The writters made some excellent points about how the Tribal areas are used an excuse for the Al Qaeda attacks, when most Al Qaeda opertives have been arrested in other provinces.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/may-2003/18/EDITOR/op3.asp
Hiding behind Pashtoon tribes
by Afrasiab Khattak
On May 1 General Pervez Musharraf in an interview with the London-based Pakistani satellite channel said that there were indications that Osama Bin Laden was alive, and might be hiding in tribal territory on the Pak-Afghan border. Musharraf opined that it was possible Bin Laden could be with a small group of bodyguards, hiding on the Pakistani side or Afghan side of the rugged border.
It is not for the first time that general Musharraf has pointed his finger at the Federally Administered Tribal Area [FATA] as a possible hide out of OBL and other Al Qaeda operatives. In the past General Musharraf and some of his other colleagues have dropped broad hints to the effect that OBL and some of his followers might have gone underground in Pashtoon Tribal Area. It is rather surprising that they have stuck to this theory despite the fact that most of the top Al Qaeda operatives have been arrested during the last one year not in FATA but for away from it in the big cities like Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi.
It is true that a number of Al Qaeda followers were arrested in Tribal Agencies at a time when they were fleeing out of Afghanistan after US military operations in Tora Bora, Zhawar and Shahikot. They entered the tribal area because that is the only available route from the aforementioned places for crossing over into Pakistan and moving towards safer places. But there is no question of hiding of the numerous Al Qaeda fugitives in tribal area. There are very solid reasons for that. One has to understand the peculiar socio-cultural structures still largely intact in the area.
Xenophobia among Pashtoon tribes, like among other tribes elsewhere, is sill quite strong. A non-local and particularly a foreigner is immediately taken notice of and reported to the tribe. The tribesmen observe segregation on the basis of gender very rigidly. A guest, howsoever important he may be, can not be taken inside the female quarters of the residence. He has to reside in a hujra, the communal guest house of the clan or the extended family, where a number of people belonging to the clan and extended family would shake his hand, inquire his name and the purpose of his visit. Some proclaimed offenders from settled districts do take refuge in the tribal area but it is done publicly and in many cases before a Jirga or tribal assembly.
The newcomer is introduced to everybody and the clan or family giving refuge to the person stands responsible for his conduct as long as he lives there. It is also important to know that there are no houses for renting out in the area. Everyone lives along with their kith and kin in the fortress like house that has to be defended by the residents. FATA is quite thickly populated area and the geographic location of a tribe or sub tribe is well known. The tribe has a collective responsibility for its security.
In the case of Osama Bin Laden there are additional reasons to believe that he could not have remained in the tribal area even if he had been initially there. He cannot be unaware of the news about his possible presence in the area that is widely publicized. In all probability he would have left the area to hide in the big cities that are far safer. The arrest of high level Al Qaeda men from important urban centres of the country proves this point if there is need of a proof at all. Moreover, most of the tribal area is right on the Afghan border. It is well known to everyone that US army is quite active along the border with a lot of aerial surveillance and electronic monitoring. Bin Laden cannot be that fool to hang out in such close vicinity of the US forces knowing fully well that they will have little hesitation in crossing the border to get him. The tribal area was used as launching pad for the fighters against various Afghan regimes but that was not done secretly. All the said operations were launched with not only the consent but also with the active support of the government. The question is why should General Musharraf and other officials of his government keep on harping on this theme when realities on the ground point in the opposite direction? Is it hard intelligence? Most probably not.
In view of the past record of the present government it is safer to assume that it is making an effort to hide behind the so-called inaccessibility of the tribal area for the failure of its security apparatus in nabbing the most wanted fugitives. The myth of the “no man’s land” and “wild north-west” comes quite handy as a spin and as a diversion when the government fails to muster the required political will for taking the bull of terrorism right by its horns. One can understand the difficulty of the official spin-doctors after the collapse of Taliban government in Afghanistan. Now they are left only with the Pashtoon tribal areas for dumping all the dirty things.
Be that as it may, this particular line of official propaganda has created serious concern among Pashtoon people in general and the people of FATA in particular. It is because Pashtoons are still reeling under the impact of an extremely bloody and decapitating polarization created by the prolonged Afghan conflict. Last week US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a press conference in Kabul that most of Afghanistan was calm but the border area with Pakistan was still dangerous.
Not only that. It was only a few months back that a US plane had bombed a building in South Waziristan Agency in what they had called a retaliation to attack on them on the Pak-Afghan border. The possible presence of OBL in the area in the light of the statements by the highest state functionary can very well give them ideas for more disastrous bombing in FATA to hunt the most wanted man of the world down. These are dangerous but not very unreal prospects. Can one expect some soul searching on this score?