Gen. Bajwa’s Heroic Task for Tribal Areas-KP Province

By Sajjad Shaukat                     

General Qamar Javed Bajwa who had been appointed as Chief of Army Staff in November 28, 2016 will retire on November 29, this year.

During the course of his tenure, the term of Bajwa Doctrine came under much discussion. In January 2018, military spokesman-Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen. Asif Ghafoor stated that Gen Bajwa wanted to make Pakistan a peaceful country and referenced the ‘doctrine’ as the army chief’s vision for the country. He elaborated: “Bajwa Doctrine will bring a durable peace in the country,” adding that cooperation between state institutions was vital in the war against terrorism.”

In this respect, supervising and commanding Pakistan’s Army’s services and guiding federal and provincial civil authorities as well as cooperation with them, Gen. Bajwa brought many positive and constructive changes in various provinces of the country. Under his control, sacrifices and services of the armed forces particularly of Army in successfully coping with the internal threat and external threats are praiseworthy.

But, Gen. Bajwa performed heroic task for mainstreaming of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

During his visit to South Waziristan on February 12, 2017, Gen. Bajwa lauded the troops’ bravery which enabled re-establishment of the state’s writ in the tribal belt. He also appreciated resolve of tribal brethren for supporting the Army’s effort.

Owing to Army Chief Gen. Bajwa’s efforts, Assembly of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province passed a resolution on December 15, 2016 in favour of merging FATA into KP.

In a historic move, the National Assembly on May 24, 2018 with a two-thirds majority voted in favour of a constitutional amendment to merge the FATA with the KP. Two allies of the ruling party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party opposed the bill. The bill also amended Article 246 of the Constitution according to which areas of Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) are to be merged in Balochistan and KP.

The polling was held for elections of KP Assembly in the merged tribal districts of FATA on July 20, 2019. Almost all the mainstream political parties, including independent candidates participated in the elections, while voter turnout remained decent.

In this context, spokesperson of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Nadeem Qasim had appreciated Army’s role for making a peaceful election happen.

Earlier, the government planned to spend Rs100 billion annually on the development of the erstwhile FATA—the uplift of the local population to bring them at par with the citizens of the other areas of the country and to remove their sense of deprivation.

During Gen. Bajwa’s term, continuing military operation the Zarb-e-Azb (Sharp and Cutting strike), in February 2017, the Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad (Elimination of Discord) aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the residual/latent threat of terrorism, and further ensuring Pakistan’s border security.

The tribal regions remained troubled for over a decade due to the US-led so-called war on terror. Nevertheless, under Gen. Bajwa’s command, through military operations, Pakistan’s Armed Forces and especially Army have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists, while country’s primary intelligence agency ISI has broken the network of these terrorist groups by capturing several militants. Besides other provinces, peace has been restored in the KP.

Notably, the Taliban fighters on August 15, 2021 entered the Afghan capital Kabul and seized power, taking control of Afghanistan. Their government clarified that Afghan soil would not be used for any terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS and TTP for terror-attacks against neighboring countries, including Pakistan. But, regarding some recent terror-attacks in country’s various provinces, particularly KP, sources suggested that some terrorists of the TTP which is based in Afghanistan have entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. Hence, military leadership has warned Kabul to check this infiltration. 

So as to sustain the hard-earned peace, Pakistan Army had also started the fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in June 2017 and has, almost, been completed this year in order to improve the security situation. It would stop preventing illegal cross-border movement—including those of terrorists who enter Pakistan from Afghanistan’s side and bring the drug-weapon trade to a halt. The fencing of the Pak-Afghan border which is 2,611-kilometre—843 border posts were planned, out of which most have been  have been completed.

For growing trade activities, more than 800-kilometres of roads have been constructed in the tribal districts for connectivity with country’s other Areas.

It is mentionable that external powers which have been supporting the Baloch Sub-Nationalists (BSNs) are also behind the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) as part of their unfinished agenda against Pakistan.

But, it is because of the Army’s development-works in the tribal areas that the PTM has failed in instigating the public against the federation, while, amalgamation of FATA/PATA with KP will result into multiple benefits for the people. Therefore, the merger was welcomed by the tribal people—giving them representation in the KP Assembly and the National Assembly.

The merger has been a long awaited move, as FATA was administered through Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) which was officially enacted in 1901 has its origins in laws which were enacted by the British colonialists to counter the opposition of the Pashtuns to British rule, and political agent acted as a justice along with other executive tasks. The tribal Sardars (Lords) who continued British practices were in favour of the division of FATA/PATA and KP.

Meanwhile, with the support of Army, the former government has opened Angoor Ada in South Waziristan, Ghulam Khan, North Waziristan and Kharlachi, and a border crossing with Afghanistan in Kurram tribal district. The reopening of the border with Afghanistan in tribal districts will create business opportunities for the locals.

While interacting with tribal elders at Mir Ali, North Waziristan, Army chief Gen. Bajwa on March 2, 2021 had called for vigilance to thwart hostile attempts to create chaos in the erstwhile tribal regions of North and South Waziristan. He explained: “Peace has largely returned to these areas. The hard-earned normalcy will be retained and enhanced through collective efforts of the local population, civil administration and law enforcement agencies (LEAs).”

With Gen. Bajwa’s efforts—a cricket match was held in Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on September 21, 2017. In this context, regarding the winning team, he said that peace has won in the NWA. He added that the match proved that Pakistanis are a peace-loving nation. Thus, he gave a strong message to the international community that peace has returned in the conflict zone.

Regrettably, at this juncture, several moves such as an assassination attempt on the former Prime Minister Imran Khan-Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on November 3, this year, continuation of his ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ [Real Freedom March] march, his direct arrival in Rawalpindi on November 26, expected to reach Islamabad along with his supporters, demanding early elections, refusal of the PDM government to accept Khan’s demand etc. show that and political entities and many media persons are moving the country towards anarchy or civil war. Reports also suggest that the government may announce a date for early elections.

Nonetheless, the people of the tribal areas are thankful to Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa who played a major role in integration of the tribal regions with the mainstream of the country. Therefore, whenever he visits these regions, tribal people raised slogans in his support and that of Pakistan Army.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com