ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 of this book focuses on Pakistani military operations and peace deals within the erstwhile FATA region in response to militancy post-2001. In its first section, the chapter briefly discusses various major military operations in the erstwhile FATA region along with their effectiveness, or lack thereof. In this section, there is also a discussion of how these operations resulted in mass displacement of ‘tribal’ Pashtuns and how it affected the socio-political situation in the tribal areas. There has also been a long history of drone strikes within the area, launched by the United States government, but as this book is primarily focused on the engagement of the Pakistani state and military with the Pashtun tribes within the tribal areas, drone strikes and their impact are briefly discussed in the second section. In its third section, the chapter discusses various peace efforts in the form of peace deals brokered mostly by the military on behalf of the Pakistani state on the model of Pashtun Jirga. The section also analyses whether or not these peace initiatives succeeded in achieving temporary or lasting peace in the region. Using postcolonialism as an analytical lens, this chapter connects Pakistan’s lack of democratic progress leading to military influence and the colonial legacy of FCR in the former-FATA region to argue that the Pakistani military had a near monopoly over peace and conflict resolution in the region.
