If someone has decided to use his death as a weapon then he can create problems for the security of any powerful enemy. The 9/11 attacks in the US are the biggest example. The 19 Arab hijackers' biggest weapon was their death. The same weapon was used by the 10 attackers against the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi.
These 10 militants were hiding close to the GHQ for the last three months. They rented a house in the Dhok Awan area of Islamabad close to GT Road. Dhok Awan is a thickly populated area. The normal rent of a 5-marla house in this lower middle class locality is not more than Rs5,000 a month but these 10 militants rented the house for Rs10,000 a month.
There were no covers on the windows of the house rented by the militants. A neighbour even saw some slogans against the army written by the militants on the inside walls of the house. I have also seen these slogans. The language of the slogans clearly reflects the hatred of these highly motivated militants against the army. They clearly wrote in one slogan that they "will destroy the army soon."
The attack on the GHQ was definitely a very big intelligence failure but Pakistan Army commandos saved the whole nation from a big humiliation by sacrificing their lives. The army leadership refused to accept any demand from the militants. These so-called defenders of Islam were not only demanding the release of more than 100 prisoners but they also wanted a helicopter to escape safely from the GHQ with some of the hostages. They threatened to kill the hostages if their demands were not accepted. That was the time when many Pakistan Army commandos offered to use their death as a weapon against all those who wanted to humiliate their beloved country. Today the whole nation stands by our soldiers of the army, the FC and the police, who are trying to save Pakistan from internal and external enemies.
But according to some reports the alleged mastermind of the attack, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, was arrested last year after the attack on Marriot Hotel in Islamabad. Who approached Islamabad police for the release of this former army employee? Why did our intelligence agencies fail to detect the presence of 10 highly motivated militants in an area of the federal capital? Don't we need a close cooperation between security agencies and the public to defeat the enemies of our country and religion? It is now proved that we lack good intelligence. An American drone attacked the hideout of Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on Aug 5 and our officials immediately claimed he was dead. Actually he died after many days. Our officials were claiming that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by Waliur Rehman Mehsud. Some highly reputed journalists were also confirming all these faulty claims. Who was feeding this wrong information to the media? We cannot win this war through disinformation.
No doubt a big number of Pakistanis considered Baitullah Mehsud an enemy of Pakistan and this enemy was killed by a US drone. Despite this great achievement why are US drone attacks still unpopular in Pakistan? Why is our government not explaining to the US that increase in US drone attacks has also increased deadly suicide bombings in Pakistan? We must fight our war on our own. Why is our political leadership not ready to realise that US aggression in the region is the biggest strength of the Taliban and Al Qaeda? If we can defeat Taliban in Swat without US drones, why not in South Waziristan? What we need is just a strong political will not only against the Taliban but also against any foreign interference in Pakistan. We need a well-coordinated joint strategy of political and army leadership. Who will give a wake-up call to the president?
Hamid Mir is the Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad and he has also interviewed Osama bin Laden, Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, General Pervaiz Musharraf, Hamid Karzai, L K Advani and other international leaders.
