Foreign fighters flee Pakistani tribal zone

MIRANSHAH: Some of the world´s most feared fighters are quietly slipping away from a Pakistani tribal region ahead of a long-rumoured military operation, raising questions about the effectiveness of such intervention.

The exodus from the mountainous North Waziristan district on the Afghan border began in late May following Pakistani air strikes, locals have told AFP.

But it has been hastened by the Taliban´s all-night siege of Karachi airport this week, which all but destroyed a tentative peace process.

On Wednesday night two US drone strikes hit the region killing at least 16 in the first such attack this year, fuelling suspicion of coordination between the two countries, with Islamabad´s patience for talks seemingly exhausted.

But as pressure builds for a fuller response to the airport assault, which was joined by militants from Uzbekistan, residents and officials in the district´s main town of Miranshah said the majority of foreign and local fighters had already left.

"Most of them have gone deep into the mountains towards the Afghan border," a senior security official told AFP.

The locals said militant groups were also seen escaping from villages. Rumours of a ground offensive in North Waziristan, one of seven tribal regions along the border, have abounded for years.

But authorities have held back from a final push -- possibly fearing the blowback in Pakistan´s major cities such as Karachi, where 38 people including 10 militants were killed at the airport.

However, the sheer numbers of people leaving -- some 60,000, according to official estimates, since late May -- suggest that this time might be different.

- Empty bazaars -
Residents saw foreign militants leaving the Machis Camp and Data Khel village near Miranshah, as well as the villages of Musaki, Hurmaz, Hesso Khel and Api.

The fighters included Chechens, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Tajiks and Uighurs, residents and officials said.

They arrived during the early 2000s, lured by the fiery rhetoric of Osama bin Laden and the chance to fight "infidel" forces in Afghanistan.

Married into the local population, some have erected mud houses in small villages among the area´s rugged mountains.

Others "have rented houses and rooms here but they have now left towards the Afghan border", a grocery shop owner in Miranshah bazaar told AFP.

Another resident in Miranshah estimated that more than 80 percent of local and foreign fighters have left North Waziristan.

The migrations began on May 22 when Pakistani F-16s pounded suspected targets, killing at least 75 according to the military.

Government representatives also began holding talks two weeks ago with a grand jira, or council of elders, warning them to hand over foreigners in the area or face severe consequences.

"Tribesmen are against war, they want to solve this conflict with talks and according to tribal traditions and that´s why we have formed a peace jirga," jirga chief Sher Mohammed told AFP.

Residents said some jirga members last week made announcements from mosque loudspeakers in several villages asking foreign fighters to leave the area.

They also made those under their command hoist Pakistani flags to demonstrate their loyalty and ward off aerial attacks.

Most areas along the border are not well demarcated, which allows militants to escape into Afghanistan.

"They have moved towards Shawal and Birmal," an intelligence official said, referring to remote villages on the Afghan border.

A second security official said: "It is good that they (fighters) are leaving. We hope that tribesmen will not allow them to come and settle here again.

"In case of any military operation, we will face less resistance," he added. Residents said they have seen less activity of the feared Haqqani fighters in recent weeks.

"They are also disappearing, probably they have gone to Khost, Paktia or Paktika," one resident in Miranshah told AFP, naming Afghan border provinces.

Militants’ hideouts in tribal areas to be destroyed

RAWALPINDI: The formation commanders meeting at the General Headquarters chaired by the Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday decided to completely destroy the hideouts of terrorists in the tribal areas.

The commanders affirmed that the Pakistan Army would not allow the sacrifices of its martyrs go in vain.While speaking on the occasion, General Raheel Sharif vowed that terrorist elements would be eliminated at all costs.

The COAS said the sacrifices rendered by those in the war against terrorism would not go in vain.The half-yearly meeting was attended by all the corps commanders and formation commanders.

Comprehensive briefings on the security situation of the country as well as professional matters relating to the military came under discussion.In the meeting, it was also decided to track down the terrorists and monitor their movements across the country. To dismantle the terror networks, the army resolved to coordinate closely with intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

The meeting also discussed the situation on the Pak-Afghan border, the military operation in North Waziristan and Tirah Valley, national security as well as professional matters.It was also decided that the Airport Security Force (ASF) would be trained by the military in order to counter any future attacks.

It also reviewed the goals achieved in North Waziristan and Tirah Valley.The meeting was held when the Taliban-claimed attacks on Karachi airport raised questions about the ability of the authorities to secure key facilities in the face of a resurgent enemy.

Tribal Jirga asks govt, Taliban, military to extend ceasefire

 

PESHAWAR: The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Tribal Peace Jirga on Thursday called upon the government, the Taliban and the military to extend the ceasefire and remove all hurdles in the way of peace talks.
“The tribal elders fully support the ongoing peace process in the light of the unanimous resolutions passed by the All Parties Conference and land constitutionally and where the people had no fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution to each citizen of Pakistan.

It said due to the continuing drone strikes, artillery shelling and military operations, thousands of innocent tribal people, including children, women and elders, were killed or injured and many became mentally ill.

The declaration stated that peace in the country was linked to peace in Fata.Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) head Maulana Samiul Haq, who is the head of the Taliban designated talks committee, JI provincial chief Prof Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, JUI-S provincial chief Maulana Yousaf Shah and tribal elders addressed the Jirga.

Sirajul Haq said dialogue was the only option for peace in the country as the tribal people were in favour of peace talks from the day one. He said the government should accept the demands of the tribal people, who were direct victims of the military operations and Taliban attacks.

“Success of the peace talks is a success of Pakistan and its failure is the failure of the country and the people as well,” Sirajul Haq said, adding it was strange that some people sitting in Dubai were talking about military operations.

“We are proud of the Pakistan Army. The world is praising our army for war, but it will be in the interest of the country that our army shows patience in the ongoing peace process,” the JI chief said. He stated that even if those sitting in Islamabad did not want to hear the Taliban peace committee, the committee members would go there for the sake of peace.

“We have brought the Taliban and the government to the negotiating table. Now it is up to the government to take advantage of it,” the JI chief added.All three members of the Taliban negotiation committee, Maulana Samiul Haq, Prof Ibrahim and Maulana Yousaf Shah, told the tribal people that they were hopeful about the success of the peace talks and bringing durable peace in Fata.

The tribal elders from all the agencies and Frontier Regions, including Malik Misal Khan, Malik Toor Muhammad Bangash, Malik Salim Khan Mehsud, Maulana Abdul Haq Mohmand, Mufti Noor Muhammad Mehsud, Sheikh Janzada and senior lawyer from Fata Karim Mehsud announced full support to the peace talks and for the Taliban and government negotiation committees.

Akhtar Amin adds: Speaking on the occasion, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief and a key member of the Taliban negotiating committee Prof Muhammad Ibrahim Khan said the peace talks would not succeed unless the army became directly involved in the process.

“Let me make it clear that the war is between the Taliban and the Pakistan Army. Both the government and the people are suffering due to this fighting. The army is a direct party to this war with the Taliban,” Ibrahim said.

“A meeting of the chief of the army staff and DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with the Taliban committee is a must to hear the army’s point of view on the peace talks,” Prof Ibrahim said. Ibrahim said those asking the Taliban to follow the Constitution should follow the Constitution first as a precedent.

In the presence of two other members of the Taliban committee, Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Yousaf Shah, Prof Ibrahim said they wanted to ask the army chief General Raheel Sharif if he would like to see the peace talks succeed or not.

He said the army had already inked peace accords with the Taliban groups, including one led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan, and these agreements were still intact.

“If Islamic articles of the Constitution of Pakistan are implemented, we would give an assurance that the Taliban would accept the Constitution,” he stressed.

In his subsequent press talk, Prof Ibrahim said both the Taliban and security forces had reservations about certain incidents. He said the Taliban were complaining about the arrests and ‘extrajudicial killing’ of their men while the security forces were questioning why the Taliban continued attacks during the peace process.

However, he claimed that both the issues would be discussed in the next round of talks between the Taliban Shura members and the government negotiators, expected to take place within a few days.

Maulana Samiul Haq and Prof Ibrahim appealed to the Taliban and the Pakistan Army to observe the ceasefire in respect of the holy month of Rajab and to make the dialogue process successful.

In his speech to the Tribal Peace Jirga, Maulana Samiul Haq said the government committee was not in contact with the Taliban nominated committee. He warned that if they found the government committee was not interested in the talks, they would be compelled to withdraw from the peace process. He said the prime minister and other key government functionaries should cancel their foreign tours and focus on the peace process. The government functionaries should first put their own house in order and then go on foreign tours, he said.

Maulana Yousaf Shah said the second round of peace talks between the Taliban Shura members and the government negotiators was expected in two or three days.“I am in contact with the Taliban Shura members and there are no serious reservations about the process on both the sides,” he claimed.He added that he was hopeful of an extension in the ceasefire from the Taliban side in the next meeting and other positive outcomes regarding the peace process.

Top tribal chief of NWA, driver, bodyguard killed

 

MIRANSHAH: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a prominent tribal elder, designated by the government as the chief of North Waziristan, along with his driver and a bodyguard in Miranshah, North Waziristan Agency, on Thursday.
A senior government official said Malik Qadir Khan was on his way home in a car when armed men opened fire on them near the Chashma Pul.It is the same place where a senior local journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan was killed by unidentified people two years ago.

Malik Qadir Khan belonged to the Madakhel tribe. He was among the leading tribal elders and someone who tried to maintain peace in North Waziristan. He was the head of the tribal Jirga constituted by Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s JUI-F to promote peace talks with the militants. However, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif didn’t use the services of the tribal Jirga much to the annoyance of Maulana Fazlur Rahman.

Due to security concerns and following the targeted killing of tribal elders, Malik Qadir Khan had shifted his family from his native North Waziristan to Lakki Marwat district in the southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a few years ago.

Most of his tribe continued to live in North Waziristan, a volatile tribal region where local and foreign militants are active.“He used to come to Waziristan to help settle local disputes and would return home after spending some time,” the government official said. Pleading anonymity, he said the three men died on the spot.

A local elder said the killing of the noted tribal elder, Malik Qadir Khan, had contributed to the concerns of the people in North Waziristan. “He was widely respected and had no enmity. We don’t know who would have done it,” he said.The government had given Malik Qadir Khan the status of the chief of Waziristan as he wielded considerable influence among the tribes.

Anti polio drive postponed in tribal areas

BAJAUR: The health department has postponed the scheduled three-day anti polio campaign in the agency due to incomplete arrangements and unavailability of vaccines, sources of the local health department told.

Dr Zakir Hussain, Agency surgeon Bajaur, when contacted confirmed the postponement of polio drive in the agency. He said that the polio campaign was not only postponed in Bajaur but also in the entire tribal areas.

However, the drive in Bajaur and all over the tribal areas would be launched on May 5, Dr Zakir added. The department with special instructions of directorate of health services Fata has postponed its three-day anti polio drive starting from April 28 Monday. Incomplete security arrangements, unavailability of vaccines, shortage of necessary equipments and volunteers could be the reasons for postponement of the campaign.

“The officials of directorate of health services Fata have sent a notification to the offices of local health department in which they had asked us to postpone the anti polio drive until a later date. I donot know the causes behind the postponement of campaign but we have been instructed by the senior officials to not launch the drive on Monday,” an official of health department told.