There is a short-term solution to this and a long-term solution as well. The long-term solution is obviously to fix the judicial system, police system, corruption and all these factors that are giving local people reasons to join the militants.

In the short term, if the militants are launching an attack on the army, the army has to come up with some kind of anti-insurgency strategy. And on that I remain quite sceptical that any civilian government is going to be able do that. Nawaz Sharif said he would support dialogue with militants. I also support dialogue to some extent, but if they are using dialogue to buy time for themselves, then there needs to be a carrot and stick policy, if you will.

Do you think that the Pakistani army is equipped to tackle insurgency? Do they have the skill and the aptitude?

No, I do not believe they have. To be honest, this is the quandary, especially in the Pashtun areas. If you are going to look for Osama bin Laden there, you are probably not going to find him, but you are probably going to kill 50 or 100 Pashtuns.

Now the problem is every Pashtun you kill, (would) generate many more Pashtuns who would avenge the death of their brother. So when you kill one Pashtun, you just create 100 or 200 other enemies because his or her family is now a sworn enemy of yours.

That is something that needs to be taken into consideration. My notion is that the counter-insurgency campaign needs to have an economic component, a judicial wing, a humanitarian wing, and some military wings well.

Image: Mourners offer funeral prayers in Peshawar on February 11, 2008 for those who were killed in a suicide attack in the town of Charsadda in the NWFP. Photograph: Tariq Mahmood/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: 'Election won't change anything'

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