More on the Bannu jail attack

If the KP government is still unclear and its investigating team is still busy figuring out how a secure jail as the Bannu jail fell to the Taliban nightriders last month, the video released by the militant militia should help. The 34-minute footage now available for sale both in South Waziristan and North Waziristan documents the whole saga from its inception to execution in quite some detail. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his deputy Waliur Rehman set the ball rolling at a briefing session with a band of their foot soldiers.
There should be no confusion about the militants' capacity and capability to take on the government drive to clear the tribal areas of the insurgents. The plot to attack the jail and secure the release of its inmates was not merely a pipedream of a ragtag emotion-charged group of militants. It was complete in all details as to its timing, the kind of weaponry to be deployed to break open the main gate of the prison, the level of resistance expected of the guards, how to locate their imprisoned comrades and where and how to take the freed inmates.
That the raiders were not only equipped with automatic rifles and grenades they also brought anti-tank rocket launchers one of which shattered the main gate of the Bannu jail, which housed some of the most dangerous Taliban leaders with the very first shot. If there were any doubts about the Taliban's determination, planning and their will and verve to fight back government, the video should serve as primer.
In terms of planning and execution the Taliban's Bannu jail operation was quite identical to the one the Afghan Taliban carried out in Kandahar sometime back by securing access into the compound via a tunnel dug over several weeks. No doubt the jailbreak helps establish the fact that over time the extremists and militants fighting government forces in the tribal areas have greatly enhanced their fighting skills and seem to be graduating from the level of sectarian radicalism to a determined guerrilla movement.
Paradoxically, the Taliban's raid was meticulous in planning and its execution was spectacular, while the official response was extremely dismal and disappointing - and the video showed that clearly. There was no resistance, not at all, by the prison guards; in fact they appeared to be connivers in this great escape. And the escapees, including Adnan Rasheed, a former air force official held in the jail for his role in plotting to kill ex-army chief and president, General Pervez Musharraf, fled to buses neatly parked nearby which took them to their 'destination'. Accepted, given the intensity of the Taliban attack, the Bannu jail fell to them, but are the authorities prepared enough to avert its repetition, which the militia has promised?
The sad truth is that on the face of it there is not much in evidence, both in terms of planning and determination, to avert another such disaster. Security of jails is not the responsibility of the military; it's the provincial governments who have to do this. But that doesn't seem to be happening. All that political leadership expects is troops defeating the militants in battlefields, never much bothering about trying at other ways of dealing with this henceforth undefeated challenge to national unity and territorial integrity.
A hundred years back confronted with a similar situation the colonial British not only fought the then Taliban but also pushed other options by opening back channels with the militants. But that's not happening now. Not only there is no national anti-terrorism policy and unified force to combat terrorists, but each incident is being handled in fire-fighting mode.
Maybe, the Taliban have been defeated in certain tribal areas but it is hardly a disincentive for them to pack up and desert. Of late, they are in and around the city of Peshawar, the region's main city and seat of the provincial government, targeting and murdering police officials. May be at the end of the day, the provincial investigators will succeed in finding out the black sheep who facilitated the Taliban raiders and also recommend punitive action against some officials. But they should not stop at that; they should also propose a concrete plan of action to deal with this curse on a long-term basis.