The government has decided to launch an operation in the North Waziristan Agency to flush out Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants, official sources told Dawn.
The decision has come at a time when a tribal Lashkar in the neighbouring South Waziristan Agency is actively engaged in looking for tribesmen suspected of harbouring militants of Al Qaeda and Taliban. Talking to Dawn, a senior government official confirmed that political authorities in North Waziristan had been asked to launch an operation. "A go-ahead signal has been given to the authorities and they have begun the spade work and the operation would be launched soon," Brigadier Mehmood Shah, Secretary Security, Fata, told Dawn. "What we are trying to do is to launch an operation on the pattern of the campaign undertaken in the South. The outcome there had been pretty encouraging and we hope to be able to achieve similar results in the North as well."
The decision to launch an operation in the North has apparently been taken after a tribal Lashkar in Southern Waziristan motivated by the fear of a drastic government action rounded up those suspected of sheltering and supporting Al Qaeda elements. Officials said the Lashkar had handed over 44 suspected tribesmen out of a list of 72 drawn by intelligence agencies and tribal informers. The Lashkar has also destroyed houses in different parts of South Waziristan to punish tribesmen who refused to surrender to the authorities. Ahmadzai Wazir tribe that inhabits South Waziristan raised the Lashkar at a grand jirga to contemplate action following the death of four Pakistan Army soldiers in a rocket attack early last month. Government officials note with satisfaction that such attacks have dropped to almost zero following the operation in South Waziristan. "There has been a significant decline and the Americans have acknowledged the fact," said a senior official.
| "So probably they won't come across the border and do something more substantial." |
Brig Mehmood said that authorities in Miramshah, the regional headquarters of North Waziristan, had been asked to initiate action by convening jirgas of different tribes. Utmanzai, Wazir, Darpakhel and Dawar Wazir are the three main constituents of the tribe inhabiting North Waziristan. Brigadier Shah said the authorities would first convene separate jirgas of each of the three main tribal groups which would be followed by a grand collective jirga of all three tribes. The officials are also hoping to get support from local Ulema in North Waziristan, a crucial element in the successful clampdown in South Waziristan. The operation in the North, he said, would focus on groups that had been involved in activities detrimental to national interest, Brigadier Shah said. "We have reports that there are groups in the North involved in such activities. These are different groups," he said. |