The government is targeting the terror network run by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud with precision, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Wednesday.That's in line with their complaints about the offensive in Afghanistan. If they're only going after the Baitullah network that means ISI thinks they've still got control of the other Taligroups, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Malik said Baitullah would be pursued until the elimination of his terror network.
Thereby leaving his rival networks and any parallel networks in place -- viz., Mangal Bagh's Lashkar-e-Islami.
He said the government wanted to undertake anti-terror operations in all insurgency-hit areas in order to maintain pressure on the Taliban.
But only on the rogue pieces of the Taliban. The rest of it, including Uzbeks, Chechens, and Arabian riff-raff, a tools to be used in maintaining "strategic depth."
The interior minister said the operation in South Waziristan Agency was not aimed at any particular tribe, but at the terror network operating in the area.
To reiterate: Only at Baitullah, not at anybody else.
Determination: "The government is determined to combat the Taliban and to put an end to terrorism. If we don't do it now, it will spread to the whole of the region and exacerbate the threat for the whole world," he said.
But they're not doing anything at all about Haqqani network facilities...
To a question on the results of the offensive in Swat, he said the army had the support of the entire population, adding that the displaced people were returning to their homes and denouncing the terrorists. "We have discovered many caches of arms. The big difference with the previous operations is that this time we have public opinion on our side. It denounces the Taliban," Malik said.
To a query about cooperation with Afghanistan in the war on terror, the interior minister said the two countries had a "common enemy and must have a common strategy."
"It is urgent that we control the border. Thirty-five thousand Afghans or Pakistanis cross it without a visa or a passport. We have set up biometrics checkpoints. We have agreed to open an emergency telephone link and exchange information."
"During the ongoing operation, among the 1,500 arrests that we made, 90 percent concerned Afghans. There is no way through in the other direction. We are calling for reciprocal measures," he said.
Interesting statistic, given that so many Taliban on the Afghan side of the border turn out to be Paks...
Referring to another question about the past strategies on the issue of terrorism, the interior minister said mistakes had been made in the past due to a lack of understanding that created doubts. "We have decided to be transparent and to respond to terrorism with democracy. Dictatorships have too often favoured terrorism," he added. About his objectives to visit Paris, Malik replied that he and his French counterpart Brice Hortefeux had agreed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and to exchange information.