Kurram Agency...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
had been wrapped up, it is clear that the mission in the area is far from accomplished. And while the army chief was in Kurram when it was announced that the central part of the agency had been cleared of turbans, many questions about the operation and what it achieved (or rather failed to achieve) remain. In a statement the ISPR announced that "clearance of central Kurram will ensure opening of [the] Thall-Parachinar road". However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
it is unclear how this will happen when action against gunnies has been taken in only a selected area and nothing concrete has been done to open the vital link road and ensure the security of those who use it. If people remain trapped, what has been achieved?
The Thall-Parachinar road is the key link connecting Kurram Agency to the rest of Pakistain. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
it has been blocked by the Taliban-backed local tribal gunnies for nearly four years, as a result of which people have to take a treacherous detour through Afghanistan. The blockade has left the people of Kurram marooned, left to their fate by the state and unable to freely travel. Those who do attempt to use the road are targeted by turbans. Considering such a situation it was thought that the prime objective of the army would have been to secure the road. But this was apparently not the case. Observers say that, instead, the army`s aim was to flush out gunnies hiding in central Kurram who had beat feet from other conflict zones and to cut off a route to North
Wazoo.Though it has been said the military did not want to get involved in the region`s `sectarian` strife -- Kurram`s Shia and Sunni tribes have been at loggerheads -- and hence avoided a larger operation, this explanation is not satisfactory. Ensuring people`s safety and their freedom of movement and ending a blockade enforced by gunnies is really a law and order issue. Though peace between the tribes must be facilitated, leaving them to handle security issues, most importantly the security of the Thall-Parachinar road, is a policy that has failed to bear fruit. There have been many peace agreements in the past, but it is fair to say that unless the state resolves to maintain security no peace accord can succeed in the long term. Providing security is the duty of the state and it cannot be outsourced to non-state actors. It is hoped the state has a plan to secure the key road. Militants cannot be given a free rein any longer and allowed to terrorise the people of Kurram.