Pakistan makes things tough on Mehsud's tribe

Times:

Pakistan has imposed an economic blockade on the mountain stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taleban, in an effort to turn his tribesmen against him and encourage civilians to flee before a planned ground offensive, according to local officials.

Authorities are also arresting dozens of Mehsud tribesmen and shutting down the businesses of others on the fringes of South Waziristan — thought to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden — under a draconian “collective responsibility” law which was introduced in the British colonial era.

Britain imposed the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in 1901 in an effort to control the local Pashtun tribes, whose strict honour code obliges them to give sanctuary to anyone who requests it, including, since 2001, many Afghan Taleban and al-Qaeda leaders.

Under the regulations, which are still in force in Pakistani tribal areas, the Government can punish an entire tribe that refuses to hand over a wanted person by detaining its members, fining them and confiscating or destroying their property.

A local intelligence official told The Times that the army had blocked all three main roads leading to Mr Mehsud’s territory in South Waziristan and allowed only civilians to leave the area. A member of the Mehsud tribe in the town of Tank, close to South Waziristan, said that his store and dozens of others owned by Mehsuds had been sealed under the FCR. “If the Government can’t get control of Baitullah and his men, then how can they put pressure on us poor people to control them?” he asked.

Maulana Saleh Shah, a senator and prominent local cleric, told a jirga, or tribal council, in Tank that an estimated 100,000 people had fled South Waziristan in the past few days. Muhammad Anwar, a student in Tank, said: “There is a sense of complete fear everywhere. The whole Mehsud tribe is being punished because of a small group of militants.”

South Waziristan is the biggest of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with a population of about 500,000, most of whom belong to one of two tribes, the Mehsuds and the Wazirs.

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This looks like a prelude to an offensive and the good news for Pakistan is that the refugees have already started leaving before the real fighting begins. That means there will be fewer human shields for the Taliban to use.

Pakistan has made great strides in turning the people against the Taliban and they need to be careful that this new strategy does not reverse those gains. They need to let the people know that the measures are caused by Mehsud's action against non combatants elsewhere in Pakistan.