(The following article is from theSeptember 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and  overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Asad Ali

In early May, the Pakistan Army shelled and entered several towns in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) held by the Pakistani Taliban, and announced they would continue into the rural areas of the province and then to the outlying Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where the insurgency started. Hamid Mir, a Pakistani television reporter for Geo‑News, described the scenes of destruction as similar to Gaza after Israel's invasion earlier this year. The offensive has continued through the summer.

     Statistics from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies show that the rate of civilian casualties in Pakistan between October 2008 and March 2009 is higher than the UN's estimate for Afghanistan. The Government of Pakistan estimates that over 1,000,000 civilians have been displaced. News reports say that many of the people in the areas being bombed remain there, without access to food or health care.

     The Taliban's entry into Buner, an NWFP district that happens to be between the federal capital and FATA, was blamed by the government as the trigger of the military's offensive. However the Taliban only entered the area after the federal government delayed in implementing a peace agreement negotiated by the NWFP's ruling Awami (Popular) National Party (ANP). The ANP is a secular left-wing party that succeeds the 1930s non‑violent pro‑independence Red Shirt movement, which Gandhi had described as the only correct implementation of his philosophy. In the 2008 elections the ANP had won a landslide victory in the NWFP over a religious coalition and has formed provincial governments before.

     The peace agreement was erroneously reported as a surrender and letting the Taliban implement Shari'a Law, but in fact the deal called for the ANP to implement Nizam‑e‑Adl (administration of religious justice) courts that were staffed by ANP‑selected judges who applied the plaintiffs' own concepts of religious law. This implementation became another point of contention for the Taliban, contrary to reports of Taliban vigilante control. Residents had said they were pleased with the ANP's implementation as the new courts were faster than the Provincial courts.

     U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called the peace agreement an "existential threat" to the world because of Pakistan's few nuclear weapons, yet it is the U.S. which has threatened nuclear first strikes under George W. Bush and with NATO has killed thousands of civilians in Afghanistan. The US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. McChrystal, recently described US air power as "the seeds of our own destruction" and implied civilians were killed by NATO forces not in any danger. Afghan Taliban leaders point out that their movement is distinct from the Pakistani Taliban with different objectives and social composition.

     Progressive politicians, including ANP Senator Lala Khan from the Swat Valley, the first NWFP district the Taliban entered, say the root causes of the conflict are the lack of integration of the Tribal Areas as well as inequitable distribution of resources by the federal government, ignited by the NATO occupation of Afghanistan. Observers point out that the Federal Government did not give the ANP's peace agreement a chance and sabotaged it for the opportunity to launch a military campaign against its own citizens as demanded by NATO. Politicians from parties other than the ANP are calling for stopping the army and resuming dialogue with the Taliban for the sake of national unity and civilian lives.