Operation Zarb-e-Azb Treats No One As Blue-Eyed

Aasef

Hafiz Gul Bahadur is one of the most important Pakistani militant leaders in North Waziristan. A cleric and a militant from the Madakhel clan of the Uthmanzai Wazir tribe, which is based in the mountains between Miran Shah and the border with Afghanistan, is believed to be in his late forties. He is a descendant of the Fakir of Ipi, a legendary fighter known for his innovative insurrection against British occupation in the 1930s and 1940s. Bahadur studied at a Deobandi madrassa in Multan. He fought in Afghanistan during the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal and upon returning to North Waziristan became a political activist in the Islamist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal Ur Rehman), or JUIF. He rose to prominence in 2004 following Pakistani military operations.   

Its Pakistan’s sheer bad luck that despite its best efforts the contribution towards war on terror is never considered enough. Come what may the demand by the western countries and their media would remain, “Do more and just do more”. It appears that as some American think tanks ‘predicted’ a decade back about the dismemberment of Pakistan by 2015, their current maligning and anti-Pakistan propaganda seems to be the part of that nefarious plan. The sponsored Western media immediately toes the line, suggested to it by the influential Western countries. The Western countries and especially the Americans desired to launch operation Zarb-e-Azb according to their wishes and as dictated by them and when the wish was nicely turned down by our military brass as they were in seat, the West realigned the propaganda onslaught. Beside other themes one was that Pakistan is showing discrimination by differentiating between good and bad Taliban. Unfortunately, that’s what the foreign media analysts and writers have been propagating against Pakistan through their misleading and evasive designs to project Gul Bahadur as an asset of Pakistan Army / ISI. The irony is that few domestic reporters have also been influenced by this baseless propaganda and are alleging that Pakistan Army / ISI were soft on terrorists like Gul Bahadur.

If we closely observe and analyse operation Zarb-e-Azb, we will find that it has been launched against all terrorists in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) with a view to eliminate / destroy them without any categorisation. So far the operation is proceeding well to achieve its goal/objectives as it has been launched after having ascertained national consensus and all political parties supported it. Hence, operation Zarb-e-Azb has been launched with full force, politico-military resolve and determination without differentiating between good and bad terrorists. Pak army has a strong and firm believe that a terrorist is a terrorist and not good or bad. The problem is to make, stubborn and ill informed Western friends, understand.

Unfortunately foreign media and few domestic reporters / analysts have been propagating that operation Zarb-e-Azb has been delayed purposely to allow good militants to leave the area or find new abode / sanctuaries elsewhere. Their acrimonious propaganda contents shamelessly termed operation Zarb-e-Azb as forged action and fake exercise undertaken by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Pak Army while it was not taking any action against terrorists like Gul Bahadur and others. 

Its strongly believed that the propaganda against the honesty and sincerity of military operation was launched merely to demoralize the troops engaged in the most furious battle being fought in North Waziristan Agency, who are confronted with world's most dangerous terrorists there. The noble cause followed by troops not only enabled them to kill over 800 terrorists and destroying their strongholds / sanctuaries but also demolishing tunnels and factories producing IEDs.

The sad part is that during recent air strikes against terrorists in Khyber and Dutta Khel (NWA) 48 suspected militants were killed. A house belonging to Gul Bahadur has been destroyed in the air strike. The terrorist Fazalullah and other prominent militant commanders, who were present in the targeted house, were reportedly killed. Unfortunately Gul Bahadur escaped but this big news was purposely not covered by the Western media for the vested interests. Military has really demonstrated its zeal and firm resolve to eliminate all terrorists from NWA without any discrimination. This shows not only the level of seriousness of military to eliminate terrorists and but also proves that propagandists stance was incorrect and malicious that Gul Bahadur was being sponsored by military as a good militant.

For Pakistan army its national interest and the people’s safety is first and foremost, always and everywhere and the recent air strikes against Gul Bahadur prove that he is treated by Pak Army as a troubling terrorist and there is no soft corner for him or his colleagues. How can the forces have a soft corner for a person who has opted to endanger men, women and children of NWA for his personal gains?

The armed forces are doing their duty as best as possible. Many young officers and jawans almost every day lay their lives for the secure future and happy days of their countrymen. They need no citation or award from any country or sponsored media. The sooner its realized the better it would be.