|
By Dante ‘Klink’ Ang 2nd Executive
Editor
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Even as
military leaders here claim they have broken the terrorists’
network and have the al-Qaeda on the run, they remain cautious in
saying that they are winning the war on terror.
“They are on the run,” said
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, referring to Osama bin Laden’s group, al-Qaeda.
Abbas is director general of Pakistan military’s Inter Services
Public Relations. The general organized a briefing on Pakistan’s
war on terror for the Philippine media delegation, who were invited
here by a government think tank, the Islamabad Policy Research
Institute. The delegation includes The Manila Times.
“This group [al-Qaeda] has been
broken as a network,” he added. “[But] I don’t know if it has
been completely finished.”
Earlier he said, “I would say
that considerable progress has been made as far as curbing and
restricting the movement of terrorists in these areas [along the
border of Pakistan and Afghanistan].”
Pakistan shares a 2,560-kilometer
border with Afghanistan, which Brig. Gen. Muhammad Tariq Jilani
describes as “porous” and “difficult to monitor.”
There are more than 362 places to
cross between the two countries, although only two are established
routes. Most are unfrequented routes over mountains.
More than 31,200 people and over
12,000 vehicles cross the border daily, according to military
records. The military has established border controls, such as
telemetric cards, to register and record those who frequently cross
the border.
Pakistan has four military
divisions, about 120,000, on the border manning 1,000 plus check
posts—which Jilani concedes is not enough.
At least there are results.
Jilani said about 1,000 al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists have been
arrested since 9/11, the date when the World Trade Center in New
York City was attacked. More than 1,400—including 535 al-Qaeda
members—have been killed since then.
Jilani said these accomplishments
were not without costs to Pakistan. More than 1,000 of its troops
have been killed since 9/11, and nearly 2,700 have been seriously
wounded.
He did not give estimates on how
many al-Qaeda members remain, but he said they estimate there are
five command structures functioning along the border of Pakistan and
Afghanistan. He would not elaborate what these structures are, only
that they are likely smaller than battalions.
No network with Filipinos
Abbas believes there are no
linkages between extremists here and terrorists in the Philippines.
Sources say that some Filipino
rebels trained and fought with the muhajideen who fought during the
occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.
Today, the Philippines is
counting on help from Pakistan—through the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC)—to achieve peace in war-ravaged Mindanao, said
Ambassador Jimmy Yambao, Manila’s envoy in Islamabad. The
Philippine government wants to be an observer in the OIC, and it
needs the help of friendly Muslim states, such as Pakistan, to do
that.
The Moro National Liberation
Front is already an observer in the OIC as a nongovernment
organization, Yambao added.
At least 60 Filipinos are
studying at madrasas, or Islamic schools, near Lahore, he said. He
added that he is certain they are not training to be terrorists, but
to be imams or religious clerics when they return to the
Philippines.
The Philippine Embassy in
Islamabad issues the Filipino students IDs, the ambassador said,
adding that he even invites them to play basketball in their spare
time.
Pakistan has been cracking down
on madrasas, which some believe are breeding grounds for
fundamentalist movements. But officials dispute that, saying that
only 1 percent or 2 percent of the 15,000 madrasas are linked to
terrorists.
Ambassador Muhammad Naeem Khan,
Pakistan’s envoy in Manila, said they have restricted the
enrolment of Filipinos in madrasas.
Still, the reform that the
Pakistani government wants to effect—such as adding science and
mathematics subjects—is difficult, as religious political parties
support the madrasas. And as one official said, the problem is
“lack of political will.”
|
