to fight against militancy in the
country? Primary and secondary sources are incorporated in methodology.

Key words: FATA, Militancy, 9/11, Peace Agreements, Military operations

Introduction
Pakistan joined the War on Terror with the US and its coalition forces
against Al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan after the dreadful events of 9/11.
Before the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan, most of the tribal
areas were in a deep restive position. After the Afghan war in 1980‟s, most of the
Islamists quit the areas and went to their respective states but some decided to stay
here. The relationships between the tribal people and the foreign guests were very
cordial and it was strengthened more with the matrimonial relation between them.
They were now part of that tribal society and traditional culture.
After the Soviet-Afghan war, there never remained any law and order situation in
the tribal areas. Traditionally and religiously, Pakthun were influenced mostly by
the religious leaders in their social and political life. The political and religious
ideology of those “Guests” now became the part of their society influenced by
them with the passage of time unnoticed by anyone in the areas. It was evident

1
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Buner, KP
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar, KP
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Islamia College University,
Peshawar , KP
72 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

from the past history that the Pakthun always supported the movements which
were started in the name of Islam and for the supremacy of it.
They (Pakhtun) poured all their resources in the name of Allah (for the
holy cause) and Islam without thinking of any worldly benefits (material benefits
as we have seen in the Soviet Afghan war in the 1980s). The case of Arab and
other foreign fighters was the same. They gave them not only shelter but put them
in high esteem and followed them in their preaching. They were considered as
hero of Islam and the fighters for the cause of Islam. Interestingly, these foreign
guests only selected the tribal areas of Pakistan for their living and not the other
parts of the country because of the nature of the environment. The government on
all these developments in the region of the foreign elements was aware but no
action against them was taken and their presence in the tribal areas and even not
notice the changes of the relationship between the militants and the tribal peoples.
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, generally called FATA or tribal
areas of Pakistan, consist of seven Agencies and six Frontier Regions (FR). It has
an approximately 10,500 sq. miles of area as roughly the size of the State of
Maryland and share three hundred miles of border with Afghanistan. The
international boundary between Afghanistan and the British India was demarcated
in 1893 with the name of Durand Line. This demarcation was considered as the
“Great Game” policy between the British and Russian Empire to safeguard their
respective territories from encroachment by making Afghanistan as the “Buffer
State.”
This boundary line physically divided the Pakhtun population but it did
not affect its ethnic and family connection on both sides of the border. The weak
physical position of the border and the strong ethnic and family relations of the
Pakhtun never deter them to cross it any time, even in the war times. They
consider it an identification mark and not a border as in the territorial context of
two sovereign countries. Sometimes, the herds enter the border leaving the herd
keeper on the other side of the border. Sometimes, the herd keeper sits in the
shadow of a tree while the herds go to the opposite side for grazing. Boys playing
on the one side, sometimes cross the border in playing games and no botheration
for the border managers for their crossing the border. The marriage ceremonies
take place across the border and the relatives attend the ceremony without any
hesitation while crossing the other side of border.
The people of FATA, from the time immemorial, have lived
independently and have never allowed any external power to subject them
militarily. This was the internal spirit of their freedom that they want to live
without any external authority. But the British imperialist formulated certain laws
and methods which helped them to control this difficult terrain through some
 Pakistan Journal of Criminology 73

inhuman laws. The Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) of 1901, a British colonial
era set of laws, which is instrumental in governing the area. Under the FCR, the
FATA has different set of administration different from the rest of Pakistan (Kerr,
2010).1
The Colonial era administrative structure in the tribal areas run by the
Political Agents (PA) and Assistant Political Agents (APA) have denied basic
constitutional rights, political enfranchisement and the reign of a formal legal and
economic system. Thus, the result is extreme poverty among the masses,
alienation of the tribal people and the lawlessness in the whole regions that
provides both sanctuaries and ideal breading grounds for militant groups (ICG,
2012).2
The laws of Pakistan are not applied here and Parliament cannot make
legislation for the tribal areas in spite of the fact that the tribal areas have
representatives in both Houses of the Parliament. Till 1996, political activities
were not allowed in FATA and the members of Parliament were elected by the
Maliks who enjoyed the right to votes. There is still no local government system
with elections for local bodies throughout the history. It is because of no political
activities that the role of other non-state actors has increased and they have
dominated the masses in the tribal areas. A survey conducted in FATA revealed
that 94 percent of the respondents were not satisfied with the current
administration setup in FATA (FATA Research Centre, 2012).3

Militancy in FATA
The volatile situation in Afghanistan has direct effect on Pakistan, in
general, and on FATA and NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-KP) in particular in
the last thirty years of development in the grooming of militant organizations.
These organizations have developed connection among themselves for a global
cause i.e., the Islamic Sharia in Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries. The
Islamic order that was established in Afghanistan provided a „Role Model‟ for a
theocratic state in which the Sharia would be enforced along the puritanical lines
of the Deobandi School of Thought. The Sunni militants dreamed the
Talibanization of Pakistan in the foreseeable future (Talbot, 2007).4
When Taliban and Al Qaeda were defeated in Afghanistan, their cadres
then moved across the highly porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border into the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where they took advantage of the
utterly hostile topography, the old tribal tradition of hospitality to strangers, and
the absence of a strong Pakistani state presence (Tellis, 2009).5 The withdrawal of
the Afghan Taliban from Afghanistan into the tribal areas of Pakistan, and the
mobilization of Pakistani Pakhtun in support of them led the US to demand
74 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

Pakistan of launching what became in effect a civil war on its own soil (Lieven,
2011).6 This has turned the tribal areas more insecure and violent as the entry of
Taliban and Al Qaeda militants brought the war into Pakistan‟s tribal areas from
Afghanistan.
The reorganization of the Taliban in FATA enabled Al-Qaeda to re-
establish a base area and pursue its role in providing training and financing to its
global affiliates (Rashid, 2008).7 According to an academician, “Pakistan and
Afghanistan are linked together in peace and vice versa. Historically, there are
sympathizers of Taliban in FATA and thus they establish their networks there and
became a hub of all militants in the region” (Ayaz, 2013).8
In an another interview, “after the US attack on Afghanistan, most of the
militants left Afghanistan for tribal areas and in hot pursuit, the US chased those
militants and thus the war zone expanded into Pakistan tribal areas” (Sattar,
2013).9 Using modern means of communication, shared ideology helps connected
the fragmented, dispersed, isolated or informally interlink elements of modern
networks (Stepanova, 2008).10
After the 9/11 event and the US attack on Afghanistan, those fighters
(Taliban and Arabs) left Afghanistan and came to FATA and stayed here, as it was
not a refugee for them because they have no care or importance to the Durand
Line. The host tribes welcomed them and provided shelter to them in their areas as
not knowing or considering that it is a violation of state‟s laws and challenged the
writ of the state. They give more importance to their code of social life, hospitality
and shelter than to the laws of the state. This is due to the weak structure of the
administration.
The Al-Qaeda, operating from the border land, managed to transform and
replenish itself with new recruits from among the Pakistani militant groups. This
enabled the group in survival from capturing and killing of many its senior
operatives. Founding members, mostly from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya,
known as Sheikhs, continued to provide ideological leadership, but the rank and
file of the network increasingly comprised of the new militants from Pakistan and
other countries including Somalia, Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh who
managed to ship into the border region (Hussain, 2011).11 A scholar explained the
situation in the tribal areas thus: “The tribal system is based on revenge against the
enemy and Taliban insurgency should also be seen in that perspective in mind”
(Ahmad, 2014).12
A scholar in an interview said, “There was confusion in the military how
to deal with the militants in the tribal areas. They have not adopted such policies
which could restrict this war limited to the border and this had created problems in
Pakistan” (Jaspal, 2013).13 An insurgency broke out against US-Pakistan against
 Pakistan Journal of Criminology 75

the attempts to root out the Taliban fighters that took refuge in tribal areas after
the US invaded Afghanistan. A “war economy” has persisted in the border areas,
sustaining training camps and fighters. Militants established their writ in the areas
and challenged the state authority openly. The Taliban leaders issued declarations
about what is “Islamic” and used these to legitimatize their attacks on internal and
external claimants to their authority. These acts helped to consolidate their control
within specific territory and to word off outsiders who try to intervene. FATA has
become “the most armed and militant region where the writ of the state appears
almost non-existent” (Hussain, 2007).14

Terrorism in Pakistan
The US asked Musharraf to take action against the Al Qaeda and Taliban
remnants in the tribal areas and he promised to flush them out from the hide outs.
This policy of arrest and attacks against the militants was not planned properly
while not keeping the tribal structure and the tribal norms in mind and the
prevailing situation at that time. When the search operation was started in the
tribal areas, core leadership shifted to other cities of Pakistan where they had
ideological sympathizers and no problems in hiding there. During search
operations, many foreign militants were killed and captured but still they were
active as their network could not be fully dismantled.
Pakistan finds itself with a number of difficulties in trying to track down
Al Qaeda. The rise in anti-American sentiments, the presence of Al Qaeda
militants, embedded with the local tribes, the difficult mountain terrain and a lack
of real time intelligence and equipment, night vision kit and attack helicopters, for
rapid response all play a part in failing to apprehend these militants (Samad,
2011).15
The more Islamabad aligned itself with the United States, the more the
young members of militant organizations turned inwards to target the military.
The Karachi based Jundullah (Army of God) was a prime example of the changing
face of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The emergence of groups like Jundullah showed
how new jihadi cells were quickly formed after others were wounded up. The rise
of small terrorist cells made the task of containing them harder. These terrorist
groups multiplied with the escalation of Pakistani military offensive in the
northwest and tribal regions. Some of these groups had just four or five members
making them hard to detect (Hussain, 2011).16

Military Operations and Peace Agreements-Approaches towards Militancy

The decision of military operation in a specific area to capture foreign
militants was a fatal mistake. Initially, it was considered to be a short operation
76 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

with limited resources and efforts to gain the desired results but unaware of the
ground reality in the tribal areas, the crackdown caused heavy sufferings to the
security forces of Pakistan in the proceedings years of operations in different parts
of tribal areas.
The Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) launched in Afghanistan against
Taliban and Al Qaeda was now directed against them in the tribal areas and the
rest of Pakistan. The Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies took several
operations and captured hundreds of Al Qaeda militants and leaders in tribal areas
as well as in other parts of the country. The American administration supported
Pakistan‟s efforts and acknowledged its services in handing over of top Al Qaeda
leaders in search operations. Meantime, the Taliban leaders and militants got
sidelined in the movement because the whole concentration was on the Al Qaeda
militants. This policy strengthened the Taliban network in the main cities with
other militant organizations and established network throughout the country.
According to an analyst, the militancy did not spread to other parts of
country rather the militants came to the tribal areas from different parts of the
country because of the administrative vacuum in FATA. The main reason of this
was the banning of many militant organizations by the Musharraf government.
Those organizations established their camps in the tribal areas with full support of
the Al Qaeda and Taliban. Foreign militants along with the local militants used
specific parts of tribal areas for their activities (Khan, 2013).17
Pakistan‟s policy of military operation against the foreign militants was
not prepared according to the ground realities because those militants were given
shelter by the local people, according to their own culture and traditions, likewise,
the government did not consult the political administration on this issue to get
support of the masses from these areas. Therefore, when the military operation
started people not only supported the militants but also stood against the security
forces whom was the sole and main reason of the latter‟s failure.
In December 2003, the then Governor NWFP Safdar Mahmood
announced amnesty for those foreigners who voluntarily surrender themselves to
the government with the promise to allow them to live in the Agency in
accordance with the tribal customs. In March 2004, the Army started another
operation in South Waziristan Agency against the foreign militants and their local
72 Ahmedzai Wazir tribesmen allies. The March 2004, Kalosha operation was
spread over 50 sq. kilometers areas near Wana, the district headquarters, around
some villages which were under the control of five Islamist militants, all had links
with Afghan Taliban too. The operation led to backfired, heavy losses to the
forces and many of them became hostages (ICG, 2006).18
 Pakistan Journal of Criminology 77

“The entry of Army intervention has disturbed the whole structure of the
political administration of tribal areas and dismantled the civil institutions there.
The Frontier Constabulary (FC) was the best option in FATA which should be
strengthened instead of deploying regular army unit deployment” (Shah, 2013).19
An agreement was struck between the government and the local militants
in Shakai, the stronghold of local Taliban Commander Nek Mohammad. „The
Shakai Peace Agreement‟ gave local Taliban free hand and financial support in
return for their renouncing violence. It was asked from the militants to handover
Al Qaeda and other militant or registered them with the government and make
sure that they would not use the Pakistani territory for attack in Afghanistan (ICG,
2006).20
This agreement in the first attempt recognized the power and status of the
militants in the tribal areas and this was the first agreement between the
government and the local militants in which the militants were given a status of
powerful element which can challenge writ of the state in future. The political
administration as well as the tribal Maliks and elders were gone in back and
marginalized in due time of the events. This has weakened their position as more
violent activities were coming. Three years of military campaign has not only
failed to eliminate the foreign militants but also strengthened the tribal Taliban
(Grare, 2006).21
From 2004 to 2006, the government signed various agreements with the
local Taliban faction in the tribal areas. The Shakai Peace Agreement with
Ahmadzai Wazir (April 2004) strengthened the position of militants. In June,
2004, a US drone missile killed Nek Mohammad. A new agreement was made but
it was also broken within few months. Again a military operation was started
against the local militants, this time Baituallh Mahsud resisted the forces and in an
ambush he arrested dozens of soldiers taking part in the operation. This was an
embarrassment for the government and again a new agreement was made in
Sararogha between Baithullah Mahsud and the Army in February 2005. Baithullah
signed an agreement and guaranteed to remain loyal to Pakistan. In the agreement,
the militants would not attack on the government officials, not gave space and
support to Al Qaeda and other militants but would support the government‟s
policy regarding war on terror (ICG, 2006).22
In September 2006, the government and the local Taliban reached another
agreement with the Uthmanzai Wazir tribe through which the government would
“stop air and ground operations” against the militants, release all the militants
arrested during the operations and not to arrest any one of them in the past event.
It had undermined the government writ and strengthened the militants. These
fierce young squads with heavy weapons marching from one place to the other,
78 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

enforcing their own view of Islam on the gun points, proliferated to other parts of
the country.
None of these agreements long lasted. These agreements gave new spirit
to the militants and put their activities in more robust manner. After every
agreement, the writ of the state got limited and that of the militants expanded.
They, thus became a factor in the stability of the area and all this was done with
the poor policies applied to the tribal areas. The peace agreements were signed in
an attempt to make peace in the country for short time but permanent solution was
far behind of these government efforts. The state of was aware of the
repercussions of such development in the long run.
Such deals expanded the political sphere of Islamists without producing
peace, effectively providing them a sphere of influence not only in the tribal areas
but also in certain settled districts of NWFP particularly the district of Swat (ICG,
2009).23 With all these developments in the tribal areas, the militants now openly
interfered by establishing a parallel administration in the North and South
Waziristan Agencies. They attacked the music shops, videos and CD stores, and
closed barber shops. They established a parallel system of Justice in the areas
under their control meaning that the old system of Jirga was discarded. The role of
Malik was minimized and the militants got prominent position in the affairs of the
tribal areas. Now they are spreading their influence to other parts of the agencies
and thus the process of Talibanization started in the tribal areas as well as in the
settled areas of NWFP.
In the Bajaur Agency, the militants threatened the NGO workers and
stopped them from working there. In Khyber Agency, the Laskhar-e-Islam (LI)
instructed the people to pray five times, grow beard, put caps on their heads, stop
music in the vehicles and not to shave beard. For all these activities, the militants
used the unauthorized FM radio stations which were a powerful instrument in their
hands for propagating ideology and threaten the opponents.
The militancy or Talibanization was initially limited to the North and
South Waziristan Agencies. It was spread to Bajaur Agency which was previously
a peaceful area but a trend of militancy started there. Other areas such as
Mohmand, Orakzai, and Kurram Agencies as well as the settled areas of Bannu,
Laki Marwat, Tank, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan were came under the influence of
militant networks (Jones & Fair, 2010).24
Thousands of tribal Maliks were killed or driven out by the militants, a
new force of Taliban militants emerged to fill the vacuum created by those Maliks
and administrative system in Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA). The
peace agreement of the government with the militants not only gave them
 Pakistan Journal of Criminology 79

breathing space in the tribal areas but also provided them an opportunity to recruit
many young people in their organizations.
The writ of the state and that of the local administration got paralyzed in
the tribal areas by 2006-2007. More than 500 elders and pro-government Maliks
were killed brutally in the tribal areas and hundreds of them shifted to Peshawar
and Islamabad for their safety. A survey conducted in this regard also confirmed
when 53 percent of the respondents expressed their fear of being not expressing
their views in public places such as mosque, market, Hujra and Jirga due to the
overall insecurity in the region (FATA Research Centre, 2012).25
It is not difficult to understand FATA in terms of war. When the civilians
are bombed with impunity and drones are falling at their homes, there is rising
hatred and intolerance of state policies. The state‟s war with militancy is hardly
popular among the tribes who simply believe that government is sold out to
America in exchange for dollars. There is need to understand the psychology of
those who have lost their families, in areas where the code of revenge is a century-
old tradition. When they see their children killed, they don‟t care whether it is a
Pakistani or a foreigner killed in the suicide attacks, it is simply „revenge‟ (Setha,
2011).26

National Action Plan (NAP)- A comprehensive policy

The government efforts in demilitarization of the country in general, and
FATA in particular, is seen after the Army Public School masacare by the Taliban
in December 2014. The government started famous operation Zarb-e-Azab against
the militants in the entire country in full swing. The most important 14 points
National Action Plan (NAP) was chalked out to wipe out all kinds of militancy,
extremism and terrorism from the country in a broader way. This NAP is not
limited to the military use but also to all the aspect of militancy are incorporated in
it. New efforts like estalishment of Military Courts, establishment of NACTA,
crack down against the facilitator and reforms in religious institutions are the
important aspect of the National Action Plan. The government efforts through
military operations and reforms in differents sectors in soceity have changed the
situation and finally the terrorists were defeated with multi facted approaches at
the same time. The other military operation (operation Rdul Fasaad) is also part of
that strategy which is still continuing in different parts of the country.
80 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

Conclusion
The government efforts to normalize situation and establish peace in the
tribal areas, in general, and in the entire country, in particular, focused on different
measures in shape of military operations and peace agreements simultaneously.
These military operations ended in some peace agreements with the militants who
gave them more space and resources to expand their activities in the other parts of
the country. After the agreements, short fall appeared in shape of more militant
activities; the government started other military operations which resultant in more
casualty and destructions for the tribal areas.
The government limitations in access to the remotest areas in the tribal
areas was helped by the US drone policy of „targeted killing‟ resulted in more
alienations of the tribal people from the government. Sometimes these drone
attacks compelled the militants to violate the peace agreement or made impossible
for the people to support the government efforts in this regards. It all changed afte
the APS tragedy in 2014 when the government started not only military operations
in the entire country but a comprehensive anti terrorism policies were chalked out.
The most important military operations (operation Zarb-e-Azb and operation
Raddul Fasad) were the final rounds against the militants because of these
operations; the whole region was made cleared. The government efforts to clear
the tribal areas from the militants in true spirit and from the rest of the country
were seen in the recent government efforts at all level and still they are continue in
right direction. It is more important that the NAP should implemented in true spirit
in the entire country for long time and needs more efforts in deradicalization of the
society through other means of action.
 Pakistan Journal of Criminology 81

References

Brian R. Kerr, (2010). A Progressive Understanding of Pashtun Social Structures

amidst Current Conflict in FATA. Pak Institute of Peace Studies, Vol. 03, No. 04,
October-December. 03.
International Crisis Group (2012). Aid and Conflict in Pakistan. Asia Report No.
227, 27.
FATA Research Centre, (2012). Islamabad. 24.
Talbot, Ian. (2007). Religion and Violence: The Historical Context for Conflict in
Pakistan”, in John R. Hinnells and Richard King(Ed.). Religion and Violence in
South Asia Theory and Practice. Routledge, New York. 154.
Tellis, Ashley J. “Pakistan-Conflicted Ally in the War on Terror.” Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, Policy Brief, 2009, p. 02.
Lieven, Anatol (2011). Pakistan – A Hard Country. Allan Lane, London. 410.
Rashid, Ahmad (2008). Descent into Chaos. Penguin Books, London. 281.
Ayaz, Qibla (2013). Interview, Peshawar.
Sattar, Noman (2013) Interview, Islamabad.
Stepanova Ekaterina (2008). “Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict, Ideological
and Structural Aspects.” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI
Research Report No. 23. 134.
Hussain, Zahid (2011). “Battling Militancy” in MadeehaLodhi (Ed.).Pakistan-
beyond a “crisis state”. Oxford University Press, Karachi. 141-2.
Ahmad, Akbar S. (2014). Interview in programme „Jirga Salim Safi keSath’ on
Geo TV, Islamabad.
Jaspal, Zafar Nawaz (2013). Interview, Islamabad.
Hussain, Zahid (2007). Frontline Pakistan- the Path to Catastrophe and the
killing of Benazir Bhutto. I. B. Tauris, New York. 141-2.
Samad, Yunas (2011). The Pakistan-US Conundrum- Jihadists, the Military and
the People: The Struggle for Control. London: Hurst & Company, London. 42.
82 Saiful Islam, Muhammad Zubair and Faiza Bashir

Hussain, Zahid (2011). “Battling Militancy” in Madeeha Lodhi (Ed.).Pakistan-

beyond a “crisis state”. Oxford University Press, Karachi. 142-43.
Khan, Ijaz (2013). Interview, Peshawar.
International Crisis Group (2006). Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Appeasing the
Militants. Asia Report No. 125, December. 14.
Shah, Brig. (R) Mahmood (2013). Interview, Peshawar.
International Crisis Group (2006). Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Appeasing the
Militants. Asia Report No. 125, December. 15.
Grare, Frederic (2006). Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations in the Post-9/11 Era.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, South Asia Project Number 72, 06.
International Crisis Group (2006). Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Appeasing the
Militants. Asia Report No. 125, December, 17.
International Crisis Group (2009). Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge. Asia
Report No. 164, 13 March, 05.
Jones Seth G., Fair, C. Christine (2010). Counter Insurgency in Pakistan. Rand
Corporation, 27.
FATA Research Centre (2012). Islamabad, Report. 14.
Setha, Razeshta (2011).“The forgotten frontline” DAWN September 20.