Potential Pushtun War of Revenge Against Taliban

Attacks on Pashtuns could trigger war of revenge: analysts
Daily Times, March 4, 2008

* Former Tribal Areas security chief says all institutions representing Pashtun society have been targeted
* Editor says situation could ignite tribal enmities

ISLAMABAD: A spate of suicide attacks by militants could spark a war of revenge among ethnic Pashtun tribesmen in the NWFP just as moderate, secular political parties appear poised for power, analysts say.

The militants want to destabilise President Pervez Musharraf, and convince Pakistanis his alliance with the United States is the root cause of conflict in the area.

For their part, Pakistan’s Western allies want its new prime minister and government, once they emerge from the hung parliament, to provide the democratic legitimacy for the war on terrorism that Musharraf has been unable to engender.

“You may not question Musharraf’s policy on terrorism, you may say it’s all right but the point is nobody is ready to own this policy,” said Talat Masood, a former general and security analyst.

“The greatest advantage of the civilian government will be that the policy will be owned by the people of Pakistan.”

The remote Waziristan region has seen the worst of the violence over the past few years, in recent months hitherto dormant tribal areas have erupted in violence. At least 40 people were killed on Friday in a suicide attack in Swat during the funeral of a policeman hours after he was killed in a roadside attack.

On Sunday, another 40 people died and scores were wounded when a young bomber blew himself up as hundreds of tribesmen left a jirga, that had discussed how to restore peace in Darra Adam Kheil.

The army has been fighting militants in Swat since October, and just last week had claimed it had cleared all but a few pockets of resistance.

But attacks like a roadside bomb that killed 13 members of a wedding party, including the bride, on February 22, again in Swat, demonstrated the insecurity ordinary families are encountering. Analysts noted a “dangerous trend” towards attacks that struck at the heart of Pashtun society.

“These are direct attacks on Pashtun society,” said Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for the Tribal Areas.

Institutions:“All institutions, which represent Pashtun society, the mosque, a wedding, a funeral or a jirga, they have all been targeted.

“They want to bomb the entire Pashtun society into submission.”

Pashtuns, whose lands straddle both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, live to a code of honour, commonly known as Pashtunwali, that calls on men to take revenge if a family member is killed. The attacks on the funeral and the jirga could trigger inter-tribal feuds, in a region where guns are commonly referred to as “Pashtun jewellery”.

Enmities: “This situation could ignite tribal enmities. This will create a very explosive and dangerous situation for the government,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a newspaper editor and an expert on Pashtun affairs.

A moderate Pashtun party, the Awami National Party, won the most seats in the NWFP by trouncing religious parties and is likely to lead the provincial government in a coalition with the PPP, but if they fail to quell the violence voters will soon become disenchanted, analysts said. afp