The recent attack on Peshawar air base with numerous casualties of our forces reinforces a point which is being presented by many in the intellectual circles. That point is that you cannot defeat an enemy who has a strong ideological narrative by arrests and army operations. There are many pseudo intellectuals who think that TTP is a bunch of brainwashed bearded people somewhere in Swat or Waziristan or karachi and can be rounded up and killed. Well I think they have tried and failed miserably for the last 15 years. We are still at the same position which Musharraf thought he would take us out of, Kiyani on the same lines planned like a professional soldier and now General Raheel is moving on to end it all. Their strategy was loud and clear. It was to make TTP unpopular, isolate it from general public and do military operations to finish it off.
However, the problem was not as simple as it seems. TTP is not a group of CIA or RAW funded mullas even though these agencies might have some influence over them. TTP is a reactionary narrative to a brutal reality faced by Pashtuns which is coupled with the ideological aspect of Jihad and Islam. And as long as these two aspects remain or escalate, the situation will get even worse. Let me discuss them one by one.
The first aspect that fuels TTP and motivates its followers to give the ultimate sacrifice and blow themselves up and punish the forces and even the general masses is the reactionary narrative of Pashtuns. Pashtuns, by their nature, have been difficult to control by the British. Since the 9/11 incident affected the Pashtun belt of KPK directly, the war spillover was natural in our tribal belts across the artificially created lines by Durand during partition. This did not incite much reaction since Pak army was not initially involved. Americans however, eager to WIN the war, wanted serious action by pak army in these areas. The army had always resisted in fighting their own people in the tribal regions but since the drone strikes started and even army was pushed by Musharraf in these regions, the Pashtuns faced an enemy at their home. This enemy were those who once created them, nurtured them, taught them how to fight. The reaction was inevitable and much expected by the army. The drone strikes, the F16 bombings, especially the Bajor madrassa attack which killed 80 students and several targeted operations killed many innocent civilians including women and children intensified the situation. Then, came the operations where people in hundreds of thousands were ordered to leave their homes. They were forced to live miserable lives in camps while their whole life belongings were either destroyed by bombings or stolen. They were given media coverage in a negative manner as if they are the enemies of the state and are hiding all the terrorists amongst themselves. This created a reactionary narrative of injustice against the Pashtuns and they were forced to retaliate with utmost craze to get revenge. This reactionary narrative was not only carried by laymen but influentials from amongst the tribal people and it still exists today.
The second aspect is coupling it with Jihad and Islam. This makes the movement extremely lethal and includes non-pashtuns in a natural way. This aspect came from the war in Afghanistan which was being fought against the infidels Americans and considered Jihad by Afghans and Pashtuns. When Musharraf joined the Afghan war as an ally, the narrative was quite easily built that those who support the enemy are the enemies themselves. This is reinforced by Quranic verses and Hadiths which explicitly mention that those MUSLIMS who are allies of the kuffar are amongst them. This made them motivated enough to fight the Pakistani army and the people in a way they fight the Americans. They declared kufr to the army soldiers and officers and claimed that they are waging jihad against the pak army. Interestingly, steps taken by the forces were also consolidating their thinking, like the operation at Lal Masjid in Islamabad, then the ban on all jihadi groups, rolling back kashmir jihad, strict surveillance of Masajid, Ulema and Madaris etc. These steps spreaded this movement to all parts of Pakistan and especially those places where the jihadis of Zia Regime were predominant. This also led to the revival of Al-Qaeda based thinking that those who are praying in mosques or are at shopping malls should be bombed because they too are infidels for supporting their governments. Even though there are several evidences that it was CIA who was also supporting the TTP in the name of Raymond Davis and Blackwater. This now became not only a Pashtun resistance but also an ideologically endorsed jihad against the Pak army.
This narrative is attractive to the Pakistani generation which has seen Afghan jihad as a saviour of Muslim world. They have soft corner for all jihadis and therefore you can see that the recent arrest of well educated people like Saad Aziz and well settled businessmen like Sheeba Ahmed and many officers who were defected from the army and joined TTP are influenced by this narrative.
Therefore, if we want to end this TTP menace in our country which has claimed more than 60,000 lives and 3,000 soldiers, we need to counter this narrative headon by practical steps. First, we need to stop operations from Waziristan and stop throwing people in camps every year. Second, No more drones or air strikes or bombings. The people should feel secure that life is now back to normal. Third, End alliance with the Americans on this so called War on terror and declare ourselves as an independent state and remove all kinds of foreign influences and the CIA network from the country. Fourth, release American pressure by joining alliances with other major powers and ensure that we do not fight America's war. By taking these four steps we would crush the narrative of TTP and the reasons of their reactionary militant struggle and save us from moving into further chaos for the years to come.
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