Pk_Thunder
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,270
- Reaction score
- 0
Major breakthrough in Khyber Agency operation claimed
Friday, January 02, 2009
Pak-Afghan highway likely to reopen within two days
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Claiming a major breakthrough on the third day of the ongoing operation against the militants and outlaws in the Khyber Agency, the political authorities on Thursday hinted at reopening the Pak-Afghan Highway by Saturday.
Authorities said 80 per cent of the targets were achieved as several notorious criminals were either arrested or surrendered to the administration after finding no way out. Some 13 houses, used for anti-social activities, were also demolished. The encroachments along the Jamrud Bazaar and the adjoining areas were removed.
Sources said 15 more wanted criminals were arrested on the day, bringing the tally of those arrested during the last three days of the operation to 43. A total of 33 structures, including houses and Hujras, were demolished in the operation.
The Nato supplies snatched from time-to-time were recovered during the operation. The looted items were recovered from the house of Adam Jee, Wazir Dhand area, prompting the forces to demolish the house after retrieving the snatched goods.
A huge cache of arms was recovered from an Afghan refugee, Ubaidullah Khogyani. Security forces searched the house of banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Amir for Jamrud, Hijrat, and found stolen goods. The house was also demolished.
The demolished structures also included the house of a well-known tribal elder Malik Attaullah Kokikhel and that of Haji Momin Khan, the brother of Nasir Khan, the incumbent senator from the Khyber Agency.
Briefing media persons, Political Agent of the Khyber Agency Tariq Hayat said that on the third day of the operation, militants hideouts and criminal dens in Ghundi, Shahkas and Wazir Dhand area were targeted with artillery shells before the troops moved in.
The official said that known kidnappers and looters were arrested during the operation and a large quantity of arms and ammunition and looted goods recovered from different places. Tariq reiterated his earlier stance that the operation named Daraghlum (Here I come) was not aimed at any single entity or group but against a host of groups that had made the entire region insecure.
Lawlessness in Jamrud Tehsil has direct implication on the law and order situation in Peshawar, which experienced one of its worst periods during the last quarter of the year 2008, the administrative head of the agency said and added 37 people were kidnapped and 16 vehicles lifted from Jamrud Tehsil during the last three months.
The official said that during the same period, a total of 100 people were abducted from Peshawar and all the kidnappings had direct links to the tribal territory, where the operation was in progress now. Besides, the area was also used to launch rocket attacks on Peshawar and hundreds of vehicles, including that of the Nato, were targeted.
The official said that some residents of the area, especially Jamrud subdivision, had provided shelter to the miscreants, who had shifted from Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and Waziristan tribal agencies. The political agent said that growing lawlessness in the tribal agency had ended the role of tribal elders, who found themselves unable to cope with the heavily-armed anti-social elements. This operation will go a long way in restoring the real tribal system in these areas, Tariq said.