Message of the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

[Imran Khan]

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Monday clarified that the objective of the operation in South Waziristan is not to target peace and country loving people of Mehsud tribes, instead the aim is to eliminate Uzbek, local and foreign terrorists.

In a message addressed to Mehsud tribes, the COAS said he admits that the tribes in question including the Mehsud tribes are loyal to Pakistan. “The tribes have always served as Pakistani troops without remuneration,” he added.

He said the objective of the military operation in South Waziristan is to pull the Mehsud tribes form the clutches of terrorists elements and provide an opportunity to the Mehsud tribes to live in their area in peace.

 

[Beskar]

Excellent message by COAS. The entire nations stands tall with our COAS. It's now or never for Pakistan.

 

[The Patriot]

i think its really an excellent message and the true intent of this operation. May God be with our armed forces.

 

[nightrider_saulat]

the nation is behind him he is our true leader in present scenario

 

[zagahaga]

inshallah we will defeat them

 

[air marshal]

People of Waziristan Agency and Afwaj-e-Pakistan - United Against so-taliban

 

[fatman17]

once again the army is forced to do the bidding for the civilian elected government - this is their job to do but they are not capable to do it - then they "whine" that the army is interfering in "civilian matters".

 

[insight-out]

^^^ I completely agree. This is the government's job. How shameful that the COAS had to do it. The government is a disgrace.

 

[iPhone]

once again the army is forced to do the bidding for the civilian elected government - this is their job to do but they are not capable to do it - then they "whine" that the army is interfering in "civilian matters".

lol, yeah imagine Zardari writing such letter, who's gonna take him serious?

 

[fatman17]

^^^sirf loot-mar chal rahe hai !!!

 

[Skeptic]

Pakistan’s Mehsud tribe bear brunt of new push against Taleban's Hakimullah Mehsud


It is not a good time to be called Mehsud in northwestern Pakistan. Just ask Muhammad Shah Jahan Mehsud, 49, a manual labourer who fled his home in South Waziristan after the army attacked the Taleban stronghold on Saturday.

For five months his family endured air raids and artillery barrages as the military prepared for the attack on militants mostly from the Mehsud tribe — the region’s largest. Then on Sunday a shell landed in his family compound, killing his 14-year-old nephew.

Mr Mehsud and his six remaining relatives buried the teenager, packed some clothes and a few bags of flour, and fled on foot the next morning. After eight hours’ walking they reached Wana, the nearest town, where fellow tribesmen lent them money to pay for lifts to North West Frontier Province (NWFP). They are among an estimated 200,000 people — mostly Mehsuds — who have fled South Waziristan since the Government announced the army’s operation in June. They now face a struggle for survival in a region where the UN cannot operate for security reasons, and authorities have yet to provide refugee camps or food.

“There is no registration centre, no refugee camp, no rations and we don’t see any government official to help us,” Mr Mehsud told The Times. “I only want a tent and food — nothing more.”

When the army drove the Taleban out of the northwestern region of Swat in April it also launched a massive operation to feed and house two million displaced civilians. Pakistani officials have promised similar assistance for civilians fleeing South Waziristan, and the UN refugee agency says that it is distributing relief through local partners.

However, Mehsud politicians, elders and refugees said that they saw no evidence of assistance and accused authorities of punishing their tribe for the crimes of 10,000 militants. Some also warned that the Government’s indifference was pushing civilians into the arms of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taleban leader. “The Government is dealing with the refugees like the Israelis’ attitude to the Palestinians,” said Saleh Shah, a senator from South Waziristan.

“I ask the Government to take steps on an emergency basis, otherwise your lukewarm attitude towards refugees will indirectly strengthen the hands of the militants.” He said that the Government was mistakenly relying on all the displaced finding accommodation with relatives, friends or fellow tribesmen in the NWFP.

Noor Khan, a tribal leader, said: “There is a total mess. Better facilities will strengthen refugees’ confidence in the Government and will discourage militancy.” The Government and army deny discriminating against the Mehsuds and say they do not want to set up refugee camps because they might become targets for militants.

FRONTIER FEROCITY

The Mehsud tribe inhabit about two thirds of South Waziristan’s 2,700 sq-mile area in the loosely governed tribal belt. They live in large fortified compounds and have a fierce culture of revenge

Surrounded on three sides by the Wazir tribe and in the east by the Bhittani, they have no direct access to Afghanistan or the rest of Pakistan

From the mid-19th century to 1947, occupying British forces failed to control them

An 1860 campaign in which British soldiers burnt houses and destroyed crops failed to secure a surrender; the locals were, and are, helped by South Waziristan’s treacherous landscape

Sir Olaf Caroe, former governor of the North West Frontier Province, who died in 1981, said: “The Mehsud are a people who can never think of submitting to a foreign power”

Many Mehsuds now live away from South Waziristan and some have reached high positions in the Pakistani Civil Service and Army. But the rebel core remains. In 2007, Baitullah Mehsud founded the Tehrik-e-Taleban movement, which has about 10,000 to 12,000 fighters in South Waziristan alone

Tehrik-e-Taleban is blamed for the December 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the September 2008 Islamabad Marriott hotel bombing and the March bombing of Lahore police

Pakistan’s Mehsud tribe bear brunt of new push against Taleban's Hakimullah Mehsud - Times Online

 

[fatman17]

^^^i said in a post somewhere, all this can stop if they lay down their arms - unfortunately history says otherwise - so the mahsuds will come under pressure!

 

[FlyingEagle]

It clears the poor condition and mismanagement of our government. Just see they attack manawa and fbi twice.........president and all the ministres should resign if they have little sense of self respect.

 

[fatman17]

EDITORIAL: Army’s message to the Mehsud

The Pakistani army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has sent an “open letter” to the various clans of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan. This letter throws light on the strategy the army has adopted for the operation there. It says: “The operation is not meant to target the valiant and patriotic Mehsud tribes, but aimed at ridding them of the elements who had destroyed peace in the region”. Apart from the “elements”, the message has also designated “foreigners” as its enemy.

The codename Rah-e-Nijat for the operation is appropriately selected. In Malakand, warlord Fazlullah had to be brought back to the straight path — hence Rah-e-Rast — but in South Waziristan it is the foreigners who have to be gotten rid of — Nijat. Therefore the operation has begun with the targeting of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) by artillery and air fire. The local population, knowing that the army is serious in intent, has already started to flee the area.

The first element of impact on any operation is civilian displacement. So this must be discussed first. Let it be said frankly that no military operation is possible without getting the local non-hostile population out of the way. The population of South Waziristan had been forewarned; the only difference was that, like Malakand, the people had accepted the fact that the terrorists had to be tackled with a military assault. Reports tell us that the non-combatant population in South Waziristan is thoroughly disenchanted with the TTP.

The army chief’s reference to “foreigners” is a carefully deployed appeal to the code of Pashtun honour which allows safe haven to the suppliant but bans all hostile acts from him. If a tribe allows the suppliants to go out and kill fellow-Pashtuns, it is a serious violation of Pashtunwali. Not only is the Pashtun-based government of the NWFP opposed to the presence of these foreigners; even the non-Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan have taken up arms in the past to oust them from their territory.

Commentators say the army needs four to six weeks in which to clean up the TTP strongholds of Sarwakai, Makin, Kaniguram, Shakai, Jandola, Raghzai, Kotki and Sararogha and be prepared to hold on to them with the help of the local administration as winter approaches and hostilities come to a halt. With strategic posts in its hands, the army can then have the advantage of defending rather than attacking. Therefore the infrastructure of control, lost over the years as the TTP gathered strength, must be put in place so that the process of reconstruction can begin in the area as soon as possible.

The media must, however, take some lessons to heart. The battle for South Waziristan will not be covered as intimately and sensationally as the plight of the refugees from South Waziristan. The army will not be able to “disclose” its strategy by allowing the battlefield to be covered. But a most damaging blow to the operation can come from any “realistic” coverage of the refugees scrounging for shelter and food in the already bursting-at-the-seams cities like Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. How can the media help in not stabbing the army operation in the back?

The refugees must be covered to pressure the government into taking steps to organise the refugee camps effectively. There is no doubt that the NWFP government has more experience now than any other province in looking after displaced persons (IDPs). But TV coverage can be extremely misplaced if not handled carefully. The objective must be clear in the minds of the TV producers and anchors. The last time the IDP camps in the Frontier were covered, the camera at times tended to highlight the futility of the military action in Malakand. This must not be repeated.

There is national consensus behind this operation, except for the Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jama’at-e Islami, both unrepresented in parliament. Even the JUI, once intent on “talking” to the TTP, is on board. The Pakistan Army is in South Waziristan with national support, no matter how tough the job pans out to be. As Clausewitz said, no war worth the name ever runs according to plan. As for international support, the entire world is applauding the operation and wants it to succeed. For Pakistan, it is the second crucial step after Malakand to re-establish the dwindling writ of the state.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan