Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

[fatman17]

Bannu tribes to help troops during operation

BANNU: The Bannu tribal elders on Tuesday agreed to help the government in flushing out the Taliban from the area.

Around 150 notables from the Sardikhel, Takhtikhel and Narmikhel tribes attended a jirga at the commissioner’s house.

“Talks between the political administration and local tribesmen have succeeded,” said Bannu District Coordination Officer Kamran Zeb Khan.

A 12-member committee headed by Bakakhel chief Malik Ayub has also been formed.

The jirga said they would help the government set up checkposts in their area. The jirga demanded that the government release 100 Bakakhel tribesmen arrested under the Frontier Crimes Regulation, open their sealed markets and release their impounded vehicles.

app

 

[fatman17]

Pakistan faces hardened Taliban foe in tribal belt

* Experts say Islamabad must work with Afghan, US militaries to dislodge Taliban, Al Qaeda
* Analyst says Pakistan campaign timing to coincide with Afghanistan’s second presidential election
* Tribal councils in FATA sympathetic to Taliban because of ethnic ties

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army will face huge hurdles in its push to crush the Taliban in the Tribal Areas, where the Taliban are entrenched in a hostile terrain and slip easily across the Afghan frontier, analysts say.

To dislodge Taliban and Al Qaeda from their mountain sanctuaries, Pakistan must work with Afghan and US militaries, experts have said, or risk the rebels evaporating into hideouts over the border. Hasan Askari, a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, said taking on the Taliban in tribal zones where the government holds little sway will pose a much greater challenge than the Swat campaign.

“Unless the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is sealed, unless the movement across the border is tightly controlled, when you take action on the Pakistani side these groups have a tendency to go to the Afghan side,” he said. “And if you take action in Afghanistan they all come to Pakistan, so this is another dimension which Pakistanis and Americans will have to take care of.”

Washington and Kabul have long pressured Islamabad to take action along its border against the Taliban, who for decades had the backing of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, keen for influence in Afghanistan. The US government alleges that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters are holed up in the Tribal Areas, infiltrating Afghanistan and plotting fresh attacks on Western targets. On the other side of the border, some 90,000 foreign troops and the fledgling Afghan forces are struggling to quash an insurgency by the resurgent Taliban, which was ousted from the government by a US-led invasion in 2001.

US push: Bordering Waziristan are Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika and Khost provinces, both regularly rocked by violence. Haroun Mir, an analyst from the Afghanistan Centre for Research and Policy Studies in Kabul, said the timing of a Pakistan campaign could coincide with Afghanistan’s second presidential election in August. “The Americans pushed the Pakistanis ... From now until August they want to make sure those areas are secured for people to be able to vote,” he said. “From the Afghan side of the border the NATO and US and Afghan forces will also launch military operations in order to squeeze the Taliban between the two forces,” he added.

Tribal sympathies: Compounding the problem is the tenuous influence the government has in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and the rugged mountain terrain. Local government and law and order are run by tribal councils, with many sympathetic to the Taliban because of ethnic ties. “The challenges posed to the Pakistan military in the border areas are much the same as they were for the British colonialists” in the 19th century, said Clive Williams, a terrorism expert at the Australian National University. “The tribesmen see the Pakistan military as outsiders.” Army offensives and shaky peace deals with Mehsud over the last four years have stuttered, with Taliban-linked attacks spiralling.

Mehsud, meanwhile, still remains elusive, despite a $ 5 million bounty offered by the US government, which has labelled him “a key Al Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas of South Waziristan”. Quite what form an offensive in the tribal belt will take is also unclear.

Security forces say they are close to victory in Swat and have killed about 1,440 Taliban since the offensive began, but some are concerned that the army would be overreaching in Waziristan. “We should not open up another front before we complete the Swat operation,” said Brigadier Mahmood Shah, the former security chief for FATA. “This operation is going to be very tough — we need a comprehensive strategy and preparations.”

afp

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Going back to the article I posted in my last post:

Battles such as the one last Thursday — of which a Times photographer traveling with Pakistani troops received a rare firsthand glimpse

Are we embedding journalists now?

 

[fatman17]

New anti-terrorist force to include ex-army, Elite Force

* Provincial minister says Rs 43 billion for security will be spent on protecting people’s lives, property, honour and livelihoods

Staff Report

LAHORE: The new anti-terrorist force being set up by the Punjab government will be between 200- and 500-strong in the big cities and include retired army commandos and Elite Force members, Punjab Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday.

The anti-terrorist force will be a quick-response unit that will be set up first in “one or two big cities,” the minister told reporters outside the Punjab Assembly. He also said the Elite Force – which currently has about 7,500 men – would be increased to about 10 percent of the police force, giving it a strength of about 17,000. The Punjab government is trying now to buy equipment for counter-terrorist operations, he said. The major expense will be on installing large scanners at the entry points of cities that will be able to check cars while still maintaining the flow of traffic.

The provincial government is in talks with the Centre and has suggested that instead of getting money from other countries, Pakistan ask for technology that it needs to improve security.

Sanaullah said the Rs 43 billion allocated for security in the forthcoming budget would be spent on protecting people’s lives, property, honour and livelihoods.

He condemned “propaganda” that last year’s utilisation of development funds was low. Some Rs 135 billion, or 85%, of the Rs 155 billion development budget for 2008-09 will have been spent by June 30, a record over the last ten years, he said. He said the provincial budget included Rs 30 billion directly for the poor, including Rs 13 billion for food stamps, and Rs 6.5 billion for the sasti roti scheme. He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his team had ensured that farmers got a price of Rs 950 per 40kg bag of wheat. “This injected nearly Rs 200 billion into the rural economy,” he said. Sanaullah said the provincial government would try to include members of the unification bloc in the next cabinet expansion. He said as the bloc now included 51% of the parliamentary party, that party could, under the rules, no longer be called the opposition.

i can guarantee you that these squads will only be used for VVIP protection - another scam by the civilian govt to plunder the people's money!

 

[fatman17]

Going back to the article I posted in my last post:


Are we embedding journalists now?

it says photographer!

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

it says photographer!

Yes, but the article is also written by her.

 

[fatman17]

Yes, but the article is also written by her.

then yes they must be imbedded as there was some criticism of the army for not allowing the foreign press access to the conflict area because of the -ve attitude attributed to them (always -ve)

 

[ejaz007]

From Rah-e-Rast to Rah-e-Nijat : Army ready to enter South Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has formally recieved marching orders against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and preparations for the first phase of a miltary operation in South Waziristan have already been completed, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas said on Tuesday.

”The government has taken a principled decision to launch a military operation against Baitullah and his network,” Abbas said. Abbas told a press conference – which he addressed alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira – that 13 terrorists were killed and another three were apprehended in Malakand and Dir during the last 24 hours. Abbas also said Baitullah claimed the support of a 10,000-strong militia

Abbas said Peochar valley, a stronghold for the Taliban, had been secured completely and a link up from Chaprial to Peochar had been completed.

He said the civil administration and police had become fully functional in Shangla. Kaira said the government would provide the army all the resources it needed to successfully complete the operation against the Taliban. The minister did not rule out the possibility of weapons flowing into the Tribal Areas from Afghanistan.

Abbas said there were unconfirmed reports that Uzbek militant leader Tahir Yuldashev was injured in a Pakistan Air Force strike on Sunday in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. He gave no further details. sajjad malik/app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Contrarian]

Guys when does Kayani retire?

 

[fatman17]

Guys when does Kayani retire?

he took over in Nov-07 so add 3 years
Nov-08
Nov-09
Nov-10

he will probably get a 1-yr extension as per army act (IMO)

 

[waraich66]

he took over in Nov-07 so add 3 years
Nov-08
Nov-09
Nov-10

he will probably get a 1-yr extension as per army act (IMO)

I guess Gen. Zaki will be next COAS.

 

[blain2]

I guess Gen. Zaki will be next COAS.

Why do you say that?

 

[waraich66]

Why do you say that?

He also previously served ISI like Gen Kiyani.

 

[fatman17]

Jets and choppers fly sorties over Waziristan

* 22 Taliban killed, 17 arrested as part of Malakand operation
* Tribesmen kill 6 in Dir

RAWALPINDI: Army surveillance planes flew over suspected Taliban strongholds in Waziristan Agency, where a major operation is planned, and helicopter gunships hit several targets in advance strikes on Wednesday, officials said.

Three security and intelligence officials, asking not to be named, told AP that planes flew over parts of the area taking videos. Helicopter gunships and artillery were also used to hit suspected Taliban hideouts, they said.

Also on Wednesday, security forces said that 22 Taliban were killed and another 17 arrested, while one soldier was injured in the military operation in Malakand in the last 24 hours.

“The security forces carried out a search operation in the Galgut area (Dir) and killed 20 terrorists and 15 were apprehended,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said, adding that forces recovered a cache of arms and ammunition.

Separately, as many as 3,000 villagers – who took up arms in early June, forming a tribal lashkar (militia) after 38 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in the district, blamed on the Taliban – killed six Taliban and destroyed their hideouts.

staff report/agencies

 

[courageneverdies]

Rawalpindi - June 17, 2009:

1. During last 24 hours, 22 terrorists were killed and 17 were apprehended, while 1 soldier was injured in Malakand.

2. Swat

a.　　Move back of IDPs to Kalam is progressing well. Today 12 IDPs families comprising 69 members reached Besham Camp for further move to Kalam. Earlier, 300 families were transported back from Besham to Kalam in last 2 days.

b. 　　Security forces have commenced clearance operation at Shamozai and Akhun Kale.

c. 　　On a tip off by locals an important commander of Madiyan Qari Junaid and his accomplice Naeem hiding in a house have been killed.

d. 　 Terrorists fired upon a security forces communication maintenance party near Doshagram (Fatehpur), resultantly 1 soldier was injured.

e. 　　Elders of the area have decided and volunteered to organize defence committees for guarding against resurgence of terrorists in a meeting with the local army officials at Kalam and Bahrain.

f. 　　Huge cache of Arms and Ammunition were recovered during clearance operation at Matta and Nazarabad.

g. 　　During search operation, Security forces destroyed 2 hide outs in village Kasuna and apprehended 1 terrorist from Baidarra and also secured village Doghlar and cleared number of houses.

3. Dir

a. 　　Security forces carried search operation at Galgut area and killed 20 terrorists and 15 were apprehended.

b. 　　Security forces recovered cache of arms and ammunition and apprehended 1 terrorist.

4. Bannu

a. 　　Terrorists fired rockets at Miryan, Bannu and Bannu Cantt.

b. 　　Security forces recovered and defused 7 remote control bombs planted by terrorists near Kuram Bridge Saddar , Bannu.

5. Relief Activities by Army

a. 　　So far 1,325 tons rations out of Army Ration and 975 tons relief goods have been distributed amongst the scattered IDPs of Malakand.

b. 　　To date 693 tons of relief goods have been distributed in District Shangla, Mingora and Charbagh.

c. 　　148 schools and 18 technical / vocational training centers are functioning for IDPs.

d. 　　IDPs of Kalam are requested to report Besham. Security Forces have established a camp and arrangements for transportation at Besham.

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KIT Over n Out.