Bajaur suicide attack

ON Thursday a suicide bomber attacked yet another tribal jirga, killing at least 23 and injuring 45 others in Bajaur Agency. Last month, a similar attack on an Orakzai jirga had claimed the lives of 45. In both cases, the terrorist outfits who resent the role assumed by the tribal elders, were behind the attacks. The Pakistani Taliban have emerged as a lethal force in a number of tribal areas, where they have taken over authority and power from the traditional elders, and set up what for all intents and purposes is a state within the state. They have their own militia, courts, and administrative machinery. In August, the Frontier Corps was dispatched to Bajaur to establish the writ of the state. What surprised the military authorities was, not only the tough resistance offered by the militants, but also the modern weapons at their disposal, a steady source of supply and a sophisticated command and control system. This led some to conclude that the militants enjoyed foreign backing. The clashes between the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and Pakistani security forces, having caused large scale devastation and the uprooting of thousands of families, led the tribal elders to step in to establish peace. Finding that the militants could not be defeated by military force alone, the government also encouraged the elders to do whatever was needed to establish the writ of the state. This has paid off in parts of the Agencies, that include Bajaur and Orakzai. There were of late reports of negotiations between the tribal elders who had mobilized lashkars and the Taliban leadership. Hopes were being expressed that the ongoing talks would lead to the surrender of arms by the Taliban and a gradual withdrawal of the Army from the area.