TIGAH,,, A JOURNAL OF PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT Volume: II, December 2012, FATA Research Centre, Islamabad Peacebuilding in FATA: Conflict Management at State Level Peacebuilding in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan: Conflict Management at State Level Sharafat Ali Chaudhry ∗ & Mehran Ali Khan Wazir ! Abstract Studies focusing on violence in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) conclude that the Russian aggression in 1979 towards Afghanistan, anarchy in post-soviet era, and US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 are the key reasons of spreading of violence in FATA. However, there is a controversy in views about the nature of violence in the bordering areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This paper empirically analyzes three dimensions of wide spread violence in the area. First, it maps the current research and views on the nature of violence in FATA. Second, it examines meta-theories of peacemaking and their relevance to the cultural, social and historical context of the tribal belt. Finally, this paper proposes the policy options for conflict management at the state level in Pakistan. Introduction The conflict in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has been explored to greater extent and the majority of studies conclude that the current violence in FATA has its roots within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) invasion of Afghanistan which ended up in the Afghan civil war. Soviet invasion pulled the United States of America (USA) into this region. The US won the proxy war in Afghanistan against USSR ∗ Sharafat Ali Chaudhry, a development professional-turned-Lawyer, has been visiting faculty member at Department of P&IR at IIU, Islamabad. ! Mehran Ali Khan Wazir is a research fellow at Department of Politics & IR at International Islamic University Islamabad. 124 Tigah with the involvement of Pakistan and consequently the USSR was disintegrated . The Soviet disintegration created power vacuum in Afghanistan and the ensuing chaos and anarchy caused civil war. The neighboring countries particularly Iran, India and Pakistan participated in this civil war to serve their own national interests through influencing the conflicting groups. There were many factors which made Pakistan distinctive from those countries that had shown their interests in the Afghan war. The intelligence sharing between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the USA and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan during Soviet aggression against Afghanistan was raison d'être of the importance of Pakistan’s role. Another factor was the settlement of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The strategic location of Pakistan and the cultural links among the people residing on both sides of Durand Line are reasons which differentiate the role played by Pakistan from other states. Pakistan had actively participated in the Afghan war through Mujahedeen who were supported morally and materially (Zaeef, 2010). These Mujahedeen, after the installation of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, served in many key posts. Pakistan supported the religious groups, which had organized in the name of the Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Muhammad Umar (Coll, 2004). The intelligence agency of Pakistan trained Afghan Taliban inside Pakistan (Zaeef, 2010, pp. 33-34). This might be one of the reasons for Taliban’s friendly relation with Pakistan. The intelligence agencies of Pakistan and the US worked together in Afghanistan till the Soviet disintegration (Rooney, 2010). After the disintegration of USSR, the USA did not look back to rebuild the war affected country and left the people of Afghanistan in internal conflict (Rooney, 2010, p. 40). However, Pakistan remained there till the installation of the Taliban government in Afghanistan which was in power from 1996 to 2001 (Coll, 2004, pp. 190-191), (Bajoria, 2011). Therefore, Taliban remained loyal to the Pakistani governments in later years. 125 Peacebuilding in FATA: Conflict Management at State Level The event of 9/11 relocated the US interest in the region. This time Afghan Taliban fell into the category of “against” the USA (CNN, 2001), as they harboured Al-Qaeda’s leaderships, who were allegedly involved in the 9/11 attacks. Thus, the USA launched global campaign of “war against terrorism” and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan became its first target. The US considered Pakistan's role inevitable in its “War on Terror”. Subsequently, there was military rule imposed in Pakistan and resultantly the cooperation between the USA and Pakistan also increased tremendously. The US considered Pakistan for the second time as a front line ally. The Taliban government had been uprooted after the US invasion of Afghanistan. Keeping in view the old relations and considering it a safe heaven, Taliban entered into Pakistan’s tribal regions. They had not been supported by the Pakistani government or factions of government this time but the local population of FATA, with whom they had ties since the Soviet invasion of Afghan gave them shelter to carry out their activities. The international pressure forced Pakistan to take a U-turn towards the Taliban. Since the war was between the US and the Taliban, Pakistan had to support one of the two because the then USA's President G. W. Bush declared both- terrorists and their supporters- as the enemy of USA and called for all other nations to join them in this war against terrorism (CNN, 2001). Therefore, Pakistan joined hands with America, which apparently meant withdrawal of its support from Taliban. In fact, Pakistan's support to Taliban in the past and the subsequent non-supportive policies had roots in the pressure being exerted by the USA. The increased activities of Taliban and other foreign militants brought conflict into FATA. Under the US led war on terror, Pakistan adopted a counter terrorism strategy which attracted military operations at different scales in FATA. The multiple counter terrorism approaches applied by the Pakistani state failed while the conflict resulted in enormous causalities and left 0.37 million families as Internally Displaced Persons-IDPs (FDMA, 2012). 126 Tigah The persisting situation in FATA calls for understanding the nature of conflict and thinking alternatively for peacemaking in this troubled region. Nature of the Conflict The people of FATA are wedged in militancy from both sides i.e., from across the border and within the tribal agencies. This militancy has brought a complex conflict to the people of FATA that does not allow them to breathe freely in their region. The conflict confronted security forces, militants and the civil militia. The militancy in FATA has been countered at the state level through various means such as military operations, civil militia actions and through the involvement of local people under the rule of collective responsibility. (The News, 2012), (The Express Tribune, 2012) The grass root analyses portray that the nature of conflict varies from agency to agency within FATA. There are many factors which make the conflict in South and North Waziristan different to the one in other tribal agencies. There is a clear bifurcation between the pro and anti -government militants in South Waziristan Agency (SWA); the former are led by Mullah Nazir while the latter, called Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is led by Hakimullah Mahsud (Rooney, 2010, pp. 37-40). Mullah Nazir is based in the southwest of South Waziristan while Hakimullah is based in the north of the Agency. The ongoing military operation in South Waziristan is directed against the TTP. Mullah Nazir’s group is in ‘cold peace’ 1 with Pakistani military in Wana, the agency headquarter of SWA, where he runs the affairs of Wana Bazaar in the name of ‘ Aman’ 2 ; while the security forces have been operative (by launching operation Rah-e-Nijat) 3 against the TTP in South Waziristan since June 19, 2009. Some security analysts opine that Mullah Nazir’s militant activities are comparatively more Afghan-centric than those of Hakimullah. This activism of the TTP, within the boundaries of Pakistan can be observed through the statements of its spokesman Ehsan-ullah Ehsan, who whereby accepts the responsibility for the most of the 127 Peacebuilding in FATA: Conflict Management at State Level militant activities. (The News, 2012), (The Pakistan Today, 2012), (Geo TV, 2012), (Dawn News, 2012) The most contentious militant group based in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) is the Haqqani network. The Government of Pakistan has been externally pressurized many a times to have military operation against this militant group in NWA where the group is still operating unabatedly. This may be considered a new front for Pakistan Army if it fights with Haqqani group as the military is already engaged with the TTP in South Waziristan and other regions in FATA. Gul Bahadar, a militant commander, is heading another militant group stationed in North Waziristan. He is somehow similar to Nazir in his operational activities. Therefore, Gul and Haqqani both seem to have an unwritten ‘cold peace’ agreement with Pakistani military in North Waziristan 4. Kurram Agency has its own kind of militancy where the people have been stuck in sectarian violence. Time and again the inhabitants in Kurram, both Shia and Sunni population, have been striving to get rid of this militancy but according to them, a ‘third force’ has hindered the peace process. The third force usually has been identified as Taliban and other militant groups funded by external factors. The term ‘third force’ was expressed in 2011 for the first time when the elders of both sects, Shia and Sunni, jointly held a Jarga with a political agent in Parachinar. Both the sects agreed on a verbal peace deal 5. The term ‘third force’ was again used in a seminar discussion in which speakers from Shia sect participated (FRC, 2012). The leadership of militant groups in Kurram Agency is also not stable in their affiliations that has often caused violent incidents and hindered the peace process.