Pakistan marks pro-Al Qaeda clan

The Pakistani military is refining its tactics in the ongoing battle to capture Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in this semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

It's targeting a specific clan, the Yargul Khel, and Monday began bulldozing all their mud houses as a punishment for a group of clansmen providing shelter to the "foreign terrorists," as Pakistani authorities describe them.

The markets of South Waziristan's capital of Wana Monday were a scene of panic, as businessmen of the clan frantically emptied hundreds of shops ahead of a 48-hour deadline to turnover the "terrorists" or face the destruction of all tribal property.

"If few people of the tribe have committed any crime or sin then why there is destruction to the whole tribe? This is no justice. I have never supported Al Qaeda.... My only crime is to be a member of the Yargul Khel," says enraged shopkeeper Mohammad Tahir while packing garments and imported crockery.

Pakistan's approach is similar to 19th-century tactics used by the British when they ruled the subcontinent. The shift is seen as a move to diffuse anger among the other clans in the region, and a recognition that after a week of continued fighting, an estimated 500 militants are putting up unexpectedly fierce and enduring resistance.

"It is a two pronged strategy. The punishment against the Yargul Khel clan will isolate it as a target and will defuse the prevailing anger among all the tribesmen who perceive ongoing military actions against them and their motherland," says Mohammad Tahir Khan, a local tribesman involved in agricultural development.

"It is also an attempt to pressure tribal elders of the Zali Khel tribe [of which Yargul Khel is a clan] to hand over the most wanted men belonging to their tribe and expel foreign terrorists from their areas," he says. "By continuing targeted military actions, the authorities want to tell them that they have no other choice."

The 600,000 inhabitants of South Waziristan practice archaic tribal law separate from the Pakistani state. The rules and regulations currently governing the relationship between the state and the tribes follows those formulated by the British Raj in its bid to control these tribesmen.

Under the system, if any member of the tribe commits a crime and is not handed over to the authorities, then the whole tribe can be punished under the clause of collective responsibility.

"The tribe has failed to fulfill its responsibility for months, so their tribesmen have to suffer according to tribal rules," says Azam Khan, a top government official in South Waziristan.

"The tribe members are providing shelter to foreign terrorists, its members are fighting for Al Qaeda," Mr. Khan says. "Their elders promised and promised but never delivered. That is why the operation was launched. It is high time for them to cooperate, otherwise there will be further destruction in the region."

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