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| Taliban leaders' freedom in Pakistan! | | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, MARCH 6
THE remarks of Pakistan's ambassador to the United States that increased pressure on Islamabad could undermine Gen. Parvez Musharraf is a very serious message. The warning follows US congressional threats to cut off aid failing to 'do better' in the war against terrorism. Gen. Musharraf's post 9/11 pro-US bent has already angered many within his country. As things have gone from bad to worse in Afghanistan, Islamabad has been continuously on the receiving end for still toeing Washington's line. Now, with constant pestering from Kabul and pushing from Washington, Pakistan's leadership is growing isolated on the international terror-war platform.
The present course is cause for unusual concern because continued isolation for Gen. Musharraf could well result in his ouster, or worse, removal altogether. That would leave it wide open for the country's hardline clergy - which has strong links in institutions across the board - to forcefully fill the power vacuum. To counter critics' concern that the Musharraf regime is drumming to the worst-case-scenario-rhetoric to buy more time for the military establishment, the West should put more pressure on Pakistan's upcoming elections to be fair and free. But the Pakistan-specific policy for the immediate future should consider Gen. Musharraf's uncomfortable position.
As argued before in this newspaper, Pakistan has employed a mix of fight and talk to rally around the untamed frontier bordering Afghanistan. And while the two-pronged approach has not exactly yielded the ideal result, it has disrupted enemy activity, helped net in criminals, decreased cross-border infiltrations, and kept Pakistan as the best performer so far in the war against terrorism. Pakistan continues to play a crucial role in Afghanistan's troubled history. In the past, it has played a significant role in keeping tribal infighting at a minimum. In the interest of a stable Asian region, it is imperative that Pakistan not be pushed too hard against the wall.
According to some analysts, the reported arrest of the Taliban's former Defence Minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, could backfire on Islamabad. It offers the most salient evidence to date of what Pakistan has long denied: that its soil is a sanctuary for Taliban leaders and their fighters. The Pakistani government has yet to officially confirm the arrest, which was leaked to the media by anonymous government sources recently. But, if true, it is the highest-level arrest of a Taliban commander on Pakistani soil since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.
The controversy sharpens rising concern, both in the US and abroad, that Pakistan could be playing a dangerous game of duplicity, appeasing Washington with high-profile arrests while refusing to sever fully its ties to old Taliban allies. "[Akhund] cannot be alone. I can only infer that a senior [commander] cannot venture alone in Quetta and sit quietly", Ijaz Khattak, a professor of international relations at the University of Peshawar, was quoted as saying by the Christian Science Monitor. Such fears come as US Vice-President Dick Cheney met last Friday with Pakistan's President Gen. Musharraf in Islamabad, a visit many saw as part of a stepped-up pressure campaign on Pakistan.
Like many of the Taliban's highest leaders, more mysteries surround Akhund than discernable facts. Once the Taliban's Defence Minister, he is considered one of only two members of the Taliban's highest leadership council with direct contact to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's spiritual leader, himself in hiding since the regime's ouster in 2001. Akhund is believed to move freely between Afghanistan to Pakistan's tribal belt, and carries a 1 million dollar bounty on his head.
Mystery also shrouds his arrest. Local media reports, citing anonymous security officials, say Akhund was seized along with other prominent operatives on a tip-off from American intelligence and is now being interrogated jointly by Pakistani and US officials. The US Embassy in Islamabad says it has no comment on the matter, while the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, could not verify the information.
To many, the timing of Akhund's arrest is highly suspect. For almost six years, Akhund evaded capture, critics say, but he was arrested only hours after Cheney met with Musharraf. The White House has yet to make the contents of that meeting public and maintains that Cheney's visit was not meant to send a stark message. Even if Akhund's arrest is verified, it is unlikely to deal a huge setback to the Taliban, analysts warn. Like Al Qaida, the Taliban have learned to operate in independent units. Akhund is a large symbolic target; his arrest would undercut morale. But others are likely to quickly take his place, analysts say, showcasing the insurgency's flexibility.
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