Lahore: Pakistan is fighting a war against terrorism for a
couple of years now. Various operations were launched to counter this menace in
different areas of Pakistan. The Operation Zarb e Azb (Op ZeA), which was
launched in Waziristan region of FATA after the Karachi airport attack of 2014,
is the latest in this series; when in June 2014 the Army went for an offensive
in North Waziristan to wipe out terrorists and their hideouts. The operation
resulted in a large amount of weapons, explosives, propaganda material and
suicide jackets being recovered, and a large number of terrorists killed and a
number of soldiers embracing martyrdom.After the APS Peshawar attack on 16
December 2014, the action against terrorists gained momentum and the government
arranged an All Parties Conferenceto make a National Action Plan against
Terrorism. Although the NAP is still to be fully implemented, the Zarb-e-Azb is
being carried out with full dedication and plan.
To find out about the current national political and
military scenario, we interviewed Air Marshal (Retired) Shahid Latif a defense
and strategy analyst, to solicit his views on this as the first year of Op ZeA
has just passed. We also talked of his initial days in the Pakistan Air Force
speaks and his career, how he sees ZeA and the future of this region.
We started by asking about his motivation leading to winning
the Sword of Honor on graduation. Air Marshal Shahid Latif said that since
childhood he was always an individual who would pursue his goals wholeheartedly
and aimed for reaching the top. He is aself-made man, and no one from his
family was in the armed forces before him. He dedicated himself to the task at
hand, kept working hard and ultimately achieved nearly all his goals, which he
attributes to hard work, Allah’s blessings, and parents prayers. This led to
his not only getting the Sword of Honor but also performing outstandingly well
in academics, the two areas where cadets are judged. He thus not only got the
Gold Medal in BSc in the PAF academy, but also walked away with the Sword of
Honor, the two big awards one can achieve at the time of graduation.
When asked about his various important positions in the PAF,
especially as the Vice Chief of Air Staff, and how his decisions had an impact
on the force and the nation, he said that before being appointed the Vice Chief
of Air Staff, he was the Chief Project Director the proud project that Pakistan
handled called the JF 17 Thunder Project, as we know this is a fighter aircraft
that Pakistan made in collaboration with China and he led this project from the
Pakistani side.
He continued to say that today the JF 17Thunder aircraft is
the pride of the nation. It was a national project and it was run on national
funding and national support, just like Pakistan’s nuclear project. As PD he
had the power to run it autonomously, independently and in a record time of two
and a half years a fighter airplane was put in the air and it is now considered
the front line aero plane in the world, and is participating in all the air
shows. A few customers have booked the plane and it is going to make a huge
contribution in the economy of the country. He said no Air Force in the world
had ever participated in an aircraft design and development program, so this is
an exception. He said his second very important assignment was as Deputy Chief
or Air Staff (Operations); which he considers was even more important than the
VCAS position. In this position some decisions are made (like the position of
the CGS in the Army who virtually runs the Army show, including its operations
and even its procurement). Similarly the DCoS (Operations) does the same
things, and it is a very vital appointment.
Moving on the VCAS appointment, he said it operates at the
national level, and the incumbent is included at the national leveldecision
making, with contribution from the office of the Vice Chief, and office of the
DCAS Operations. Since there is a lot of inter-services interaction that goes
on from both of these offices, he said he was satisfied with the role and
decisions that were made at the national level, and he was part of. He said made
his contribution and by the grace of Allah, those decisions turned out to be
successful.
About operation Zarb e Azb which is an important issue with
factions in society which believe that talks and not operations should have
been the way forward and also that when launched it was launched late. AM
Shahid said, that those who feel that Op ZeA should have been launched earlier
were forgetful of the fact a number of operations were launched in FATA areas
for very a long time, and nearly seven out of those eight or nine zones were
cleared. North Waziristan being the most difficult to operate in was
intentionally pended, so that we could take care of some of the other zones and
then finally deal with it and ensure our effort and concentration goes into this
operation wholeheartedly.
He agreed that some conditions in NWA were deteriorating
with the passage of time; the option to open up this big front along with the
other fronts was better delayed than done earlier. This was also perhaps done
as we did not have the resources to deal with all of the fronts simultaneously
so I don’t think our decision to deal with it at this point in time was
incorrect. He agreed that we suffered due to the delay yet these are some of
the compulsions that one has to face in taking big decisions.
When asked if he was satisfied on the way Op Zarb e Azb was
being executed and how much of the area has been cleared without discrimination
he said, that one year down the line the Army stands tall in saying that yes
they have handled it, and handled it successfully; the success has been of the
magnitude that the whole world is now acknowledging this, and saying the
operations were impartial, unbiased and Pakistan did not cater for any good or
bad Taliban. This led to the dismantling of all networks regardless of whether
they had a past with Pakistan or not; and the whole world has appreciated this.
In the span of one year the biggest network of extremists and terrorists has
been taken care of the, and hopefully this is going to pay dividends in the
long run.
To a question about negotiations with the Taliban has been a
controversial topic, which seemed at times to dividethe society drastically, he
disagrees with those who thought that negotiations were the right way forward.
He said that when the current government took over they gave full one year for
negotiations and tried their utmost to bring the Taliban on the table. However
it was seen that this was not going to work. He said that even then he was a
very strong opponent of this approach, and kept saying that with people who
have a very different mentality, no peace agreement can take place through
negotiations, and only force is the answer; even if negotiations had to be
held, the use of force to cut them down to size, soften them, condition them
and them bring them to the table approach should have been used. However the
manner of trying to bring them to the table made them appearbigger than the
state, so it was bound to fail, and it failed. And ultimately today, it is
proved that we just wasted that one year. He said that in his opinion if there
was any waste of time it was that one year and not before that.
We then asked him about the use of the PAF in Op ZeA, as it
is generally accepted that the air force is more of a strategic and area target
weapon rather than for individual target acquisition, for which gun ship
helicopters are better suited he agreed with this and said that individual
targets are better handled by the gunships; however we should keep in mind that
gunships are vulnerable to ground attack, surface to air weapons and now that
it is known that the terrorists definitely had support from some foreign
agencies; so being mindful of that and to avoid any attrition, the operations
were led by the air force. Since the air force aircraft can fly and deliver
their load from a high altitude he was of the opinion that the air force was
used very well, very successfully, and the operation was mixed by using fighter
aero planes and gunships helicopters to deliver.
The operational requirements have recently led to Pakistan
putting in a demand for Viper helicopters from the UAS, which is better suited
than the Cobra gunships we currently have, in such operations; the cobra
helicopters can go up to a certain altitude, and above that are ineffective. So
a wide area in NWA is at high altitude where these terrorists escape and hiding
in, therefore to deal with those high altitudes we need a better gun ship, so
the demand for procuring Viper helicopters. Also now we are using drones that
are being fitted with battle hardware, and we have already successfully already
carried out experiment of missile delivery by drones. That is a capability that
the United States Air Force has; so with these drones coming into operation and
Viper helicopters being procured by Pakistan the forces will gain mastery even
in high altitude operations. So we see that the air force will always continue
to play a leading role, as they are very effective, and lethal, the weapons
that they carry are more effective than the gunship helicopters. Softening of
the enemy will continue to play a decisive and leading role; and along with
that with better gunship helicopters and drones the military will be better
able to take care of any such requirements in future operations.
When asked about the delay in the ending of the operation
and if the timeline had been extended in view of ground resistance etc, he once
again replied in the negative and putting the record straight said that first
of all, no timeline was given for Operation Zarb e Azb even when many people
were insisting that on a timeline. So while there was a roadmap, there wasno
timeline. Precisely for the reason that it was a very difficult operation, and
done in a very difficult terrain, and not being sure of the capability that the
terrorist had achieved and it was seen and discovered that there was a complete
weapons manufacturing industry in those areas; there were tunnels dug
underground for their safety and protection. So it has been a very tough
operation, as such giving a timeline is such operations is not a very wise
idea.However that one year down the line, nearly 80 to 90 percent of the area
has been recaptured, speaks very high of the dedication and planning that went
into conducting the Zarb e Azb.
He said Zarb e Azb actually has two parts, one is the
military operation, and the second is the civil administrations part of
resettling the IDPs. There were questions on this second aspect and if at all
the timeline is getting long it is because of the civil administrations part,
therefore everyone is saying that the government must come into action, and not
only resettle the people, they have to take over the administration of the
area. He said Swat is an example where even today the armed forces were
performing the civil administration duties, which is incorrect as embroiling
the troops in a task other than fight, evacuate the area, hand over to the
civil administration, and have the civil administration establish its control.
He said this is a weak area and here the performance has not been up to the
mark, so he urged the government to take charge so that the complete timeline
which obviously includes military operation, and resettling of the IDP’s, can
be brought a little short, and ultimately the armed forces can leave the area
handing it over to the civil administration.
Given the current political situation on the country, and
the calls from different quarters for the Army to come forward and play a
decisive role in creating a semblance of good governance and administration in
the country he replied, that first of all he had never been a great supporter
of military takeovers in Pakistan, and wanted to kill that right in the
beginning, then having said that, he said if we look at the past and see when
the military intervened, we see that it intervened when the civil or the
political government failed to satisfy people the. That is sadly true today as
well, and that at this point in time is also what is happening. He agreed that
as for the conditions today there is a huge failure of administration, and
governance in the country, there is corruption galore over here, the evil of
terrorism was uncontrolled, which through military operations we are trying to
overcome, there is nepotism here, facilities of life like water, like
electricity, like education, like health facilities are missing, so there is a
resentment among public and this is now being openly said that the government
has failed in all the different facets of governance.
And this frustration ultimately leads to people coming out
and openly saying that the armed forces of this country have a responsibility
towards internal and external security. So when people are living a miserable
life, they are not secure, they ask why are the armed forces are not taking
action? So this is more or less being heard again.
He believes that take over by the armed forces is not really
the solution and over the last two years; and even during the earlier five
years of PPP’s government the armed forces remained away from politics,
although the performance of the government was well below the mark and rather
poor. The military did not intervene, and now in the two years of this current
government the armed forces are sitting at a distance; yes they have been active
in helping the governmentwhether it is during floods, earth quake, in areas
suffering from drought like Thar, the armed forces have always come up and done
things normally their work as all these tasks fall under the civil
administration, but unfortunately when they fail, the armed come and fill that
vacuum.
Even the operation in Karachi is not the domain of the
Rangers or the armed forces; it is in the domain of the civil administration
and the civil law enforcement agencies. But knowing the condition of the police
who can hardly tackle any situation, you once again see rangers in action in
Karachi. And the latest is that even their progress, is being hampered by
political forces, and we know such operations suffer resistance from the
political forces. So these are some developments that don’t look very healthy.
However he said that overall he still feels that the
government must take charge; in order not to repeat our past history they must
perform, they must deliver, and that is the only way that people will support
them, otherwise just winning votes, coming to power, spending five years, mot
looking after people, is not the way to support democracy.
He was of the opinion that this is not democracy, it may be
called democracy, but actually we are not helping people, we are not looking
after them. So this was a dangerous situation, in the past it did not yield
good results, and if the government does not take charge it might again lead us
towards that side.
Since Air Marshal Shahid is invited by various TV Channels
as a defence analyst on various TV talk shows, we asked him if he was satisfied
with the standard of the debate on these TV shows, and if there should be some
sort of training for the Talk Show panelists like it is in many western countries?
He said that agreed with this opinion and most of our talk shows were a waste
of time as the people who represent different political partiesjust come on the
show to defend their own positions; often there are attacks and counter
attacks, blaming the others of corruption and the other talking of the
corruption of those that have questioned then; they are more interested who was
involved in the bigger corruption scandal, bigger mismanagement, bigger
inaccuracies, and this makes rarely makes the talk shows meaningful. He agreed
to our contention that panelists on the talk shows must be trained, be
representatives of the party, and must make the whole activity meaningful. As
things stand now they hardly discuss matters in the true spirit and they never
give any solution. While the talk shows are expensive in terms of finances, air
time and so many premiums, these are actually wasted. He said the media should
frame some rules and regulation governing the conduct of the participants and
the panelists, and those who do not come up to the agreed level or do not have
the reputation of meeting those requirements, should not be invited to the talk
shows.
Our final question was to ask Air Marshal Shahid to say
something about the conditions prevailing in the country and what message he
would like to give the readers. He started the answer by referring to the fact
that he would like relate the national situation to the international
situation, as we do not exist in isolation. Anything happening in the world
today is connected with other events. He related happenings far away from
Pakistan to the situation that prevails inside the country. This is true as
Pakistan today is faced with a very precarious situation; with the threat of
terrorism for over a decade, our fighting a war against terrorism, slowly and
gradually, Pakistan has come to be termed as the hub of terrorism; not only
that there are international agencies involved in fighting a proxy warfare on
our soil. Pakistan’s eastern neighbor being number one in that race, and now
there are open statements to prove how RAW has been involved in funding various
organizations here, and in training people to spread terrorism and to kill
people in Pakistan.
Today Pakistan stands at a very dangerous juncture. On the
other hand there are some openings for Pakistan to do better in all spheres;
the biggest one of them being the China-Pakistan cooperation in terms of a
trade route that is being built through Pakistan towards Gawadar. That is a
huge push development and we talking of something like 46 billion dollars of
investment; he asked where that investment would be made? Obviously no would
gamble in a place with law and order problem and lacks peace; and such a huge
investment can go waste.
The prerequisite for that and any other investment is that
we become normal, regain peace in the region, and actually eliminate terrorism;
we improve our governance, the people should be satisfied with the way the
government is performing, because if that doesnot happencan be protests etc.,
leading to a replay of the sittings by two parties mainly PTI in Islamabad for
long which was a state of protest and the business of the whole country
suffered.
So all of these issues must be addressed, and as he said
Pakistan is passing through a very crucial phase, on one hand there are huge
opportunities and openings, while on the other there are internal challenges
that are equally challenging and hard. Therefore it is incumbent upon the
government to handle these in the larger national interest so that Pakistan can
benefit from those opportunities and once and for all take a gigantic leap
towards improving its economy, which has always been a question mark; improving
law and order situation; and taking a huge step in terms of progress and
development for Pakistan.
The message is that we must look at the overall situation,
relate it to the national and international scene, and accordingly work out an
agenda both internal and external and follow it strictly so that we can take
out Pakistan from the so called mess, the word that we used in our question.
This article has been published in The Nation on 15 July 2015
