Fighting Insurgency or Defeating Insurgency.
Pakistan’s inner front has never been so vulnerable to hostile penetration as it is today for which we have worked diligently over decades to prepare the required ground. Consequently, we are in deep morass of insurgency and low intensity conflict from which it has become increasingly difficult to get out. Abundance of hate material, sabotage, subversion, bomb blasts, suicidal attacks, overt and covert militancy, gory acts of terrorism and large scale deadly insurgency have grievously hurt our social, economic, political and cultural life sparing no segment of the society. The erosion into our national power potential is so deep that it endangers the very structure of our state. The problems are so labyrinthine that there is no easy way out. It would require phenomenal national effort led by the men of wisdom and action to rid the society of the monstrous scourge. Oblivious to the colossal danger to our survival, we are engaged in fierce but unnecessary debates and squabbles leading to nowhere but self-destruction. Attention of today’s Pakistanis may be drawn to the visionary poet Allama Iqbal’s verses in “Armaghan-e-Hijaz” titled “Iblees Ki Majlis-e-Shura” which amply reflect the Mullah and Militant dominated/ polluted environment of Pakistan. Consequently we lack political unanimity or even consensus on how to direct our national potential on the path to triumphant emergence of Pakistan from the deadly affliction that pervades its soul and body. We have to analyze the situation to develop national consensus against the danger to our survival and then proceed to differentiate between fighting insurgency and defeating insurgency.
We may continue fighting and winning hundreds of battles at enormous cost and yet remain far away from winning the war against insurgency and terrorism.
There seems to be no end in near future to the vicious cycle and wild goose chase. The nation cannot afford to remain in a terrified and terrorized state forever and be pushed to the Stone Age slowly, systematically, and surely. The situation must change without further delay, enabling Pakistanis to be at peace with themselves and at peace with others. Sooner we do it, better it would be, if we want Pakistan to flourish and attain the status envisioned by its founding fathers.
Ingredients of Indirect Approach
The way forward to get out of the wretched state is not through application of military instrument alone but through adoption of all-encompassing indirect strategic approach to defeat insurgency and terrorism. We must understand that insurgents capitalize on societal problems, often called gaps; counter-insurgency addresses gaps. When the gaps are wide, they create a sea of discontent, creating the environment in which the insurgents can operate. We had been fighting the Marri-dominated and the Marri-led insurgencies since early days of Pakistan with stalemate as the best outcome. Our successive failures to defeat insurgency in Balochistan could be attributed to our utter lack of comprehension of the Baloch tribal system and thus non-appreciation of societal problems. None ever tried to understand the strangulating environment in which common tribesmen had been suffering since long. The state never tried to comprehend the debilitating environment with a view to liberate the hapless tribesmen from their psycho-social and politico-economic woes inflicted by the tyrannical Sardars/Nawabs. Thus the tribesmen had no alternative but to submit to their absolute masters. The overall objective of the indirect approach is to win over the masses by alleviating their sufferings and effecting visible and sustainable improvements in their socio-economic, psycho-political and cultural spheres of life. Thus conclusions from tribal environment suggested adoption of “Indirect Approach” having ingredients of success against the Marri-dominated insurgency which aimed to:-
• Create conducive environment for development, generate large scale economic activity and employment opportunities to benefit the local people.
• Develop, strengthen and demonstrate mutuality of long-term interests in peaceful co-existence and its dividends among all the stake-holders including the Marri & Luni tribes, the Govts of Balochistan and Pakistan.
• Lend credence to the Govt’s resolve and sincerity to alleviate the socio-economic sufferings of the Balochistanis, thereby enhancing public confidence in the people friendly policies of the Govt of Pakistan.
• Immense benefits going directly to local Waderas, Maliks and common tribesmen will effectively negate the venomous propaganda about usurpation of mineral resources of Balochistan by outsiders and act as a strong incentive for the masses and majority of the militants thereby weakening and alienating the hard core militants/terrorists and their masters.
• The incentives must aim at creating irresistible stakes for the masses and especially for the militants, e.g. adoption of their children for good quality education, sustenance of their dependents, adequate healthcare, social sector development, human resource development, and generation of massive employment opportunities; assurance for better life to the Marris, especially the Ghazinis, persuading them to part with their self-destruct inherited militancy.
• Winning over the tribes would lead to sanitizing the insurgency plagued areas and thus alienating the Marri Farraris; an indirect and the most effective way of defeating insurgency leading to enduring peace.
• The indirect strategic approach must ultimately aim at provoking significant psycho-social and politico-economic sustainable change in the erstwhile insurgency prone and the Sardars controlled landscape of Balochistan.
• COIN operations through application of military instrument alone must never be resorted to. However, if necessitated for the time being or forced upon, must be vengeance-free, brief and oriented toward single purpose of creating favorable environment for the indirect strategic approach to take on.
• Mobilization of the people through massive media and PR campaign to subdue the nefarious propaganda that distorts the image and noble intent of the indirect approach. Let the voice of the overwhelming majority be heard and felt propelling the masses to rise against the menace in partnership with the law enforcement agencies (LEAs).
• Every effort must be made to enhance the credibility, being essence of durable relations between LEAs and the tribes. It is thus vital that we neither over-promise nor under-deliver.
Manifestation of “Indirect Strategy” Approach “Chamalang”
Allah’s blessings upon Pakistan are limitless. We are lucky to have abundant natural resources but equally unlucky not to exploit the same for improving the lot of people of Pakistan. I shall briefly give you an example of a treasure that remained a source of 33 Years Long Tribal War instead of being hunted for peace, progress and prosperity of the warring tribes i.e. Chamalang Coalmines; better call it goldmines. A documentary named “Black Pearl” was also repeatedly telecast on PTV and other channels. You may like to watch proceedings of the Defense Day of Pakistan-2008 held at the Army Auditorium and witnessed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan and watched by millions of people on almost all TV channels. Before giving the gist of Chamalang Project, let me quote to you my first impression on Balochistan and subsequent prayer on assuming command of a Division already engaged in fighting the Marri led insurgency, ” My first visit to the interior of Kohlu, Barkhan and Loralai revealed to me the true extent of haplessness and woeful psycho-social and politico-economic conditions of the Marri, Luni and other tribesmen. I dreamt to alleviate their sufferings and ameliorate their wretched state but how; I didn’t know. On every subsequent visit, I turned to Allah and prayed for His guidance and help to give me the vision, strengthen my resolve, show me the path, remove the obstructions and lead me to attain the noble objective”. Surely Allah answered my prayers and thus propelled me to focus on Chalamang; a great treasure to be hunted for all the stakeholders i.e. the Marris, the Lunis, the investors, the contractors and the Govts of Balochistan and Pakistan.
Aforementioned motivation led me to conceive the great idea in April 2006, develop it into a consensus Tripartite Agreement of 6 December 2006, and evolve a comprehensive plan and mechanism in January 2007 for its implementation followed by its flawless execution through an operation, which I named “VIRTUOUS VENTURE”, i.e. the Chamalang Project whose highlights are as under:-
• Chamalang is about 40-45 KM north of Kohlu and 30-35 KM north-west of Barkhan, though far away but falls in the jurisdiction of Loralai.
• Chamalang coal reserves are 7 KM wide and 60 KM long which join with the coal, oil and gas bearing ranges in neighboring dists of Barkhan, Kohlu and Musakhel.
• Chamalang Coal estimated to be approx 500 million tons, being one of the best and easiest to excavate in Pakistan, is worth about US $ 50 billion.
• Chamalang, though in Luni area, had been under forcible occupation of the Marri tribe being superior in fighting potential since ages, especially after initial excavation in 1973.
• The tribal war claimed innumerable casualties and an area dominated by the one tribe was out of bound for the other. It was mandatory for a Marri to kill a Luni trespasser and vice a versa.
• Chamalang with a radius of about 50 KM was the stronghold of the Marri Farraris and other hardened criminals/militants/terrorists. None other than the Marris could ever think of entering into that area.
• All, without any exception, opposed the project because of its inherent risks and dangers making it almost impossible to undertake.
• I took a deliberate decision based on my appreciation that benefits and virtues of the project would far outweigh its risks, dangers and cost and therefore accepted the challenge.
• Both civil and military hierarchy expected and thus prepared to accept a large number of causalities on both sides. Allah be praised, not a single drop of blood was shed on either side.
• Today more than 80,000 people are directly employed at the site and each on the average earns Rs. 20,000/- per month. This means Rs. 1.6 billion are disbursed to the work force alone every month.
• A Labor Township, consisting of 4 Labor Colonies, worth about Rs. 2 billion has come up. Phase-2 of the Township will have more colonies.
• A 25-Bedded Hospital including residential accommodation for the doctors and staff has been constructed.
• An attractive “Chamalang Beneficiaries Healthcare Program” with benefits including huge incentives for the doctors, paramedics and staff, and free treatment/medicine going down to the dispensary level. More than 100,000 Balochi patients received free treatment, including eye surgeries with gratis eye lens, from the medical camps frequently established in the far-flung areas.
• The most popular “Chamalang Beneficiaries Education Program” is sponsoring the tribal children in very good quality schools. Today about 7,000 tribal children, overwhelmingly Marri, are studying all over Pakistan in such schools where my children used to study. The Luni children are also availing the benefit.
• Roads, tracks, electricity, telecom, Police Station, water supply schemes have been provided that helped generation of economic activity and a chain of linked businesses.
• So far approx 3 million tons of coal has been added to the national economy thus saving huge foreign exchange.
• A 2,500 strong force, known as Chamalang Guard, from the Marri tribe has been raised that is now protecting the coalmines.
• Following an indirect strategic approach, the Marri led and Marri dominated insurgency in Balochistan has been defeated effectively. This had never happened in the history of Pakistan or even in the British Raj. The Marri tribesmen, instead of being hostile, are now friends of Pak Army.
• Chamalang Project is proving to be a harbinger of change in the psycho-social and politico-economic structure of the suffocating tribal system. In fact signs of silent revolution and rebellion were visible on the horizon of Kohlu and Loralai when I assured the common tribesmen that they would get their due share from the coalmines. Initially it was too good for them to believe but on my continued assurance, support and delivery of promises, they started asserting themselves against the despotic Sardars. Their self-assertion was indicative of the success of our mass mobilization campaign that strengthened my resolve of converting the tyrannical society into egalitarian society. A momentous start, responsive to the people’s aspirations has been taken that would induce, provoke and bring psycho-social and politico-economic change in the Marri and Luni areas and subsequently pervading whole of Balochistan, provided we follow the Chamalang Model.
• A little event that initiated the process of success for me was to the utter disbelief and surprise to the Marris when I had hugged their child and the snapshot taken on the occasion was enlarged, framed and sent to the parents with my hand-written remark, “To Marri children whom I love and who have every right to education and better life”.
• The project is too grand and consequential to believe. “A MIRACLE CALLED CHAMALANG” is a four page news report that appeared in The Herald issue of June 2008. I feel honored when the writer pays rich tribute by saying, If there is ever a mega project in Balochistan, it is none other than Chamalang”.
• The project has not received the media coverage it deserves except for some scattered efforts here and there. Mr. Talat of Aaj has made a program and few others like Mr. Haroon-ur-Rashid have mentioned in their columns while ISPR has been doing whatever they could do within their limitations. I also learnt that Geo TV was interested to make a movie on this mega project with much larger scope than “Khuda Ke Liay”.
• If Chamalang can be conceived, developed, planned and executed in one year, imagine cumulative effects of 64 such grand projects since 1947 on the psycho-social and politico-economic landscape of Balochistan. It is never late, we can still do hundreds of such projects as God has gifted us with immense resources of oil, gas, mines and minerals which await a few good men/women to come forward and exploit those for people of Balochistan/Pakistan.
Without going into further details of this mega project, suffice it to say that the Chamalang model amply demonstrates how destiny of the people and the area could be changed and how insurgency could be defeated effectively even under adverse environment. The economic, social and political benefits of Chamalang will continue to grow proportionate to its expansion.
The enormity of this single project will be better appreciated when compared with the Govt’s recently launched “Agaaz-e-Haqooq-e- Balochistan” that aims at providing employment to just 5,000 people vis-a vis 80,000 already employed directly at Chamalang.
This is just one facet of the project. Ordinary measures promising employment or recruitment cannot address an extra-ordinary situation created by our neglect over the past 60 years. We don’t blame the present govt for all the miseries but we do certainly expect it to, at least, understand the challenge, determine the right course and take few steps to the right direction.
Why can’t the success story of Chamalang written and played without much of the Govt help be repeated by undertaking hundreds of similar projects with full govt support both at the provincial and national levels?
Mass Mobilization Campaign.
A well-orchestrated campaign aimed at mass mobilization is an essential prerequisite for the success of the Indirect Strategic Approach. We have to garner unequivocal support of the whole society in pursuit of the lofty objective of earning a most respected and dignified place for Pakistan in the world where each Pakistani is proud of himself and proud of his country. We, the civil society, have to play the part dutifully, actively and effectively that must be fully projected, or even over-blown initially, by the Pakistani media so that the campaign gets a momentous start and gathers the desired support.
Any voice opposed to the lofty ideals must meet the superior argument, logic, collective wisdom and force of the overwhelming majority of the nation that wants a peaceful, progressive, prosperous and harmonious Pakistan. Chamalang has successfully demonstrated how to empower the most subjugated, oppressed, strangulated, deprived and alienated tribal people enabling them to improve their socio-economic and psycho-political conditions in the most difficult region and adverse environment of Balochistan. Working for achievement of the lofty objective is far easier in other parts of Pakistan.
Therefore we must move with the conviction that taking Pakistan out of the present state of despondency and making it a great country, though arduous, is very much possible. Let us join hands and rise against the systematic betrayal, alienation and exploitation of the people of Pakistan and empower them to empower Pakistan.
