My trip to southern side of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA)
The War on Terror has been an adversity for the whole world, however Pakistan is the only country that is directly confronting this challenge since September 11, 2001. It is ironic that even though the incident took place in New York City in America, all of America enjoys quite a pleasant and happy life, yet Pakistan, which had nothing to do with this occurrence, is still suffering and facing the tragedies of war on terrorism.
Undoubtedly, the people of Pakistan have seen their fair share of bomb explosions, suicide attacks and other terrorist activities in recent past, but hats off to Pakistan army and our law enforcing agencies, which have curbed the menace of terrorism. Now life is quite safe in our cities. People can travel from one place to another without any fear. Our families can go to the markets and we have no worries about their safe return home. This is the one aspect of the situation.
The other part of the story is still untold. This part is regarding the ongoing war on terror in the tribal areas of our country. This is the frontline of our defense against terrorist attacks in our cities. The peace and security that we are enjoying in our hometowns is just because of our brave brothers in uniform, who are a great resistance against the most notorious terrorists of the world.
I realized this when I visited South Waziristan last week. I had the opportunity to visit this region of my motherland as a study and documentary production trip along with my colleagues from Riphah International University. Our journey started on November 7, 2018, at 8:00am from our university campus in Rawalpindi. The first stopover was Dera Ismail khan where we stayed for one night. Here we enjoyed the generous hospitality of the army personnel, a scrumptious dinner, a hearty breakfast and then left for Gomal Zam dam next day. On our arrival, a Major of Pakistan Army briefed us about the dam. I was amazed to find out that Gomal Zam Dam is the second largest reservoir of electricity in Pakistan. Built by assistance from US Aid, this dam produces thousands in mega tons of electricity, is the source of water for agriculture to D.I. Khan and other adjoining areas, and water from this dam is also used to irrigate the barren lands of the area.
Our next destination was the Wana Cadet College where we met outstanding cadets hailing from not only FATA, but also Punjab, Balochistan and KPK. The spirit of unity between these students from different ethnic backgrounds was a beacon of hope in the face of the war on terror. During the visit, we met teachers and students and dialogued on matters of their study and training. During our discussion, it became evident that this area was seriously affected during the war on terror in its early years in 2008. Militants and terrorist groups occupied the area and destroyed all local schools and educational institutions. They captured houses and lands of peaceful locals of the area and forced them to flee for their lives, kidnapped the local children and forced them to join these militants group in their activities to do the dirty work for them. On their refusal, these young boys faced physical, mental and sexual abuse by the cruel terrorists.
Pakistan army launched an extensive operation against these terrorists that reached the proportions of a full-scale war. The Pakistan Army defeated the militants, destroyed their hideouts, and restored normal life in the area. In this battle, there were a significant amount of young officers and soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives for their motherland.
After the operation, Pakistan Army rebuilt schools, health and rehabilitation centers and other basic infrastructure, reconstructed roads, installed electricity lines, water supply lines etc. They assisted people in reconstructing their houses and restoring their livelihoods. The doctors from the army provided extensive medical facilities to the war victims. A local student told us that the situation in the area had gone so horrible and devastating that he stopped believing he would ever live a normal life again.
Life is now slowly but surely returning to normalcy in Wana, and the credit for that goes solely to the Pakistan army and the people of the South Waziristan, who tirelessly fought this war against the terrorists.
It was a pleasure for us to see these young tribal boys in their cadet uniforms, studying with great passion to serve their country in the future. Another instance that made our hearts swell up for joy was when we found out that some army officers were contributing to the fees and expenditure of these cadets from their own salaries in the form of regular scholarships for needy and outstanding students of the cadet colleges and other educational institutions of south Waziristan. We met some soldiers and officers of the Pakistan army who had participated in this war against terrorism in other parts of the country as well. Few of them had completed postings in Siachin, which is the highest and deadliest border of the world. Even through all this, these brave men were in high spirits and committed to the protection of their home country. When one of the soldiers was asked about his period of association with Pakistan army, he replied with a beautiful smile “Sir Pakistan army is our father, mother, brother, sister son, daughter, friend, teacher, everything’’. When asked to comment on having regrets about missing out, he replied, “We miss nothing but the youth of our wives and childhood of our kids, but by God we have no regrets. We are always ready to offer our last drop of our blood to this nation and country.”
Long live Pakistan,
Mohid Masood
