(To be read in continuation of my earlier article titled And Now It's Maulana FM Radio's Turn)
In reprisal for the air strikes made by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan between October 6 and9, 2007, in which a large number of tribals were allegedly killed, angry tribals from the area have targeted the PAF. In a daring suicide attack near the PAF base in the Sargodhadistrict of Punjab from which the aircraft, which made the air strikes in the Mir Ali area had taken off, an unidentified suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden motorbike into a bus carrying PAF officials, including pilot trainees, to the Air Force base on November1, 2007, killing eight PAF officers and trainees and injuring 40 others, 21 of themcritically. One of the officers killed was of the rank of Squadron-Leader.
The commando raid into the Lal Masjid of Islamabad between July 10 and 13,2007, in which at least 300 tribal girls allegedly perished, the air strikes in the Mir Ali area in which many tribal women and children attending an open-air market were killed, and the current fighting between the para-military forces and members of theTehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi(TNSM) in the Swat Valley in which helicopter gun-ships are being used by the para-military forces have created an explosive situation over which Gen.Pervez Musharraf seems to be losing control.
The suicide bombers, who have been carrying out daring strikes in non-tribal areas, do not necessarily come from the tribal areas. There are many tribal youth studying or working in different cities of Pakistan and well-informed Police sources say that some of them have been volunteering themselves for the suicide missions.
Three tribal groups have taken to arms against Musharraf and the Armed forces-- the followers of Baitullah Mehsud from South Waziristan, those of Sadiq Noor from North Waziristan and of Mulla Fazlullah, the Amir of the TNSM. from the Swat Valley. These sources suspect that these tribals have been joined by a group of the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) led by Maitur Rehman and a group of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), which has a presence in the Swat Valley. Last year, there were reports of Maitur Rehman having been arrested by the Police at the headquarters of the JEM in Bhawalpur, but these reports were not confirmed.
There has been an impressive co-ordination of the activities of these groups, but it is not clear who exercises theco-ordination-- Al Qaeda or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or the Islamic Jihad Group, which is also an Uzbek group.
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B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
