TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid. PHOTO: FILE
A day after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan dispelled fears of a full-scale military operation being under way in North Waziristan Agency, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) alleged that the government had launched offensives in all but one tribal agency.
On Saturday, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also made it clear that the government hadn’t called off its peace dialogue with the TTP. His cabinet colleague, Pervaiz Rashid, who is also the information minister, said the government would welcome reconcilable militants and take action against those perpetrating violence.
TTP central spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid, however, rejected the statements of both ministers, saying that the burden of responsibility lay with the government which triggered the war in the first place.
With the exception of Bajaur, Shahidullah claimed, the government has launched operations against the TTP in the entire Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). No other group but the TTP had entered into negotiations with the government. “Although the TTP initiated negotiations, yet it is still being bombed,” he added.
Security forces claimed on Sunday that they have repulsed a Taliban attack on a check post in Bajaur Agency, killing five militants in the process.
The TTP spokesperson, however, claimed to have overrun all but one security check post while suicide bombers have been sent to capture the last check post. He further claimed that 11 security personnel and one TTP member were killed in the Bajaur fighting.
Meanwhile, the exodus of tribesmen continues from North Waziristan where warplanes and helicopter gunships have carried out deadly raids on militant hideouts since Wednesday.
Scores of families living in troubled villages on the border with Afghanistan have shifted to the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Khost and Paktika. These families belong to Sher Khel, Gul Khel, Gurbuz and Saidgi tribes that straddle the Pak-Afghan border.
Similarly, some members of the Mehsud tribe, who had shifted to North Waziristan after the 2009 military operation in South Waziristan, are now returning to their villages.
Tribesmen Sakhiur Rehman, Gul Abbas Khan and Akhtar Zaman said that they were loyal to the country and their elders had rendered sacrifices for their motherland. “When the airstrikes and artillery shelling started in the area, the political administration imposed a curfew, allowing us no time to shift our injured to hospital,” one tribesman complained.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2014.
COMMENTS (13)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Pasha..You brought them, you supported them, you facilitated them, you trained them and now after doing so much, you blame Pashtuns....???
This is so freaking! God save US all. Amen.
...and the TRUTH is most probably somewhere in the middle.
@Pakhtuns: Yes, extremists should leave Pakhtuns alone. They have brought nothing but death and destruction to Pakhtuns in Pak and Afghanistan, and have done everything to destroy Pakhtun lives.
@Pakhtuns As a Pakhtun, and a lover of my people, this is to request you to not identify the elements that have destroyed the very fabric of Pakhtun society as a representative of those people. These people, who backed by an Arab ideology, alien to our culture - and by ill gotten wealth from those same ideologues and criminal activities - have destroyed the very fabric of what was tribal Paktun society - be it the hujra, the jumaat or the jirga. It may be too late to get what we have lost back - but not too late to stem the rot, if we have the will to do so!
Hypocrisy at its best! TTP first says "Govt on warpath in all but one tribal agency" and then goes on to say "claimed to have overrun all but one security check post while suicide bombers have been sent to capture the last check post."
@ Faruq: Clearly they arent confused. They show their intentions quite clearly. And Peace talks are not one of them.
@Pakhtuns: Would you (Along with your TTP and IK) PLEASE leave educated and moderate Pakistanis to live their lives in peace?
Please leave Pakhtuns alone....
Military alone cannot win this war.These elements have branches oitsite of FATA as well, and these branches are continusely being nurtured by elements within our government, society and a couple of Gulf countries.Unless and until the funding of extremiest madrassas/personalities continues un checked the fruits of Milatry operation will not be achieved.If these heaters are allowed to continue then I must say we are in for an uphill domestic secterian violence where shias and sunnis combined will be pitted against these extremiests together and that would be an ugly science, no doubt.Establishment must act and cut forigen aid to these elements asap.
Govt can establish its writ, if they are serious. Govt can really take *hit out of Extremists if want to.......... the whole nation will stand by with them.
The TTP were openly gathering foreign fighters in their respective areas, with no regard to the peace talks, or the safety of the tribals. When PAF targeted these gatherings of terrorists, now they say the peace talks have been sabotaged. These people are not serious in peace.
Everytime Pakistan security forces have launced attacks on the ttp, it seems the tone from their spokesmen changes.... it is defensive (their sincerity in talks, no other groups made peace efforts etc) and suggests they are on the run.
Is there really any point continuing these farcical peace talks? Even the Taliban seem to be confused.