The killing of Shamsher Ali Khan, an ANP member of the NWFP Assembly, in Swat yesterday is a grim reminder that the war against Maulana Fazlullah and his TTP militants has not yet been won.

The problem appears to stem from the security forces’ inability to capture or eliminate the top leadership of the militants in Swat.

Of the 11-member shura that was the governing body of the Swat militants, five members have been captured and one killed. But Maulana Fazlullah and his second in command, Ibne Amin, have not been captured.

Also worrying is the fact that north of Mingora, from Manglawar to Miandam (which leads to the ski resort infamously attacked by the militants), the area still has not been cleared of militants.

The focus, therefore, needs to be on finding and capturing or eliminating the leaders of the Swat TTP who are still at large. Publicly, the government has denied that Maulana Fazlullah has escaped from Swat.

However, privately there are suggestions that Fazullah could be in either Bajaur Agency or Kunar province in Afghanistan.

Kunar has long been a point of dispute between the Pakistani and Afghan authorities because Pakistan alleges that the Khan of Kunar is providing sanctuary to militants and that the Afghan authorities are in turn providing the Khan protection.

Whatever the reality, it points to a larger problem of militants being a trans-border problem that neither side can defeat on its own.

Here in Pakistan, though, the difficulty in finding the militant leaders appears also to be linked to the relatively poor human intelligence that the security forces have to make do with.

The security forces have been able to break into the electronic communication network of the militants, but relying on electronic interceptions and surveillance alone is not enough.

The militants appear to be very adept at hiding and avoiding detection by using rudimentary techniques to communicate when necessary. What’s needed, then, are human eyes and ears on the ground to keep the pressure on the militants and find them when they slip up and reveal themselves. The problem is not confined to Swat.

Operation Rah-i-Nijat in South Waziristan has cleared many of the Mehsud militants’ strongholds, but no leader of note, local or foreign, has been captured or eliminated in the operation.

There, too, there has been a lack of adequate human intelligence on the ground. Without a doubt, the security forces have fought bravely and achieved many successes in recent months.

But the gains made could yet be lost if the TTP leaders are not captured or eliminated. (News sourced from site of DawnNews)