Addressing Pakistan’s security concerns

The branding of Pakistan as a “putative ally” for arresting Pakistanis who helped the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden by US Senator Patrick Leahy during a Senate hearing on June 15, propelled the American administration to launch Admiral Mike Mullen to Pakistan with a fresh ‘set of offers’ that addresses Islamabad’s security concerns towards Afghanistan and India. Admiral Mullen assessed in the Senate Appropriation panel’s defence subcommittee, that Pakistan remains critical to US strategy and the US must continue to pursue a partnership with Pakistan. The drifting toward a more contentious or fractured relationship is detrimental to US interests in strategically defeating al-Qaeda in the region. It is generally agreed that the cost of abandoning or ostracizing Pakistan would be too high as US did it in late 1980s and early ‘90s. As part of these efforts, President Obama is meeting 12 US lawmakers to persuade them not to bring further restriction on US economic and military assistance to Pakistan.

One of the contentious issues that divide the security establishment of the two countries is the US insistence on early launch of military operation against Taliban factions, in particular, the Haqqani network — that Americans allege is the launching pad for violence in Afghanistan. Pakistan contends that an urgent operation in North Waziristan will destroy our long-term shared objectives to root out terrorism from the roots. The gains achieved from South Waziristan, Bunner, Lower Dir, Shangla and Swat areas need to be consolidated — lest it may not go to militants again. In addition to this, Pakistan military became over-stretched in providing relief operations during last summer’s worst-ever flooding that affected one-fifth of the entire population. However, Pakistan military has affirmed their resolve to rein in extremists activities in North Waziristan and will move at a time of their own choosing after assessing own priorities, national interests and political consensus that imperative for its success.

Public opinion is divided and most political leaders have been warning the government of serious implications of such an operation that may permanently antagonize the Pashtun population. The second controversial issue is the use of pilotless drone strikes on the tribal areas of Pakistan. The number of US predator drone strikes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border by the CIA Special Activity Division has risen dramatically in 2010 under President Barrack Obama, surpassing all-time total number of drone attacks between 2004-2009. CIA Director Leon Panetta, without acknowledging the extent of the drone programme, has called it “very effective.” Uptill as of 16 May, 2011, the US has carried out 240 strikes, rooting out just 20 terrorists and killing 2352 innocent civilians. According to Brookings Institution, drone attacks are killing at least 10 civilian for every militant killed. Pakistan challenges that attacking militants on the soil of a long-time US ally, is strongly resented because the drones kill hundreds of innocent civilians along with few militants, causing widespread resentment against the Americans. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief, Imran Khan has recently requested the Supreme Court to declare drone strikes as ‘war crime’ and a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. It is high time the US must consider the use of unmanned aircrafts in side settled areas of Pakistan. The third arguable issue is that the US must actively expand economic and military assistance to Pakistan, including supporting the reconstruction opportunity zones (ROZs) for tribal areas of Pakistan — so promised many years back but yet to be fulfilled. Rapidly expand trading opportunities, including fast tracking a bilateral trade agreement between the US and Pakistan. There is an expeditious need to increase the Coalition Support Funding to $2 billion a month to support the important role of Pakistan in fighting terrorism.

Another important justifiable security concern relates to India. Pakistan sees India’s increasing presence in Afghanistan as a threat to its security. India is using Afghanistan’s territory to launch attacks in Balochistan seeking to balkanise Pakistan. Pakistan has given proofs of Indian involvement in exacerbating the turmoil in Balochistan via Afghanistan but India is unlikely to ever accept such a charge.

RAND scholar Christine Fair, a leading American expert on South Asia disclosed in an objective analysis carried by ‘American journal Foreign Affairs’ has validated Pakistan’s legitimate claim about India’s involvement in fanning unrest in Balochistan.

Pakistan’s fifth legitimate security concern is that US must endorse security guarantee against India on the eastern plank of the country. The US wants to increase the number of Pakistani troops deployed to stamp out extremism on the Western front. “Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan” said over 147,000 Pakistani troops were participating in the ongoing campaign against the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal region. Pakistan argues that there always remain a possibility of facing a threat of conventional war from the eastern borders, therefore, it cannot scale down the strength of the troops deployed on the eastern borders alongside India. It is pertinent to mention that at one point Indian troops deployed along Pakistani border reached four hundred thousand. This level of concentration of Armour and Mechanized Forces near Pakistani border was obviously a cause of worry for Pakistan. The factor of Indian threat has not vanished and will have to be obviously catered for in the overall defence matrix of Pakistan.