ISLAMABAD: A two-day meeting of top military commanders began here on Tuesday amid conflicting reports about a fresh offensive in North Waziristan Agency following last week’s attack on young peace activist Malala Yousafzai.
The army’s media wing said the formation commanders’ conference, headed by army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, will discuss professional matters. “It is a routine conference,” said one official in a bid to dispel the impression that the gathering was meant to discuss the likely operation in North Waziristan.
The attack on Malala, who was shot in the head in Swat last week, galvanised public opinion against the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and triggered speculations of a possible military offensive in NWA.
“It is premature to say anything at this stage,” added the official referring to the speculations.
He insisted that the formation commanders meeting had nothing to do with the ongoing national debate on the issue. “Such decisions have to be taken at the political level,” the official added.
However, Brigadier (retd) Mehmood Shah said the formation commanders must have discussed the current security situation, including the North Waziristan operation.
“It may not be a decision making body, but it is an open forum where all such issues are discussed,” added Shah, who is former security secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
He maintained that Pakistan will have to clear troubled areas, including North Waziristan, of militants before 2014. The attack on Malala offered a rare moment where the civil and military leadership could create a necessary consensus for such an operation, he argued.
“I don’t find any reason for reluctance on part of both the civilian government and military to launch an operation in North Waziristan,” Shah maintained.
Earlier this week, Interior Minister Rehman Malik disclosed that the government would seriously consider launching an attack in the region in wake of the attack on Malala.
However, he later retracted his remarks, apparently due to pressure from the military.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2012.
COMMENTS (31)
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i strongly agree with Rehan; Those all above who have the basic problem of thier hatred,and thier low IQ.What do they all think,why the people of FATA,do not have the rights to live free,and to ask for thier basic rights,why you do not understand,the operations and for my dear Raza,why you not asking for Carpet bombiings in karachi,where 100 times more inncoents are being killed????. What about your veiw of baluchistan,My Dear all those suffering today,thier only fault lies in thier faithfulness with pakistan,khan of qillat,Nawab of Dir,s and Wali of swat decscion to mergr with pakistan??? Have you ever read the hsitory,the small pakistan given to you by the british,just common,dnt be kiddish,i suggest all of you to go through the pages of history about pakistan and all those areas which are burning today,...in the war and bombs of the so called war on terror,to know,When,why and how they joined pakistan. Have you ever asked why only one Medical college & only one university exist in the whole province of baluchistan,while not even a single does exist for about more then 50,Laks people of FATA,it not from now since the birth of pakistan in 65 yrs no body have taken a practical step for the root cause,why?? Why still the People of FATA,have to live under the british time indroduced FCR.rule,??
@Raza Khan:
This is whar the colonialist sir Auchenake said about the waziris, something llke a steel roller moving from north to south, adding that he would not like to be the one for the task. You reckon that this pimplenick Kyani is capable of doing it?. The Waziris are capable of rolling over the entire territory of pakistan and beyond within 24 hours. They have the experience of 1947.
Rex Minor.
@Jat: Only a jat talks like this and there are plenty of them in India and Pakistan.
@Freedom Seeker: My brother, we will stand together shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers.
General Kayani, Sir, we the citizens are with you all the way. You have a very tough and potentially explosive responsibility on you but do not worry. Inshallah! We will help you clean them out before the terrorists can declare independence.
Salams
Ok I agree with you all that we should remove this cancer immediatly.
but i have seen pictures of innocent small childrens died in drone attacks. I just wants to treat all innocents as we care about ourselfs.
God protect our country from all bad elements.
One more problem is there, that all we know is what our enemy want us to know. we have past experiances that we blindly follow what we heard or read without confirming it through any relaible source.
I never went to these troubled areas , so i might be wrong or misguided.
@Ansari: True! Secular and Liberal people freak out when children are butchered in public, as would any sane human. The religious fundamentalists, however, get inspiration from such events.
one fails the hesitancy of army to fifght and deroot this menace which continues to kill thier own army men every day. Talibans are like Termite who are destroying the very foundations of the country .How any one in position of responsibility can remain a spectator ?.
PML-N has already moved a resolution to restrict any action against the taliban funny no one is calling for Taliban - e- Ala's head.
@Rehan: This is no ordinary cold, which will go away with "prevention". It is a cancer like someone said earlier, which is eating our country inside out, and needs to be treated immediately.
We need to show these criminals, whom PTI and some others think as "their own people", that our will and resolve is stronger than their savage acts of violence. That we will bring them to justice. That there is no way they can get away with the murder of scores of innocents. No doubt, they are a Fitna on the land of God, and sparing them will be against God's word. Army action should be started immediately, and the justice to these barbarians should be swift and without mercy.
@Rehan: No sir. No respect for Taliban. Not now. Not ever.
First - If someone have cancer or any other deases then on first attempt doctor suggest to avoid exposure to deases causing things like if you have cold Dr. stop you to drink cold water or avoid cold weather etc.
Second - If your neighborhood have some bad elements , then you allowed security forces to clean up the area by demolish every thing , without removing inocents / hostages.
mean if you were out of town and when get back see your innocent family killed on the name of cleaning the area what will you do.
I am in favor of cleaning but not blindly.
The right course for Pakistan military should be to volunteer their junior officrs as teachers in all madrassas and scholls to help eliminate illetracy which has been identified in a recent UNO report. Simultaneously, the troops should be used to improve the infra structure of the land as well as assist farmers in agriculture projects.
People and people alone are the stregnth of a Nation! Pakistan highways must no longer be made available for foreign military! No other soverein country in the world permits it!
Rex Minor
@Freedom Seeker: It is not only your voice but majority of Pakistanis now want the army to take a decisive action and not an eye-wash against the enemies of Pakistan.
Only civilians will be killed in this operation. Militants will vacate NW before launching the operation.
Time for ACTION is now! Enough discussions have taken place. Carpet bomb these monsters who are out to destroy us. Pakistanis are fully supporting you in fact the whole world would be supporting our armed forces.
@Rehan
If you want to eliminate crime from your society, then
Start giving respect to criminals Close down your judiciary Send your law enforcement on a holiday Blame any crimes that the criminals commit on some childhood trauma they might have faced Shower them with rosé petals on every new crime that they commit Hold long and short marches and rallies in their support and destroy any private and public property in sight And, if you want to do more then go and join them in this holy Jihad to destroy your own country and kill anybody who holds different views from yours, and while you are at it even kill anybody you feel like, even totally innocent ones!
Kill the taliban or perish as a nation state.
@Rehan: You are absolutely right!
@Rehan: Solve their problems? Their problem is the existence of democracy, their problem is women being educated, their problem is the existence of shias and any school of thought that is different; and their problem is the existence of all freedoms.
"Solving their problems" means surrender to them and let them transform Pakistan into Afghanistan.
north waziristan operation will bring bloodshed and disaster.its fallout will be intensive. why we dont think of innocent tribals .they dont want any offensive.how a war can be won without local support?
General, this time for our own survival! Eradicate TTP as early as possible.......
If I have cancer, the causes of cancer i.e cigarette smoke, lead paints, genetic reasons e/t//c will all be secondary, first I will get surgery and chemotherapy done to kill the cancer or reduce it before I start tackling the issue....the goal is to live today and not be killed at the hands of the cancer....
Just think for a second if some one kills your childrens and you have to buread them with your own hands , what will be your state of mind at that point , you have lost every thing or every single reason to live in this world.
Please please please try to kill reasons of breeding Taliban, and they vanished automatically.
Quote of some body : If you want to get rid of flyies remove the reason of there presence.
Stop drones. Give them respect. Talk with them. Try to solve there problems. And then they will support you to remove bad people among them.
They way things are going, they may as well invite some militants to the "high level huddle" too.
Do as the Americans tell you or die !
Mr. Kayani start operation in whole Pakistan. Its better to kill these terrorist where ever they are hiding. If you want our services just give us a call, whole Pakistan will be standing on front line shoulder to shoulder to our soldiers.
"Such decisions have to be taken at the political level,” the official added." Let us see how dare they,civilion,take decision against our (army) will.
They will come out with excuses about why they should not act against their 'assets'.
“It is premature to say anything at this stage,” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And will remain pre mature till another 100 Malalas are murdered.
Only civilians will be left in NW if news of operation is circulated like this as terrorists keep an eye on all media sources unlike poor civilians of the area.