Terror Is Reigning Supreme As Fighting Broken In Pakistan

Hundreds of people have been killed in the latest fighting in Dir District and Buner. Today is really a doomsday for the people of Dir District as the security forces deployed by the government of Pakistan have been using jet fighters and gunship helicopters for pounding the suspected hideouts of terrorists. There are great fear and terror in the tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border.

Around 30,000 people in Lower Dir have been displaced by a military offensive to flush out Taliban militants, a provincial minister said Tuesday.

‘Up to 30,000 people have left Maidan in Lower Dir district over the past few days,’ Iftikhar Hussain, the NWFP information minister, told a news conference.

‘We are making arrangements for them in Peshawar, Nowshera and Timargarah districts.’ Residents said thousands of terrified people, mostly women and children, left the area with their belongings after Pakistan troops and helicopter gunships launched the operation over the weekend.

One local charity said it had registered 2,241 displaced families so far.

The NWFP information minister has justified the Dir operation saying it was a consequence of the Taliban challenging the writ of the government.

‘The government will defend its writ but won’t make the first move,’ Hussain said.

He says the NWFP government is committed to the peace deal. Even though there are certain militants who want to sabotage the Nizam-i-Adl agreement.

‘The government needed to deploy security forces in Buner because the militants were challenging its writ,’ he added.

Around 50 insurgents were killed in the operation in Lower Dir, near the Taliban-held Swat valley, officials said.

The military said eight paramilitary soldiers had also been killed since it launched Operation Black Thunder on Sunday.

Heavy artillery shelling by the paramilitary Frontier Corps troops continued in the Maidan area of Lower Dir overnight, a senior military officer said Tuesday.

‘We destroyed several militants hideouts in heavy artillery shelling of suspected bases in the area,’ the officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

According to another report, the security has also launched an operation in Buner District. Jet Fighters and gunship helicopters are being used in targetting the militants positions. There is exact information about the casualty, but it is in hundreds or thousands.

A major military operation was launched against Taliban militants in Buner district Tuesday, DawnNews reports.

The operation aims to eliminate militants who had faked their exit from the area, Director-General ISPR Athar Abbas told DawnNews, adding that the operation in Lower Dir has been completed.

The operation in Buner was launched at 04:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Abbas said. He said that militants in the area had refused to heed the government's warnings and had been kidnapping young boys for recruitment into the Taliban's ranks. 

Both the Frontier Corps and regular army forces are taking part in the operation, Abbas added.

Explosions were heard as gunship helicopters pounded militant strongholds in the mountains. A curfew has also been imposed in the district, DPO Buner told DawnNews.

Meanwhile, local Taliban blew up the main bridge in Buner’s Ambala area.

Separately, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said despite repeated warnings, militants were not leaving the district.

Government warnings

Earlier on Tuesday the government had warned the Taliban on Tuesday it would expand a military offensive to Buner if the guerrillas did not withdraw from the area, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister’s Advisor on the Interior Rehman Malik said around 450 Taliban were reported to have sneaked into Buner on Monday.

‘I warn them to vacate the area. We are not going to spare them,’ he told reporters.

‘Action will be taken if anyone tries to block our efforts to re-establish writ of the government in Buner and other areas,’ he said.

The interior chief also said that religious scholars must condemn menace of extremism, DawnNews adds.

Pakistani security forces had launched an offensive against militants in the Lower Dir district of North West Frontier Province’s Malakand Division on Sunday to stop the militants spreading out of the Swat valley.

Military officials say around 70 militants have been killed in fighting since Sunday. Independent casualty estimates are unavailable.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Ulema (religious scholars) demanded the immediate withdrawal of the military from Malakand Division.

Source: dawn.com