Govt's writ in tribal belt of Pakistan restored
Pakistan Times Staff Report

PESHAWAR: GOC Kohat, Maj Gen Niaz Khattak says government writ has been fully restored in the Mehsud and the Wazir areas and the security forces were in full control of these troubled spots. He said, his forces, having a strong intelligence network, could not find any clue or trace about the presence of Osama Bin Laden, the man topping the list of Washington’s most wanted men.

In a briefing on the latest situation in South Waziristan to a team of media persons specially driven to Durrani Fort, DV Headquarters Kohat Thursday, General Khattak, who is also the field commander of South Waziristan Agency, reiterated the military stance that they did not have any contact or interaction with the beleaguered commander Abdullah Mehsud (responsible for the killing of Chinese engineer) adding the accused would have to surrender before the government unconditionally.

He however, did not rule out the dialogue or mediation process with Abdullah saying that was a part of the Tribal traditions and the culture. “ But, still the government has its conditions that he ( Abdullah) would surrender unconditionally, get the foreigners registered with the authorities and would guarantee that they would lead peaceful life and would not indulge in any kind of subversive activities”, maintained General Khattak.

He further claimed that majority of around 600 terrorists or the foreign operatives in the South Waziristan Agency had either been killed or left the region and the remaining 50 to 100 terrorists were on the run and were looking for the places to hide. They are disillusioned and disarrayed, they are short of weapons and are no longer in a position to reorganize and are preferring to leave the area. This is what our target was. Don’t you think it’s an achievement?” the GOC asked.

He said the village of Abdullah Mehsud named Nano, was the hub of subversive activities and the training camp for the foreign terrorists and that was the reason the local population of the village left the area and they were not displaced as a result of the military operation.

General Khattak said the number of casualties among the security forces during the operation in the South Wazirsiatan Agency did never exceed 200 figures which include a few officers and the remaining were the Jawans of the Army as well as paramilitary forces operating in the region including accidental casualties. He, however, admitted there were collateral damages and number of innocent tribals were killed during the operations, that too due to the militants fires.

The GOC announced there was no resistance in the Mehsud and Wazir Tribes and even the tribals have realized and accepted that Army was determined and resolved to eliminate terrorism from the region.

He further declared that Army would remain in the region till the time peace is fully restored in the region and the trouble makers are completely eliminated or flushed out from the region. He once again stressed that the military operations in the tribal belt were not aimed against the tribal people but against foreign terrorists and their facilitators.

The General said with the conviction of mind that the element of the jihad was missing in the militants who were playing the money game and having the vested interests.

He disclosed that the muddy compounds which one would hire at more than 2000 Rs normally, were rented out to the foreign terrorists for Rs 30000 to 50000 per month and in some cases they were given rooms for Rs two to three thousand per night. He, however, said, no doubt , there were true and real jihadi elements among the valiant tribals but those, he added, were misdirected and exploited.

Major General Khattak said the third tier leadership of the Osama’s network including Tahir Yadeshave might have acted in the region but they were also at the run.

General Khattak, who gave detailed account of the developmental activities to be carried out in the South Waziristan Agency, said emphatically that for the prosecution of developmental schemes and the mega project involving huge amount, the restoration of peace and stability in the region was a must factor and to ensure peace in the area the total elimination of the foreign terrorists as well as their harbourers from the region was imperative.

Giving details of the developmental activities for the South Waziristan Agency, General Khattak said Rs 65.95 millions have been allocated for the construction of 54 kilometers roads, one million for bus stand at Shakai, and one million for the water supply scheme. Likewise the preparation of 3 playgrounds and two parks at Shakai would cost Rs. one million and 0.6 millions each where as maintenance of various facilities would cost two million.

From the ADP fund Rs 32.594 millions were marked for the construction of 10 km black topped road and Rs 2 million for the Water schemes at Zalai and Srakanda under the Humanitarian Aid Dev Programme. Rs 171 million have been allocated under special funds for three roads at Dre. Nishte to Zamchan to Azam Warsak.

Under the President package a major amount of Rs 250 million has been provided for the construction of 24 roads with the length of 522 kilometers at various areas in the agency.

Online adds: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said foreign militants are still present in tribal areas, urging tribesmen to influence hiding foreigners either to get themselves registered with local administration or abandon the area.

Speaking to a Mehsud tribal jirga here Thursday at Miran Shah the governor said militants should lay down their arms, register themselves and live a peaceful life there.

He further said if this was unacceptable to foreigners, they should leave the place at once otherwise they would be dealt with sternly.

He said there were almost 1.5 million Afghan refugees in the Frontier, who were living peacefully and were creating no troubles for the local administration.

He said construction of a road linking Bajore to Wana had already been given approval, adding three large dams in tribal areas would be built in future.

The governor accused Mehsud tribe of betraying government by saying there was no foreign militants hiding in areas under its control.

He said the present government was committed to bringing the tribal areas at par with the developed areas of the country and for the purpose, it had allocated nine billion rupees for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) development.

He said the development work would soon start in tribal areas.

He said government considered education a must for development and progress and was giving special focus to make available excellent educational facilities for tribesmen.

He said the government had sufficient funds available with it for developing FATA but the tribesmen would have to join its efforts to purge the area of militants to make this possible.

The governor appreciated the Makeen peace committee’s efforts to bring peace and stability in the area.●