PESHAWAR, Dec 11: Describing Pakistan’s volatile tribal region as a virtual “mini-state” used by Taliban and foreign militants “to regroup, reorganise and rearm,” an international think-tank on Monday accused Islamabad of following an ambivalent approach. It also spoke of the “government’s failure to take effective action to stop destabilisation of Afghanistan.”

The 34-page report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group gives a detailed analysis of the situation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), cross-border militancy, Talibanisation and its external implication and makes a set of recommendations for Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United States and the European Union.

It said the Taliban and other foreign militants, including Al-Qaeda sympathisers, have sheltered since 2001 in Pakistan’s tribal regions bordering on south-eastern Afghanistan.

“Using the region to regroup, reorganise and rearm, they are launching increasingly severe cross-border attacks on Afghan and international military personnel, with the support and active involvement of Pakistani militants,” the ICG said in its executive summary.

It charged that the Musharraf government’s ambivalent approach and failure to take effective actions was destabilising Afghanistan, and Kabul's allies, particularly the US and NATO, which was now responsible for security in border areas, should apply greater pressure on it to clamp down on the pro-Taliban militants.

“The military operations Pakistan has launched since 2004 in South and North Waziristan agencies to deny Al-Qaeda and the Taliban safe haven and curb cross-border militancy have failed, largely due to an approach alternating between excessive force and appeasement,” the ICG said.

The extremely critical report said that the government’s agreements with militants in South Waziristan in April 2004 and North Waziristan on Sept 5 gave the pro-Taliban elements a free hand to recruit, train and arm.

“While the army has virtually retreated to the barracks, this accommodation facilitates the growth of militancy and attacks in Afghanistan by giving pro-Taliban elements a free hand to recruit, train and arm,” the report claimed.

But a senior official in Fata rejected the ICG report as speculative and devoid of any evidence. “It is speculative. If it were to be based on facts then the ICG should have given specific examples to back up their claim. It is based on conjectures and there is no evidence,” head of the law and order in Fata, Arbab Mohammad Arif said.

He said that following the Sept 5 truce with militants, the situation in the volatile tribal region had improved. “There can be no quick-fix solution. We need time to bring the situation back to normal and it wouldn’t happen overnight.”

Quoting NATO/ISAF reports, a Pakistani official said the level of cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan had peaked in August but had begun to decline since the Waziristan deal. But critics of the peace deal claimed that winter and not the Sept 5 truce was responsible for the decline in cross-border infiltration and that militants might use the season to recruit and train in time for the so-called spring offensive next year.

The ICG report blamed “badly planned, poorly conducted military operations” for the rise of militancy in the tribal belt. “The state’s failure to extend its control over and provide good governance to its citizens in Fata is equally responsible for empowering the radicals,” it said, adding that the only sustainable way to deal with the challenges of militancy, governance and extremism in Fata was through the rule of law and an extension of civil and political rights.

In its recommendations to the Pakistan government, the ICG called for the integration of Fata, following extensive consultation with local stakeholders, into the NWFP, under executive control of the province and jurisdiction of the regular provincial and national court system and with representation in the provincial legislature.

It also called for the removal of restrictions on political parties in Fata and to introduce party-based elections for the provincial and national legislatures. It urged the government to re-establish its writ and counter militancy by disarming militants, shutting down terrorist training camps and ending flow of money and weapons to and recruitment and training by Taliban and other foreign or local militants; prevent militants from establishing parallel administration and prosecute those responsible for killing civilian and government officials.

It also called upon the government to generate employment by creating manufacturing/industrial units and providing technical assistance, subsidies and other incentives for agricultural activities and developing areas' natural and human resources.

The ICG asked the Afghan government to work with Pakistan and NATO/ISAF in the military-to-military tri-partite commission to ensure greater coordination in curbing cross-border militancy.

In its recommendations to the US and EU, the ICG urged them to press Pakistan to take action against pro-Taliban elements in Fata and publish monthly NATO figures of cross-border incursions into Afghanistan to encourage it to do more on its side of the border.

The report said that the US should make support for the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in the tribal belt conditional on steps by Pakistan to end Taliban-style parallel administrative and judicial structures and ensure participation of moderate stakeholders in identifying and implementing development projects.

"President Gen President Musharraf to allow free, fair and democratic elections in 2007 and give political and economic support to the process," the report concluded.