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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Wana operation will make the army unpopular: JI |
| 2004-06-10 |
| It's certainly unpopular with JI... The fresh military operation in Wana will alienate the public from the army, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP Secretary General Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said on Thursday. Mr Khan said President Pervez Musharraf was implementing the US agenda by pitting the Pakistan army against its own people and the government had turned soldiers into âmercenariesâ. âItâs dangerous for the countryâs solidarity and integrity,â he said. Mr Khan said the government was dealing with the situation in Wana unwisely. The nation was greatly concerned about the casualties in Wana. âPervez Musharraf cannot escape the public wrath,â he said. He called on the government to resolve the Wana issue through the political representatives of the tribal areas. The JI provincial deputy secretary general, Zar Noor Afridi, said the government had not learnt the lessons of the last operation and made a mistake by launching another, which would produce the same results. Mr Afridi said poor Tajik and Uzbek refugees that had been residing in Wana for several years were being targeted on the pretext of the fight against Al Qaeda. He said the Waziristan tribes were fighting a war to defend themselves and they had nothing to do with terrorism. Mr Afridi said the JI movement to unite tribesmen in the tribal areas would continue. |
| Posted by:Fred |