Revisited
the Swat Operation By Sajjad Shaukat (JR178SS51)
The Swat Operation which started on May 16, 2009 still
remains in the mind of every patriot Pakistani. The area occupied by the
terrorists was successfully cleared by Pakistan’s Armed Forces.
In this regard, Swat peace accord was signed on
February 15, 2009 between the government and the militants led by Sufi
Muhammad, head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It was agreed to
establish Nizam-e-Adl in Malakand Division and Kohistan District of Hazara in
return for Maulvi Fazlullah (Sufi’s son-in-law) led militants, surrendering
arms and refraining from all sorts of violent acts. Meanwhile, National
Assembly had passed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
But, by transgressing the peace pack, Taliban
re-initiated their previous practice of beheadings, kidnappings, attacks on the
check posts of the security forces etc. In Swat, their anti-social, anti-Islam
and inhuman tactics such as attacks on government buildings, girls’ school,
video shops and police stations, using car suicide bombers had also been
destabilizing Pakistan. In some regions, particularly in Swat, Taliban leaders
had created states within the state, and had been involved in a number of
crimes such as drug-smuggling, forced marriages, hostage-takings for ransom and
car-snatching. Moreover, by setting aside the terms of the peace agreement, the
Taliban equipped with heavy weapons started making checkpoints, strengthening
their position in Swat and Dir. They refused to renounce arms, and even entered
Buner.
In these adverse circumstances, the military
operations were re-conducted to restore peace in these affected areas, and to
get rid the innocent people of the brutalities of the Taliban. Overwhelming
public, belonging to every province of Pakistan and all the segments of society
supported the Swat and Malakand military operations, as majority of the people
are against the Taliban style of Sharia. An all-parties conference (APC) vowed
to unite the nation against insurgency in these regions, pledging to end
terror.
In this respect, in May 16, 2009, Pakistan’s Armed
Forces started military operation in Swat. And, within less than three months,
Pakistan’s forces successfully ejected the well-trained and well-armed Taliban
militants out of Buner, Dir, Swat and other adjoining areas. By sacrificing
their lives, our forces killed and captured thousands of the militants—breaking
their backbone by eliminating their control and command structure. Reports
suggested that tens thousands of the Taliban had fled Afghanistan.
It is mentionable that during the Swat Operation, the
TTP militants had been supported by some foreign secret agencies, especially
Indian RAW. Through their well-established networks in Afghanistan, they were
sending arms and weapons to the Swat-based terrorists with a view to weakening
Pakistan which is the only nuclear country in the Islamic World.
In fact, the different war between Pakistan’s Armed
Forces and the TTP insurgents in Swat was simply a ‘clash of wills’ between two
entities. Military thinkers agree that although the physical force will
determine the type and scale of war, yet it is the ‘will to fight’ or ‘moral
force’ that determines the outcome of war. Clausewitz puts it this way, “One
might say that the physical force seems little more than the wooden hilt, while
moral factors are the precious metal, the real weapon.”
In his book, “Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army
Performance, 1939-1945”, Creveld identifies the elements of ‘moral force’, whom
he calls “fighting power, the willingness to fight and the readiness, if
necessary, to die.” The greater these elements, the less vulnerable an armed
force will be to demoralization. ‘Moral force’, then, is the crucial factor in
determining the combat power of any belligerent.
During the successful military operation, retreat of
the Taliban from Swat has proved that such elements like ‘will to fight’ and
‘moral force’ have been more noted in Pakistan’s Armed Forces who have exerted
psychological impact of causing fear and shock, resulting into demoralization
among the Taliban militants.
Nevertheless, there are various causes which
demoralized the insurgents of Swat. Firstly, high ‘moral force’ and ‘will to
fight’ coupled with strong determination and cohesiveness as noted in Pakistan’s
Armed Forces played a key role in expelling Taliban out of Swat. In this
regard, airstrikes by Pakistan Air Force targeted their strongholds. And during
street to street fighting, without bothering for their lives, and by
air-dropping commandos at the risky places, our forces made a great headway in
disrupting the Taliban supply routes. They besieged them at various hotspots,
rendering them unable to send reinforcements to their fighters. Secondly,
morale of Pak Army was very high. Thirdly, local people started denying the
Taliban sanctuaries, and disrupted their links with each other. Fourthly,
general masses of Swat opposed the brutal acts of these terrorists which
compelled them to leave their houses. They came to know that under the cover of
Islamic laws—terror, not Sharia was militants’ real agenda. Hence, they were
misusing Jihad which does not allow suicide attacks in killing their own Muslim
brethren.
Although terrorists have again started subversive
activities, yet these are on small scale, as compared to the past, because the
main networks of various militant outfits have been broken by the ongoing
military operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad.
As a matter of fact, Pakistan’s Armed Forces have
successfully broken the backbone and organized capability of terrorists to
launch well thought-out attacks against the government assets. Terrorism will
finally be totally eliminated from Pakistan. It appears, as if the militants have
lost major grounds, and in severe frustration, they are trying to create some
kind of so-called pressure on the government and the Armed Forces which have
castigated them to put up strong resistance.
It is notable that when the heavy-armed Taliban
entered Swat, Dir and Buner, on April 23, 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton had stated that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of
terrorists. But, when Pakistan’s Armed Forces ejected the Taliban insurgents
out of the affected areas, then American high officials including Ms. Clinton
had admired the capabilities of Pak Army.
We can conclude that it was because the ‘moral force’
of Pakistan’s Armed Forces, which defeated the insurgents of Swat.
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
