Terrorists can never be eliminated as long as Pak persists with proxy-oriented policies: Editorial

Islamabad : An editorial in a Pakistani daily has said that as long as Pakistan persists with proxies to project foreign and security policy interests, the terrorists in the country can never be eliminated.

Ever since ISI chief Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam”s visit to Washington, the western press and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have been saying that Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has committed to ISAF Commander General John Allen that the Pakistan army would launch joint operations with the U.S. in North Waziristan.

General Kayani, however, through an ISPR statement, has clarified that no such commitment has been made. The statement went on to make a clear distinction between “coordinated actions” and “joint operations”, the former implying separate actions on each side of the border by either side, the latter joint operations on either side of the border.

According to the editorial in the Daily Times, ”public” sensitivities and ”strategic assets” considerations aside, ”coordinated actions” would fail to do some things crucial to success.

First and foremost, such actions would fail to stop cross-border attacks both ways, the Haqqanis being at freedom to attack in Afghanistan from FATA, and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) at liberty, as it has been doing of late, to attack Pakistani security forces from Afghan soil since neither would be pressed by the respective allied forces on either side, it said.

Two, such actions would fail to seal the border to prevent the Haqqani network fighters and the TTP from fleeing across the border whenever under military pressure. A parallel may be drawn with the long-drawn-out operations the Pakistani military has been conducting for years in FATA, it added.

The conundrum needed to revisit is the contradiction at the heart of the military”s policy in FATA in general and North Waziristan in particular: Pakistan cannot hunt with the Haqqanis and against the TTP when the two are collaborating with each other, it concluded.