SPY EYES

Today the United States Senate has made a humble request: more conditions on Pakistan for the continuation of aid, and the release of Dr Shakil Afridi, the man behind the OBL Assassination that shook Pak-US relations to an irreparable degree. The Senate voted 72-26, which cleared the House a little more than 24 hours earlier on a similarly lopsided vote. Obama’s signature on the bill was expected in time to prevent any interruption in government funding Saturday at midnight.

The colossal bill funds every agency of government, pairing increases for NASA and Army Corps of Engineers construction projects with cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and foreign aid. It pays for implementation of Obama’s health care law; the “Obamacare” that triggered Republicans to partially shut the government down for 16 days last October.

As in the previous year, the Congress has demanded a certification from the Secretary of State and the Defense Secretary to release both civil and military aid to Pakistan. The officials will be required to provide reassurance for their loyalty in the US-led counter-terrorism efforts…and to take tangible steps to end any possible support for terrorist groups and prevent them from basing and operating in Pakistan. Cross border skirmishes along the Afghan-Pakistan border especially have caused sharp differences to arise between the two allies during the previous two years.

The Secretary of State will also be required to attest that Pakistan is not supporting terrorist activities against US or coalition forces in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are not intervening extra-judicially into political and judicial processes while the US prepares to pack up. It also seeks certification that Pakistan is dismantling improvised explosive device, networks and interdicting precursor chemicals used in the manufacture of IEDs; preventing the proliferation of nuclear-related material and expertise; and implementing policies to safeguard judicial sovereignty and due process of law.

The icing on the cake was withholding US $ 33 million aid until Pakistan releases Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the US in tracking Osama bin Laden. It also seeks from the Obama Administration a concrete spending plan including attainable and sustainable goals, benchmarks for measuring advancement and expected results regarding combating poverty and advancing development in Pakistan, countering extremism, and establishing conditions favorable to the rule of law and transparent and accountable governance.

The bill authorizes the Secretary of State to suspend aid if Pakistan fails to make measurable progress in meeting set benchmarks for security, development and economic improvement.  The controversial acts of the bill are worth noting. From Pakistan’s perspective the very demand to release Dr. Shakil Afridi impinges upon Pakistan’s sovereignty. The matter, starting from the Salala attack, the OBL assissnation and even the more recent drone strike on Hakimullah Mehsud has put the government in an awkward position with its people.

As a recently elected democratic government acclimatizes to the whims of 200 million people, with the power to decide their fate, sovereignty is without doubt at the forefront of Pakistan’s domestic and international concerns. It defines our nation. Without the power to determine self realization within these borders, the state loses control and the rule of law becomes akin to a joke. Must the Pakistani government bow down to donor interests?

Aid obviously comes with strings attached, and while US aid has helped Pakistan in the past, with the complications in the recent past and Pakistan’s local security issues escalating, the United States needs to apply lessons from Syria and Iran to Pakistan. The US lawmakers need to recognize the implications of a weak Pakistan, or even worse, a hostile Pakistan. While the government may never sabotage ties, winning the people of Pakistan is paramount for the United States. Both the audacity of drone strikes, and sabotaging peace talks with Taliban make the region more hostile, serving nobody’s interests.

TACSTRAT ANALYSIS

Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan recently declared former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud a martyr, thereby sparking a debate that has plunged the nation, and the Army, into an existential, ideological muddle.

Martyrdom, the ultimate sacrifice in the way of faith, is a tricky business….especially with so many Muslim claimants to the honour. Who gets to decide who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter?

Jamaat-i-Islami has a history of unfortunate dalliances with controversy. Its founder Maulana Maudoodi sincerely felt that the Muslim leadership was not theologically grounded enough to create an ‘Islamic’ state. From opposing the creation of Pakistan to rabble rousing in support of theocratic legislation, Maudoodi went all out to make himself heard. The credit for the 1950s’ riots against Ahmedis also goes to the JI. The ‘guardians’ of faith sought to choke and stomp over those of ‘deviant’ faiths.

The reasoning behind the JI chief’s statement, abhorrent as it seems, should however be examined. The JI has played the role of a moral compass for Pakistan since inception. Far from pushing it to the fringes of political visibility, the JI has instead been used to cement rhetoric that has historically served the Army’s image of waging jihad.

By categorically equating religion with duty, using religious terminology to differentiate between good and evil (kaafir vs momin), the Army lost out when the JI found a higher claimant of religiosity- the TTP.

From an ideological, barely political, leftist party, the JI’s evolution into a right wing, violence endorsing, TTP apologetic bloc says a lot about the state of Pakistan’s society. The JI chief speaks for the party’s hundreds of thousands of followers across the country and sets the stage for the next ideological shift within the party. This is dangerous and should be checked before it assimilates into the JI’s larger ideological vein.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif thankfully put paid to all the confusion about who could be called martyrs when he visited the Army General Head Quarters, Rawalpindi, on Tuesday for the first time in 14 years. Clearly the issue of ‘martyrdom’ is very important to all Pakistanis because he assured that: Those who have fought for Pakistan, the ghazi (living) and shaheed (martyrs), have sacrificed their today for ensuring a better tomorrow.

I personally believe that the Army should have cast off its reliance on religion to grant itself legitimacy. Its duty is to defend the country against external (and in this case) internal foes. Neither Hassan nor Fazul Rehman has the authority to grant heaven or condemn someone to hell- we must understand that.

Clearly the religious bloc has cast its lot in with the terrorists. That is treason. The government’s response should have preceded (not followed) the Army’s statements in this regard. Nisar’s virulent anti-American rhetoric, in the aftermath of Hassan’s mouth-off, leaves a bad taste with anyone who has heard the contents of the JI chief’s statement. A round of apologies seems to be in order, starting with the JI and JUF chiefs.

Maulana Fazlullah, the new Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader, is a ruthless fighter who is vehemently anti-state and unamenable to peace talks.

Fazlullah was elected as TTP commander by a consultative council of the group on November 7, almost a week after Hakimullah Mehsud, the group’s former leader, was killed by a US drone in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

He is the first commander of the group not to come from the Mehsud tribe in Pakistan’s tribal areas, hailing instead from the northwestern valley of Swat, where he waged a bloody war against the Pakistani state from 2007 to 2009.

As chief of the local chapter of the TTP in Swat, Fazlullah drove civil and military authorities out of the area in 2007, before finally signing a peace agreement with the government in 2009.

The agreement, dubbed the “Nizam-e-Adl” (system of justice), granted the TTP virtual control over Swat and implemented their interpretation of Sharia law, in exchange for the cessation of hostilities.

It soon disintegrated, however, when Fazlullah’s men attempted to expand their sphere of control to neighbouring Buner district.

As a result, Pakistani forces moved into Swat for the second time in two years, resulting in hundreds of deaths and millions of civilians displaced. Fazlullah was finally driven out of the valley by September 2009, with several of his top commanders captured.

But while the government and civilians rebuilt lives in the valley, Fazlullah continued to conduct operations in Swat remotely, from neighbouring Dir district and, as many locals tell Al Jazeera, the Afghan border provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.

From his base, Fazlullah ordered the targeted killings of elders who led peace committees against the Taliban, as well as rights activists. Among the dozens of people the Taliban killed or attempted to kill during this time was Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl activist who rose to global prominence following the attempt on her life.

Early history

Born in 1974 in the village of Kuza Bandai, Fazlullah spent his teenage years selling wooden shuttering and doing odd jobs selling items off pushcarts.

He then enrolled in an Islamic school, or madrassa, run by Sufi Mohammed, a prominent anti-government cleric and leader of the Tehreek-e-Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM). The TNSM had for years been agitating against the government to have Sharia law imposed in the Swat valley.

Fazlullah went on to join TNSM chief Mohammed when he led a group of fighters from Swat into Afghanistan to fight US forces following the invasion of that country in 2001. He also married Mohammed’s daughter.

By 2004, having returned from the Afghan war, Fazlullah started a local radio station in the valley, hosting a one-hour programme that, to begin with, focused on women’s role in Islam and society.

The show spread his ideas regarding a strict intepretation of Sharia law in all spheres of life. He also took a stance against polio vaccinations for children, dubbing them a “Jewish” or “Western” conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

‘Sharia or martyrdom’

His status as Mohammed’s son-in-law, a veteran of the Afghan war and his radio show all gained him increased prominence, and the man known locally as “Mullah Radio” was soon rivalling his father-in-law in leading the call for Sharia law in the valley.

His rise culiminated in him leading Eid prayers in the valley’s Kabal ground in 2007, an occasion that saw thousands fall in line behind him as he raised the cry of “Sharia or martyrdom!”

With such support, Fazlullah opened a madrassa of his own at Imam Dehri, imparting both religious knowledge and paramilitary training to those who enrolled, with a view to carrying out “jihad” against both the US and Pakistan.

By late 2007, Fazlullah’s chapter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban had established control over large parts of the valley, weathering a military operation that resulted in the Nizam-e-Adl peace deal.

His group had already established a parallel court system, and he outlawed the operation of businesses such as CD shops, which his group believed to be against Islam. They also carried out attacks against dozens of girls schools, based on the assertion that women should only receive an Islamic education.

During his time in control, Fazlullah ruled over Swat with an iron fist, publically executing both those who would stood against him and those who his group deemed to have violated Sharia law.

Blow to peace talks

Having been targeted in two military operations and engaged in a failed peace deal with Pakistan’s government in the past, it is unclear if Fazlullah will accept an offer of a return to peace talks in his new capacity as overall TTP chief.

Following his election, Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesperson for the TTP, told Al Jazeera that Fazlullah was picked because he was a hardliner who had refused to surrender to Pakistani forces.

The Reuters news agency quoted Shahid as saying: “There will be no more talks as Mullah Fazlullah is already against negotiations with the Pakistan government.

“All governments play double games with us. In the name of peace talks, they deceived us and killed our people. We are 100 percent sure that Pakistan fully supports the United States in its drone strikes.”

Aljazeera