| Ahah! I knew it all along! |
A "foreign hand" in South Waziristan cannot not be ruled out, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said on Saturday. He said India did not have any citizens or economic interests in Afghanistan, but had established consulates there near Pakistan's border.
 | Actually, that's not who first popped to mind... |
Sherpao said terrorists in South Waziristan had links to Al Qaeda and were being funded from abroad. He said the ongoing operation in Wana was targeted at militants and security forces had restrained from a large-scale operation just to avoid collateral damage. After being briefed by officials of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Sherpao told reporters that a month ago the government had started a political process for solving the Wana issue and it had the support of the Mehsud tribe. "The tribesmen now recognise that Abdullah Mehsud and foreign militants are responsible for their problems," he said.
| It's not The Insidious Doctor Fu Manchu? You sure? |
The interior minister said tackling terrorism was a sensitive and difficult task as suicide and car bombings were a new phenomenon in Pakistan. "Our proactive policy has prevented some major disasters," he said. Sherpao said that around 118 FC platoons posted in Punjab and Balochistan would be withdrawn because the federal government was bearing the expenses in these provinces. |