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30,000 Flee Army Raid on NW Pakistan: Local Official
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Around 30,000 people in northwest Pakistan have been displaced by a military offensive to flush out Taliban militants, a provincial minister said Tuesday.
Pashtun women in burqa await a ride while sitting inside a refugee camp in the outskirts of Peshawar, located in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, April 26, 2009. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood) "Up to 30,000 people have left Maidan in Lower Dir district over the past few days," Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister in the government of North West Frontier Province, 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.
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 Sunday.
Heavy shelling by the paramilitary Frontier Corps 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.
In an earlier statement the military said Lal Qila, a Taliban stronghold in Lower Dir, "has been fully secured after the successful operation."
"Search and cordon operations are continuing in the area to flush out militants," it added.
"The military had to retaliate after militants blocked roads, attacked convoys and killed some government officials," the minister said.
The Pakistan government in February agreed to allow the Islamic justice system of sharia to be imposed in Swat valley and its surrounding districts in the Malakand region, which have been troubled by two years of rebellion.
But the agreement was followed by further militant encroachments, and the government has been in talks with the militants to try to restore peace there.
The Taliban suspended peace talks with the government Monday after the military launched Operation Black Thunder following intense US pressure to stop the extremists' advance.
"My uncle was working in the fields when he was wounded in helicopter shelling," Hayat Khan 36, one of those who fled the fighting, told AFP.
"I came to Timargarah with my wife, children and a sister whose husband lives in Dubai. I cannot see them dying there," Khan said, adding that his uncle had been admitted to a hospital in Timargarah.
"I saw helicopters targeting hills in Maidan yesterday," said 40-year old Omar Zeb, who arrived in Timargarah with 16 other relatives including brother, nephews and nieces.
"There was intense artillery shelling last night, my children were scared, none of us could sleep the whole night. We left at dawn, fearing the fighting would escalate."
Information minister Hussain said the government remained "determined to fully implement the deal but some outsiders who do not want peace have infiltrated in Buner and Dir districts to sabotage the accord."
He invited Soofi Mohammad, leader of a sharia movement in the area, to resume talks to avoid any delay in the implementation of the deal.
Taliban spokesman Amir Izzat Khan said the operation in Lower Dir could endanger the peace deal.
"There can be a reaction to the government action," he told AFP.
However, President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday the peace deal with the Taliban remained valid until the North West Frontier Province government told him otherwise.
"There will be a reassessment of the situation by the provincial government and if needed we'll come back to parliament and the parliament will decide," he said in an interview with foreign journalists.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllGreat, thats what the world needs, a bunch of crazy Taliban running around a country that has nukes. Thanks Bush admin, you really made the world safer for America. NOT
The USA just got rid of a bunch of crazy neocons who did alot more damage than the Talibs have.
The Pakistani government seemingly is doing exact what the United States in its own way is doing: providing absolutely "mixed signals" to the insurgents in its North West Territory. On the one hand, make placating "hearts and minds" moves like acceding to the local demand for Islamic law to be instituted in the region. On the other hand, commit massive acts of state terrorism against the population, with bombing raids that injure and kill many, displace many more. If there's a connection between the "hands" maybe it's one of using the terrorism against the population to cause them to rebel against the Taliban and ultimately join the anti-insurgent forces of Pakistan and its U.S. ally (keeper). It reminds me of Aaron Wildavsky's long ago "recipe for violence" (developed around explaining street violence in America), the main ingredients of which are to encourage people to believe their situation is getting better and then to come down hard on them when they get a little impatient for a faster rate of change (in Wildavsky's case, the impatient ones were "outside agitators" moving in to promote popular rebellion, in Pakistan the villains were "outsiders who do not want peace.")
Isn't this Obama's war now?
Hi Humbaba, a lot of other players, but they are primarily indigineous to Pak. The ISI, the Taliban, the people of Pakistan. It is Obama's potential to leave.
Humbaba, this particular article about the Pakistan Army in Pakistan, did it catch your attention that the army was fighting the Taliban with helicopter gunships and ARTILLERY?
Nothing is less discriminating, sufficing only to kill families and thus recruit for the Taliban. If they are not stupid and know this.......voila.
And, I believe, Zardari is on a 10 day shopping & whoring trip. Statesmanship?
Islamabad will be rocked by the Taliban soon. As retribution for Drone strikes.
And India will be rocked from Pakistan again a la Mumbai. Or so the line will be on FOX.
Who benefits when India is hit by Pakistan? Wheels within wheels. By deception.
"Who benefits when India is hit by Pakistan? Wheels within wheels. By deception."
Maybe im missing something but who does benefit when India gets 'hit' by Pakistan ? When you say 'hit' do you mean the proxy war that Pakistan has been waging these last two decades or are you referring to an ISI-sponsored 'hit job' like the Mumbai attacks ?
gyptian,
I'm trying to understand powerful competing forces-
1. I think the West fails to understand how many Pakistani's desire a purely Muslim, Islamic life free of Western conventions, ideas and presence. This would mean no government, no military, no Zardari beholden to the US et al. I believe achieving this, a Pakistan ruled by Sharia, is the Taliban goal and they have much MUCH more support than FOX News knows about.....Elements of the ISI support this.
2. The Pakistani Army is divided by those loyal to the sold-out top officers, but many in the rank and file worship Allah one whole lot more than anything else....
3. The US presence in Pakistan. Doing whatever it can, in the most stupid and counter-productive manner possible wants to stop the Islamisation of Pakistan, At any cost....
So gyptian, if the US, the CIA, the US military, want Pakistan not to manifest it's destiny....what might they do? Well......if attacks from Pakistan directed at India became too severe, say Mumbai times ten, what might happen?
How about a wet-dream come true for the US, Israel and India. The US occupying Paksitan because it "had" to or was "invited"
That Bitch Clinton is talking about the threat to world security the nuclear weapons pose (if the US does not secure them soon?)
The right "terrorist attack" could be a catalyst for something the US wants.
That rings a nine one one bell. Because Afghanistan is la la poppy land, Pakistan is the Prize, the Prize.
Sorry azjoe ... i agree with a lot of your points (in fact most of them) but am hard-pressed to find any real seeds of a conspiracy. I cannot attempt to fathom U.S. goals since they are invariably self-serving but from an Indian standpoint a stable, democratic Pakistan is the only way South Asia can flourish. Thats a given. Living in India i can vouch for that. You do find crazies and fundamentalists here as well and they are similar to those found in Pakistan but overwhelmingly these days Indians seem to be focussed on the economy and how to keep the growth rate moving. Pakistans obsession with India ofcourse is disproportionate. I can only wish these two countries agree to make peace and grow their economies.
I partially agree with homeward-angel
a race is going on for more wealth and power and today if ordinary people are suffering tomorow number of people will increase and will keep on increasing, because the way world affairs are running and economy being handle.
Taliban is a good action movie
Yes, this is Obama's War and posturing against Bush right now is pretty lame stuff.
Civil war in the only Muslim country armed with nuclear weapons at the urging of the United States. No attempts at diplomacy. Sudden death from drone attack. How can this not end badly?
"Around 50 insurgents were killed in the operation in Lower Dir, near the Taliban-held Swat valley, officials said."
Define 'insurgent'. What officials, exactly said that? Nice, clean, sanitary reportage.
"Insurgent:" Anybody who got blown up.
bligh4
Almost as disturbing as the article is the picture with it. I can't imagine being a woman forced to wear those things-particularly in the heat of a Pakistan summer...
The raising of wearing the Burka to a major issue is one indication of the depth of USA ignorance and depravity.
bligh4n
You wear the damn thing then Glenn...
I rather wear a Burka than give license to a nation to blow up civilians in another nation because the blown up people were forced or choose to wear Burka's.
I'm sure you also would not mind being told how to live your life for the rest of your life, by your father, your husband, your brother. I'm sure you also would not mind being told that the value of your life is half the value of the life of a male, and being treated correspondingly.
"I rather wear a Burka than give license to a nation to blow up civilians"
This is a classic liberal response in so many disturbing levels. I can only assume you are a man ... only men feel they can decide whats good for a woman !! You need to wrap your head around the concept of being Anti-American and Anti-Taliban and Anti-Pakistani Military at the same time. Its possible if you try.
Here is a little reminder ....
http://www.hotklix.com/link/news/world/Caught-on-camera-Taliban-gunmen-kill-couple-for-adultery
Soofi Mohammad, Information Minister Hussain and Omar Zeb, sounds like everyone's got something to say about this massive slaughter of farmers, except Obama who has been bombing nuke armed fascist dictator led Pakistan for months, while Pakistani officials, including the Prime Minister has urged him to stop bombing Pakistani civilians (often women and children were amongst the dead bombed by drone)...
This is what Obama was urging Pakistan to do, kill the farmers who live so far off the grid, who are so very independent, have not submitted to a census, are a military threat by gun ownership in this season of World Oil Production Decline nuclear ice age global pandemic.
Obama urged it, ("If Pakistan doesn't go after the terrorists, we will..."), now it's happened, yet did I read anywhere in this propaganda Obama's involvement? Most powerful man in the world, making pronouncements, getting his way, killing hundreds by helicopter gun ship, forcing 30,000 to flee in terror, now totally silent, not even a mention of his name in the story.
Classic.
"Pakistan intelligence agencies believe Osama is dead: Zardari",
PakTribune.com, Apr 27 2009
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53773
QUOTE:
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday that Pakistani intelligence agencies believes Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead but acknowledged they had no evidence.
"The Americans tell me they don’t know, and they are much more equipped than us to trace him. And our own intelligence services obviously think that he does not exist anymore, that he is dead," Zardari told reporters.
"But there is no evidence, you cannot take that as a fact," he said. "We are between facts and fiction."
"The question is whether he is alive or dead. There is no trace of him," the president said.
Zardari further said that the nuclear assets of the country have been in safe hands and under extraordinary security.
"All Pakistani nuclear installations are under extra security," he told foreign media in an interview. "I want to assure the world that nuclear capabilities in Pakistan are in safe hands," he said.
End.
END QUOTE
Usama Bin Ladin, dead? More likely than being alive is, I believe.