Pakistan’s Tribes Stand Up to Taliban

The tribesmen in Pakistan’s tribal belt have had enough.  Frustrated by their government’s inability to thwart the dual threat emanating from the Taliban and from U.S. incursions, they have decided to take matters into their own hands.  In early September, the Salarzai tribe in the troubled Bajaur agency convened a grand jirga, bringing with them rifles and AK-47s.  Amidst passionate speeches, they resolved to flush out militants in their tehsil (sub-division) and to impose fines of Rs. 1 million on tribal elders who sought to protect militants.  True to their word, they have since burnt down scores of houses belonging to militants and have handed over dozens of suspected Taliban to Pakistani authorities.  Encouraged by this development, the Pakistani government pushed other tribes in adjoining tribal agencies to follow suit and raise similar anti-Taliban lashkars (armies).  Over the past several weeks, laskhars have been raised by tribes across the tribal belt, in Khyber, Kurram and Mohmand agencies and in NWFP districts such as Dir and Buner.  Thousands of volunteers have signed up to join the indigenous resistance and local peace committees have been set up to monitor the situation on the ground.  The efforts of the local tribes-people are being supplemented by the Pakistani military which started an all-out offensive in August against militants in Bajaur and has claimed to have killed a thousand militants since then.  Pakistani officials are buoyed by the possibility of a local uprising against militants and have compared it to the “Sunni awakening” in the Anbar province, where local Arab tribesmen turned against al Qaeda. Still others, like Asfandyar Wali, ANP’s chief predict a civil war where the local population turns against the militants amongst them.  For NATO and U.S. forces in the region, the local uprising against militants does not necessarily mean good news.  While many of these tribesmen have lost patience with the local Taliban, they are equally intolerant of foreign forces, be they Chechens or Americans and have vowed to resist them fiercely.  "For us, the Taliban, NATO and the United States are all equals", they maintain.  Pakistan’s army chief, General Kayani recently visited the tribes in Bajaur and hailed the efforts of the local tribesmen in rooting out militancy.  It is, however, unclear what his stance is regarding the locals’ pledge of resisting U.S. incursions into their areas.