Getting the chief assassin

A decisive battle is said to be in the making to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and dismantle his network. According to media reports, security forces have strengthened their positions around the 'Taliban heartland' in the South Waziristan Agency and a ground and air assault on his headquarters is expected any time.
Unlike the Swat operation which was made public only after it had begun the decision to zero in on Baitullah Mehsud was made well in advance and announced by the NWFP Governor, Owais Ghani, at a press conference in Islamabad. The decision to attack the Taliban chief comes almost as a response to his claim of masterminding the assassination of Allama Sarfraz Naeemi.
That he was spared such an attack when he owned the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 but is a prime target now - it must be the 'enough is enough' determination of the government now that his fingerprints have appeared on almost every suicide-bombing incident. No wonder, had he not misled Maulana Sufi Muhammad after the Nizam-i-Adl agreement the Malakand military operation, with all its attending consequences, would not have been launched.
The concerned authorities must have drawn two important lessons from the Malakand operation. One, but for the instigation and material support rendered by the Taliban headquarters in South Waziristan, the Malakand militants would have given up quite early. Two, the suicide-bombings - the lethal dimension of the terrorists' strategy - are being micro-managed by a set of people closely associated with Baitullah Mehsud.
And that he is the man on the spot of the powers that are set about destabilising Pakistan. As to why he was not attacked and eliminated earlier there are several explanations; the one most intriguing alleges that he was being protected by the Americans. It is said the CIA-operated drones would not attack him because he was not attacking the allied forces in Afghanistan. However, that exemption seems to have been withdrawn for reasons not yet known.
But clearly Baitullah Mehsud and his base commanders are in the sights of Pakistani forces and an attack is imminent. Army Chief General Kayani's tour of the PAF's operational base on Monday suggests that it is going to be an intense air-and-ground surgical strike. The Mehsuds of South Waziristan are fiercely independent people with a glorious history of fighting for their land.
It was Mulla Powinda, who led a lashkar which attacked Wana in 1894 to dislodge the British encampment. But Baitullah Mehsud is not his true replica; his authority is being challenged by fellow Mehsud leaders. The most prominent among them, Qari Zainuddin and Turkestan, have assured the authorities of their co-operation in getting rid of the Taliban menace from their area. To what extent their co-operation would help the military operation remains to be seen.
But even more important than the promise of co-operation of some local leaders is the imperative that as a result of the assault there is as little collateral damage as possible. The truth is that in terms of dislocations and infrastructural damage the saga of Malakand operation is too dreadful to be revisited. If the non-military interventions appear to be isolating Baitullah Mehsud and his coterie, it is indeed a welcome development.