Author: Husain Haqqani
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 7, 2002
The kidnapping of The Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and the infighting among Afghan tribal warlords
serve as reminders of the fact that the world's war against terrorism is
far from over. The American journalist was kidnapped from Pakistan's financial
capital, Karachi, defying the purported crackdown on militants by the country's
military regime. The Afghan warlords, on the other hand, started fighting
each other instead of focusing on eliminating the remnants of the international
terrorist network that the US-led coalition had gone to fight in their
country.
Both events hold out messages for
the United States government: that tens of thousands of individuals trained
in terrorism are still on the loose the world over and are capable of actions
such as Pearl's kidnapping. And local political power plays, like the ones
in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan, can detract the massive force mobilised
by the US and its allies from their objective of hunting down the leaders
of global terrorism.
The Pakistani government initially
appeared to have taken the American journalist's disappearance lightly.
But Pearl's kidnappers have made an impact for being extremely smart and
very ruthless. They have managed to evade detection for almost two weeks.
Their ability to kidnap a western journalist in the heart of Karachi points
towards Pakistan's vulnerability to terrorist acts notwithstanding Islamabad's
status as a key US ally in the anti-terrorist coalition.
General Pervez Musharraf may have
announced his plans to retrieve Pakistan from extremists. But until all
militants are neutralised, the country remains a soft state with limited
law enforcement capabilities. The kidnapping of Pearl is a signal from
the militants that they have not ceased to exist, despite the crackdown.
The timing of the abduction is also
significant. Pearl has been kidnapped a few days ahead of General Musharraf's
official visit to the United States. Extremist groups seeking worldwide
attention in a ''spectacular'' manner (similar to the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Indian Parliament) could again ignore the sanctity
of human life. They could time causing harm to Pearl so that it coincides
with General Musharraf's visit to Washington for maximum effect.
Pearl's kidnapping has nothing to
do with Islam or any freedom struggle. He is one of thousands of journalists
who have done nothing other than their duty of newsgathering in Pakistan
and Afghanistan. Holding him hostage in an attempt to influence the foreign
policy of his home country is impractical and criminal. The fact that his
kidnapper remain untraced is cause for concern for all those who want Pakistan's
law enforcement machinery to be more effective than the lawbreakers operating
within its territory.
Years of neglect have rendered the
Pakistani government incapable of dealing with organised crime, which has
also tied itself to ideologically motivated religious extremists. Tolerance
of extremist groups has allowed them to spread their tentacles throughout
society. The mafia-militant alliance appears to command greater means than
the country's police or intelligence services. At least some of the terrorists
seem to have a considerable degree of sophistication, as exemplified by
their use of anonymous electronic mails to convey their demands.
Pearl's kidnappers have also avoided
using Islamic idiom in their communication with the international media,
focusing instead on a Pakistani nationalist line. Their intention seems
to be to embarrass the Musharraf regime, by painting it as a US client,
without drawing themselves into controversy over the un-Islamic nature
of their own act.
For the last two-and-a-half years,
the Pakistani government has seen only sectarian terrorist groups as a
threat to domestic stability. Pro-Taliban militants and groups operating
in Jammu and Kashmir were not identified as terrorists until September
11. While some of these groups have been banned since then under orders
of the United States, there are others that are probably still operating
within the country clandestinely. In fact, some extremist groups are not
even known to the Pakistan government.
The knowledge of the US government
about terrorist organisations is by no means complete either. The fact
that the US has lost trail of Osama bin Laden confirms the limitations
of Washington's ability to fulfil its anti-terrorism objectives in a short
time frame. If the world's sole superpower, with its massive resources,
cannot track down all the terrorists it seeks, poor and under-developed
Pakistan cannot be expected to be more efficient.
Pakistan has to develop the means
to deal with the threat of terrorism in a hurry. Otherwise the nexus between
organised criminal gangs and terrorist groups will weaken the Pakistani
state, making it difficult for General Musharraf to seek international
support for his policy initiatives aimed at rebuilding the country as a
moderate Muslim state.
The national agenda announced by
General Musharraf in his address to the nation on January 12 is in early
stages of implementation. The terrorists' action, in the form of a journalist's
kidnapping, is the first significant challenge to the military regime's
post-Taliban agenda. One way of dealing with the challenges ahead would
be to start acknowledging the existence of extremists other than sectarian
groups on Pakistani soil. Pakistan's leadership needs to acknowledge that
mistakes were made in the past when pursuit of ''strategic objectives''
allowed the formation of militias that are capable of acts such as Pearl's
kidnapping. Criminal underworld figures were allowed to carry on their
business so that their regional connections could be used for political
advantage.
A break with these past mistakes
would allow Pakistan to create the basis of cooperation with all countries
- including the US and India - in working towards the elimination of the
terrorist threat. It would also take away the cloak of respectability from
groups and individuals who have used religion or politics to legitimise
activities that by any definition are nothing other than terrorism.
(Husain Haqqani served as adviser
to Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto and as Pakistan's Ambassador
to Sri Lanka)