10 suspected militants were killed in fresh airstrikes in Boya and Digan area, an Army release said on 8th September. A further five vehicles and a weapons cache was destroyed. Over the course of Zarb-e-Azb, more than 900 militants have been killed. It does seem that the military has a knack of achieving its objectives in wonderfully convenient round numbers. As much as we would like to take the military’s word for it, our jobs as journalists mandates us to independently verify each piece of information, and for that to happen journalism needs boots on the ground; something the military has denied us.
It is remarkable that throughout the extensive operation there hasn’t been a single report of collateral damage; no house mistakenly destroyed, no bystander injured. Even the US’s ‘precision’ drone strikes, initiated on a vast intelligence network made mistakes. Neither are we aware of the affiliations of these militants; are they from the TTP, Afghan Taliban, or some other foreign group altogether? We do not know what criteria is used to suspect ‘suspected militants.’ The problem with withholding information is that people always imagine the worst case scenario. Everybody’s thinking, “What have they got to hide?” Even if they don’t, half-known facts lead to half-baked analysis, which in turn leads to erroneous policy-making. Yes, it is sensible to keep morale high and strategic information secret, but there must be some accountability. If highly unstable war zones like Gaza and the Islamic State’s Iraq can have independent reporting without strategic information leaking or military morale taking a hit, then so can North Waziristan. The public understands that war is dangerous business and sometimes there will be unintended consequences. People accept that. What we do not accept is a whitewashed narrative that hinders accurate assessment. Essentially, nobody can definitively say how many militants, how many civilians, how much civilian infrastructure has been destroyed since the beginning of this war. There are no grounds, even for intelligent speculation.
If the Government plans on leaving behind a militancy free zone that is integrated within the state and is resistant to future destabilization then it must allow for full accountability. Not just the military holding itself accountable, or the government holding the military accountable, but the media and by extension the people must be given that power. We have a million temporarily displaced persons taking refuge outside of NWA. What will they return to? What homes, what cities, what families? We cannot say with any degree of certainty, of course. We only know that neat numbers of militants are being shot down, because the ISPR is all we have to go by. If we don’t allow the people of North Waziristan to question the state, then we leave behind a grumbling, resentful lot that only sees the state’s wrath but never its clemency.