Pakistan army uses bullets, and classrooms to fight militancy

By Michael Georgy

GULIBAGH, Pakistan (Reuters) – Hazrat Gul spent two years in detention for

allegedly aiding the Pakistani Taliban when they publicly flogged and beheaded people during a reign of terror in the scenic

Swat Valley.

Now

he wiles away his time in pristine classrooms, a Pakistani flag pin on his crisp uniform, learning about word processing,

carpentry and car repairs at the Mashal de-radicalisation centre run by the army.

Part of a carrot and stick approach

to battling militancy in the strategic U.S. ally, the aim is to cleanse minds of extremist thoughts through vocational

training, and turn men like Gul into productive citizens who support the state.

The success of the programme will

ultimately hinge, however, on the ability of the government, widely seen as incompetent and corrupt, to help the

de-radicalisation graduates find jobs.

“If a sincere leadership comes to this country, that will solve the problems,”

said Gul, 42, one of the Mashal students. “Today the leadership is not sincere. The same problems will be

there.”

Pakistan’s military drove militants out of Swat in 2009. Mashal is in the building which used to be the

headquarters of the militants from where they imposed there austere version of Islam.

Eventually, the army realised it

couldn’t secure long-term peace with bullets alone.

So military officers, trainers, moderate clerics and

psychologists were chosen to run three-month courses designed to erase “radical thoughts” of those accused of aiding the

Taliban.

Students like Mohammad Inam, 28, a former assistant engineer, give the school a good report card.

“The

environment is very good. Our teachers work very hard with us. They talk to us about peace, about terrorism and how that is

not right,” said Inam, in the presence of a military officer. “God willing, we will go out and serve our country and our

nation.”

School officials say about 1,000 people have graduated since the initiative began two years ago, and that

only 10 percent were not cleared for release.

Officials concede that their “students” are not hardened militants who

killed. Mostly, they provided the Taliban with water, food or shelter, or beat people.

That was enough for a two-year

detention, and some say abuse, in a country where the Taliban stage suicide bombings at will and have launched brazen

attacks, including one on the army headquarters near the capital.

Even if the Mashal institute instills a new mindset

and discipline in the students, graduates face an uncertain future.

The South Asian nation always seems to be on the

verge of collapse and is often described as a failed state unable to cope with power cuts, widespread poverty and

violence.

“The problem is the deprivation being faced by these individuals. There is no electricity. There are price

hikes. There is no law and order or justice which prevails in the country,” said Major Khurram Bajwa, one of Mashal’s

directors.

He pointed out how easy it is for the Taliban to recruit people. “It takes about two years to train an army

officer, and one month to train a suicide bomber.”

ISLAMIST LEADER HELPING

Pakistan joined the U.S. global war

on militancy after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but critics accuse Islamabad of actually fostering

the security nightmare in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region by supporting militant groups it values as strategic assets.

Pakistan denies the allegations.

The confusion was highlighted this month, when the United States put a $10 million

bounty on an Islamist leader who Pakistani officials say has in fact been helping them turn militants away from a life as

radicals.

Hafiz Saeed, suspected of masterminding an attack by Pakistan-based gunmen on India’s financial capital,

Mumbai, in 2008 that killed 166 people, met government officials and pledged his support for the de-radicalisation drive, the

officials said. Saeed’s organisation denied this.

PUBLIC BEHEADINGS

Pakistan’s military presents the Swat

offensive and the campaign to root out extremism as a showcase of its success against militancy.

On the surface, the

valley looks far more stable than it did in the Taliban days when Fazlullah, known as FM Mullah for his fiery radio sermons,

was ordering his men to take to the streets and punish the “immoral”, or anyone who disagreed with his violent

philosophy.

Residents of Swat, 160 km (100 miles) from Islamabad, crowd street markets. Girls schools that were blown

up by the Taliban have reopened. A ski resort burned down by the Taliban has re-opened.

That is due in large part to a

sense of security created by the thousands of Pakistani soldiers still stationed there.

 

But the army’s

successes have been tarnished by allegations of human rights abuses.

Human Rights Watch says it has received credible

reports of extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by soldiers or police in Swat. The army counters that it takes human

rights seriously and has launched an investigation into the matter.

Sitting beside an officer in a classroom at the

Mashal school, Gul said he was subjected to torture at prisons run by the military or its intelligence agency merely because,

out of fear, he had chanted pro-Taliban slogans.

“Every time they were talking to us, (they were) beating us,” said

Gul, who has a masters in political science. Asked to elaborate, he said: “From A to Z, all kinds of

problems.”

Minutes later, the officer, who sleeps in a room with a commanding view he said was once occupied by

Fazlullah, leaned over to this reporter and said: “What do you expect in prison, massage girls?”.

The accounts of ill

treatment were echoed by others.

Rehman Shah, a former school teacher, says he was only detained because his son was

accused of joining the Taliban.

Nine weeks into the course, he praises the de-radicalisation concept but says the army

made a big mistake by detaining innocent people.

“When Pashtuns are treated unfairly, it never leaves their hearts and

they take revenge,” Shah said of the dominant ethnic group in Swat and other parts of northwest Pakistan, where most of the

military offensives against militants are mounted.

“I urge the government and security not to do this and not increase

resentment and anger in the people.”

A senior Pakistani intelligence official denied abuses take

place.

“That’s not our strategy at all. They are our own people and we do not believe in these things,” he

said.

LIFE OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL

Outside Mashal’s classroom, there are signs that not everyone is embracing the

new approach.

Soldiers led a hooded man into a truck while three others looked on through the barred windows of what

appeared to be a cell at the compound.

Conditions still seem ripe for Fazlulah and his lieutenants, who have vowed to

make a comeback, to recruit people.

Pakistani officials estimated after the army operation expelled the Taliban that

over $1 billion would be needed to revive the local economy and rebuild infrastructure.

Residents like Ajab Noor, 61,

who sent two of his sons abroad to work, doubt the population of about 1.3 million will ever benefit from those

funds.

“People have no options. They either go outside the country to work, or they join militants who promise them

many things,” he said at a street market in Swat’s capital, Mingora.

A member of a state-backed anti-Taliban militia

believes two boys in his village had graduated from a de-radicalisation centre and ran away to rejoin the Taliban.

“I

told the military, ‘you are nurturing the offspring of snakes’. But they did not listen,” he said.

(Additional

reporting by Jibran Ahmad, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)