Peace dialogue in jeopardy: Govt on warpath in all but one tribal agency, says TTP
Claims it has captured security check posts in Bajaur.
TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid. PHOTO: FILE
MIRAMSHAH:
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.
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.