Army set to ‘pacify’ tribal areas once and for all: report
Islamabad, October 20 :Pakistan Army is set to begin an all-out battle “to pacify” the country’s restive North and South Waziristan tribal areas “once and for all”, a news report has said.
According to a top Pakistani security official, the goal this time is to pacify the Waziristan once and for all.
He said all previous military operations — usually spurred by intelligence provided by the Western coalition — have had limited objectives, aimed at specific bases or sanctuaries or blocking the cross-border movement of guerrillas. The official said the military is planning to break the back of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan. “The present battle aims to pacify Waziristan once and for all,” the unnamed security official was quoted as saying by the Asia Times Online.
The fighting that erupted two weeks ago has killed more people than any India-Pakistan war in the past 60 years and is a precursor of the bloodiest battle that is coming, the report said on Friday.
An ultimatum had been delivered to the militants recently during a temporary ceasefire, the official said.
The Pakistan Army, under the direct command of newly-appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kyani (who will replace President Pervez Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff), fresh troops and paramilitary forces would establish bases at all strategic points and disarm the local tribes, the report said.
“If the planned battle is successful and Waziristan is pacified, the global Islamic resistance would be back where it was in 2003, when it had fighters but no centralised command or bases to carry out organised operations,” said a Pakistani security official. Underscoring the seriousness with which the Pakistan Army is planning for the coming battle, it is reported that Shia soldiers from northern areas are being sent to Waziristan.
In the past, the military has been plagued by desertions of Pashtun and Sunni troops who refuse to fight fellow Pashtuns or Sunnis.
Pakistan has been hit by a wave of violence, including suicide attacks, unleashed after the Government ordered troops to storm the Taliban linked Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July. The operation, ordered by President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led “war on terror”, killed more than 100 people.
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Pakistan army to start an all out war in Waziristan
