The least bad option for targeting jehadis in Pakistan
Drone strikes by the US inside Pakistani territory are controversial, to say the least. The opinions on these strikes are heavily polarised. Those opposing drone strikes make the following arguments. One, these drone strikes kill innocents. Two, these strikes violate the sovereignty of Pakistan. Three, they send a wrong message to Pakistanis and create more terrorists. All these arguments have merits till we examine them closely.
Pakistani society is at such a state that nothing that the US does or doesn’t do seems to send the right message to Pakistanis. Pakistani media (rated 151 out of 175 in world free press index) can be trusted to twist any story to direct the public anger towards the US. That these drone strikes create more terrorists is an attractive idea but remains unproven by any factual research or ground reportage. Even if there were no drone strikes, there are enough grudges against the US — from Iraq or Afghanistan — that can be exploited by the jehadis to lure more young men into jehad.
The sovereignty question is again a very attractive proposition in theory. But not in practice, if you look a little closer. Pakistan’s sovereignty was not violated by the US Navy Seals team at Abbottabad but by Osama bin Laden who stayed in that city for a decade. Similarly, US would not need to fire missiles from its drones if Pakistan had the will, willingness or the capacity to act against al Qaeda and other jehadis who have formed a base in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Till 2007, al Qaeda had actually grown stronger by basing itself in these areas before US drones started disrupting its leadership. If Pakistan would have been able to uphold the sovereignty of its land against al Qaeda and other terror groups, the question of US violating Pakistan’s sovereignty would never arise.
A major source of angst and anger is over the death of innocent civilians. Some innocents are surely dying in the missiles fired by these drones. But no one has made a cogent case so far that the US is deliberately targeting innocent civilians in tribal areas. They are, to use the unfortunate military term, “collateral damage”.
But all of this still misses the fundamental point of this debate. What is the alternative to these drone strikes? Bombing raids by fighter aircraft, strafing by helicopter gunships, use of missiles or pounding by artillery fire. These are the methods used by Pakistan in Balochistan and in tribal areas against the ‘bad’ jehadis. They have all the disadvantages of drone strikes, and worse. They are far more inaccurate, more visible and would be more violative of Pakistan’s sovereignty than any pilotless aircraft.
Of course, there is another option. To leave the tribal areas of Pakistan completely untouched so that al Qaeda and its affiliates can base themselves there and spread terror across the globe. While Pakistan may be comfortable with that, the rest of the world doesn’t share that view. Countries like India, who have particularly borne the brunt of terror over the years, may not be publicly welcoming the use of US drones but would be glad that the jehadis in Pakistan’s tribal areas are unsettled due to the fear of missiles raining from the sky.
The article is absolutely right on the ball. However, no excuses or justification is required for bombing Pakistan back to the Stone Age. By completely obliterating Pakistan, at one stroke one would remove the world’s biggest breeding ground of Islamic terrorists but also get rid of their nuclear weapons.
Obliterating Pakistan altogether from the face of this Earth is an urgent and necessary requirement. Will it be done ??? I think the odds are less than 1%.
The jehadis of Pakistan are based in Islamabad / Lahore / Quetta,in fact all major cities and towns today.As they are actively supported by the ISI they do not violate the sovereignty of the state, to put it in simple terms.In fact these forces are the asymmetric option of warfare adopted by the Pakistanis and are being utilised with impunity in their neighbouring states.The Indian political establishment recently received a reality check when Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar was ambushed on live TV by the media in Pakistan, when the founder of the LeT, suddenly appeared on the program and started actively participating in the debate. The UPA govt. was scurring to contain the fallout!!
The jehadis are the so called ‘non state actors’ of Pakistan & their demise worries nobody in that country.As mercenaries they are expendable assets.To combat this form of asymmetric warfare the Indian state should harbour no remorse and utilise all legitimate forms of force including drones. These jehadis are most vulnerable to low cost drone warfare and is a perfect response by the establishment to harry and hunt them in all holes and mavens they reside in.
The Indian Army / Navy needs to be beefed up like never before, to prosecute these jehadis by drone warfare all along the land & sea borders of India.Strikes should be carried out as these jehadis approach our border with Pakistan. It is a viable option of prosecuting armed terrorists in no mans land without raising or upping the ante in bilateral relations.
The recent agreement to train Afghan forces by the Indian Army should include a module on utilisation of drones to combat the Taliban, who are equally vulnerable to drone warfare. Asymmetric solutions have to be used to combat these jehadi forces in the years ahead and an industrial base must be created for the private / public sector aerospace companies to manufacture these drones in India in large numbers. The jehadi problem in South ASIA is likely to be with us in the decade or two ahead.