Are the Americans poised to go the whole distance in their search for 'terrorists'? The NWFP government is worried that this may be the caseThe news is quite disturbing for the people and the governmnet of the NWFP; it has been reported that the United States has warned that it will bomb any part of the province in pursuit of 'terrorists'.
The warning, it is said, was conveyed to the NWFP governor, Khalilur Rehman and of course to the chief minister, Akram Khan Durrani, by none other than President General Pervez Musharraf himself at a meeting in Islamabad. The tone of the message, an insider tells TNS, is tantamount to bullying. "The president told the governor and chief minister that Americans have warned that those who are hiding in the Frontier and elsewhere will be bombed out," a source privy to the meeting revealed, requesing anonymity. The warning left the president angry as well as concerned, the source added, saying this could be an epilogue to increased target hitting by umanned Drones on Pakistani territory.
Apart from killing Commander Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan Agency, the US planes have targeted two suspected terrorist hideouts in Miramshah and Mirali areas of North Waziristan and Damadola in Bajaur Agency over the past few months. In Miramshah, all the victims turned out to be local tribesmen while mystery shrouds the president's claim that Hamza Rabia, al-Qaeda's No-3, was killed in a raid on Khisokhel village in Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan. Sources, having links with militant groups active in the tribal belt and across the border in Afghanistan, deny the claim.
Similarly, claims by the American media and Pakistani authorities that al-Qaeda's No-2, Aiman Al-Zawahiri, was the target of the air strike in Damadola, or that top al-Qaeda operatives have actually been killed, are still to be verified.
The clergy-led government in the Frontier, already on the defensive over its silence on military operations in tribal areas and US air strikes, is taking the new warning as a declaration of open war. Confirming that President Pervez Musharraf has informed him of the new dangers ahead, Akram Khan Durrani has said that the US has warned to go after the so-called 'terrorists' even in the settled areas of NWFP, if the attacks against the Americans and their allies continued in the neighbouring Afghanistan.
| We don't like being on the defensive, as you'll find out. |
| Pakistani national = Taliban on many occasions. |
| Yeah, yeah, that's what everyone says. If we do something we make enemies. If we don't do something we make enemies. |
| We'll pretty much do what we have to do. Perv has been useful to us for a long time, and while we're not quite ready to upset the Paki applecart, we have our limits. |
At the same time, President Musharraf has questioned the validity of the list of wanted Taliban leaders that Kabul believes to be residing in Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has handed over the list to Islamabad as Kabul asks Pakistan to do 'more' to stop cross border infiltration and to destroy hideouts of the Taliban and other extremists operating from Pakistan in Afghanistan.
| Perv has to dissemble here, it's all he can do. He can't face us if he agrees the list is accurate and then does nothing, and if he does something he'll have even more enemies who want to kill him. He's basically stuck. |
Intelligence agencies as well as tribal sources believe that a sizeable number of the local Taliban and foreign nationals have moved out of the tribal areas and are believed to be hiding in settled districts of the province.