Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

[Janbaz]

At least five militants, including a key commander, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Swat district.
Security forces had recently conducted a massive offensive in the area against radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah and hundreds of his loyalists.

Meanwhile, in the Orakzai tribal region, security forces claim to have killed 10 Taliban insurgents in fresh fighting.

In Swat, an official source said that security forces were conducting a search and clearance operation in the Ser Telegram area of Charbagh sub-division when Taliban militants opened fire on them. Security forces returned the fire and in the ensuing gunfight five insurgents were killed. They included Fazal Rahim, an important commander of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Swat chapter).
Rahim was wanted for his involvement in attacks on security forces and other terrorist activities. He was also involved in an attack on a local peace committee in which two tribal elders were killed.

Five AK-47 assault rifles, nine hand-grenades and a huge quantity of ammunition were also recovered during the operation.

Separately in the Manglawar area a local militant commander, Sher Muhammad, surrendered to security forces on Sunday. Sources told The Express Tribune that forces also made some arrests on the basis of information gleaned from arrested militants.

In the Orakzai Agency, 10 militants have been killed in fresh air strikes on Sunday. Official sources said that warplanes bombed suspected bases of militants in the Mamuzai area of northern Orakzai. At least ten insurgents were killed and five wounded in the air strike.

Earlier this month the military claimed victory against militants in Orakzai Agency. However, sporadic fighting continues unabated. And the military is saying that “these stabilisation operations” will continue for some time. The operation in Orakzai was launched on March 24 after intelligence reports that Taliban insurgents fleeing an offensive in South Waziristan were regrouping in the region.

 

[Janbaz]

6 militants died among 2 terrorists commanders

MINGORA: Atleast six terrorists reportedly died including two militant commander during skirmishes with the insurgents on Sunday in Charbagh area of swat valley.

According to details security forces on reports from the native people of Char-Bagh attacked at the hideouts of militants and during skirmishes with the insurgents six terrorists died including terrorists commander Muhammad Roshan. After the military action security forces also resorted to search operation in the area and recovered huge cache of arms from the demolished hideouts of the insurgents.

 

[Janbaz]

Post-Taliban Reprisals, Expulsions In Pakistan Valley

Last year in Pakistan's Swat Valley, the Taliban hunted down residents whom the militants said violated their strict interpretation of Islam. Now, a year after a Pakistan army offensive dislodged the Taliban, it is the citizens of Swat Valley who are taking the law into their own hands.

With the help of the army, residents are targeting the families of known militants, subjecting them to harsh treatment.

On a recent day, Sami Ullah opens the latch on the front door of his family house on the outskirts of Mingora, the main city in Swat Valley. But when he swings the door open, there is no house — only rubble and dust. The house appears to have been smashed into the earth so that broken slabs of what was once the roof are only three feet above the ground.

He now sleeps in a room where the family stabled their one cow and a calf, across the alleyway from his ruined house.

"I don't want to visit this place again and again, because once I see it my feelings are that of grief. And it is pushing me toward mental disturbance," he says.

The 19-year-old engineering student blames the Pakistani army for demolishing his home as a form of collective punishment for having a relative who joined the Taliban.

Ullah admits that his older brother, Raffi, ran off with the militants three years ago, but he says his father disowned the brother in 2007. Ullah fingers a worn document officially stating so.

He says uniformed army personnel showed up May 20 and said the family had to vacate the premises; the next day, they were taken to a camp outside Swat where other banished families are now living. Ullah says an army representative dismissed his father's signed statement disowning his militant son.

"He said these documents are not going to be of any help to you because now you have been moved to the camp, and you will not come back from the camp unless and until you bring your brother and he surrenders to the army," he says.

Ullah has been released from the camp for exams and says he reports daily to the army.

Army Denies Involvement

The army spokesman in Swat denies that the military demolished Ullah's or anyone else's home in a zeal to root out militant sympathizers. Maj. Mushtaq Khan suggests it was locals looking to avenge their losses under the Taliban's brief but brutal rule.

"Might be some civil people, might be the people of those villages who have destroyed their houses. But they are not army; the army don't do it," he says.

Khan also said the army does not decide whom to expel. He says that decision is a local matter, determined by community elders at a jirga, or assembly, in accordance with ethnic Pashtun culture and its consensus decision-making.

To the extent the army helps to remove people elders say should go, Khan says it's for their own protection. He says that when the army comes to shift a family and transport their luggage, it is a "humanitarian gesture" that the army is providing to the people.

Inam Rehman heads the local citizens' council that recently banished Sami Ullah's family and 34 other families on suspicion of being informants for the Taliban. Rehman says four of his closest friends have been killed in the past two months in attacks that suggest the work of Taliban "remnants" in the area.

He says it was difficult to banish longtime neighbors, but the council acted in self-defense.

"The reason was that people were very, very angry, especially when the targeted killings started. We just expelled these limited number of families so that it would serve as an example," Rehman says, adding that the families are "just temporarily banished."

Human rights advocate Zia Uddin Yousafzai says the tactic undermines the very law and order that last summer's army offensive was designed to restore.

"It is against morality, against humanity and against the norms of the … state," he says. He calls groups like the jirga that banished Ullah's family little more than "rubber stamps" for the army.

"This policy was made by the army. Had there been an independent stance of the jirga, they might have been rational about it ... and questioned it — 'Why are you expelling the whole family?' " he says.

Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi says Swat's ad hoc law enforcers, in concert with the government, are acting without any judicial process.

"Collective punishment in which you destroy a community, destroy a family because of the alleged actions of a member of the family, is a violation of obviously the most basic kind of human rights, which is that individuals have rights in and of themselves," he says.

Zarifi says the policy of collectively punishing families is also fanning a culture of reprisals.

"Because what we see is that these peace jirga in many cases are simply carrying out old vendettas, old feuds," he says.

Meanwhile, Ullah returned to Swat Valley on Monday from Karachi, where he was searching for his militant brother. He said the army urged him to go look there and told him to bring his brother back, "dead or alive."

Post-Taliban Reprisals, Expulsions In Pakistan Valley : NPR

 

[SparklingCrescent]

Hospitality Week getting encouraging response in Swat

PESHAWAR: Nowadays the government and people of Swat are making efforts to attract as many tourists as possible to the once hotspot of tourism, as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-sponsored Amn Festival and Global Peace Council’s ‘Hospitality Week’ have been underway for the last five days.

During the week, the Swatis were being encouraged to invite the families who had hosted them in the downcountry during displacement from Swat during the military operation. The organisers first said the guests would be accommodated in private houses and offered traditional Swat hospitality. The week started on July 1 and would continue until July 7.

It was, however, learnt that the organisers have hired the White Palace Hotel in Marghazar for the families that have come from other parts of the country. It could not be ascertained as to how many people are visiting on the invitation of Global Peace Council and how many have been given accommodation in the said hotel.

The organisers arranged a music show for the visiting families at the hotel in picturesque Marghazar. The show continued till midnight on Saturday and was attended by the elders of the area.

In Mingora, the Amn Festival was in full swing. At the circus in the festival, the transvestites dance to entertain visitors and stuntmen also perform. A number of stalls sell different items.

Mingora has witnessed an increase in the number of tourists as the peace during the festival and in the city has encouraged people to visit Swat Valley that is struggling to recover from the relentless militancy that devastated its peace during the last three years.

 

[GUNNER]

Troops kill 23 militants in Pakistan: officials


(AFP)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's security forces killed at least 23 militants in an exchange of fire during a search operation in the country's troubled northwest, officials said Tuesday.

The clash took place in remote Kilpani village of Lower Dir, the district where four bombers armed with car bombs and rockets attacked a paramilitary checkpoint killing one soldier early Sunday.

A senior military official told AFP that police, paramilitary and army were carrying out a joint search in the village when a group of about 50 insurgents opened fire on them, triggering a gunbattle.

"Security personnel killed 23 militants and destroyed three of their hideouts in the village," he added.

A senior police official in the area, Khan Razzaq, confirmed the incident and said that militants had managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

Pakistan waged a major offensive against the Taliban in Lower Dir and the neighbouring Swat valley last year but says the region was back under control.

 

[air marshal]

23 rebels killed in Lower Dir

TIMERGARA: As many as 23 militants including some key figures of Maidan Taliban were killed by security forces during a search operation in upper parts of the restive Maidan tehsil of the Dir Lower on Monday night.

Dead bodies of these militants were brought to the DHQ hospital, Timergara, from where some of them were taken by their relatives for burial while eight dead bodies were still lying at the hospital till filing of this report. The Maidan Operational Commander Brig. Nadeem Mirza talking to local journalists on Tuesday confirmed that 23 militants were killed by security forces in Kalpani and Upper Maidan. He said security forces had bravely foiled the attack on FC Fort the other day.

“Militants" claim of releasing detainees is baseless and all of the attackers were killed by security forces,” he said. The military commander vowed to continue fight against militants and reiterated that security forces would leave no stone unturned till eradication of that menace. He was of the view that militants would not succeed to sabotage efforts of the security forces to bring peace in the region.

Dead bodies of 23 militants were brought to Timergara hospital in vehicles where a large number of people were gathered to see them. Thirteen of them were identified as Muhammad Irshad, son of Muhammad Zahid of Chakdara, Umar Farooq, son of Juma Sayed of Sher Khanay, Abdul Qayyum, son of Muhammad fahim of Maidan, Muhammad Imran, son of Taj Muhammad of Muslimabad Maidan, Sher Nawab, son of Iqbal of Maidan, Jibranullah, son of Aman Faqir of Kumbar Maidan, Farhad Ali, son of Awwal Khan of Gumbat Banda, Muhammad Daud, son of Asfandyar of Kad Maidan, Abdul Wahid, son of Fazal Hadi of Galgot Maidan, Shah Zarin, son of Khan Zarin, residence unknown, Khan Badsha, son of Bismillah Khan of Maidan, Ikramullah, son of Bakht zamin of Darmal Bala and Samiullah, son of Salim Khan of Kor Bagh.

These dead bodies were taken by their relatives, an official of the Timergara hospital told this reporter, adding that still there were lying some unidentified dead bodies. Meanwhile, the Dir Lower police claimed to have arrested 275 suspected Afghan nationals from different refugee camps in the district.

Talking on phone the District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin said police conducted raids in Timer, Munda and Toor Qilla refugee camps during the last 24 hours and apprehended 275 Afghan nationals for further interrogation. He said arms were also recovered during these raids.

The district administration on Tuesday again announced to impose curfew in Dir Lower asking people to remain inside their houses from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a,m. as on Monday night curfew was relaxed after midnight and vehicles stranded due to curfew were allowed to move on, sources said.

The Frontier Post

 

[air marshal]

Reviving the lost glory of the valley of Swat

Pakistan Army organises Swat Festival for the people of Malakand

The Swat Festival, or Swat Amn Mela, is a step towards reviving tourism, the mainstay of the economy of scenic Malakand division which had been turned into a living hell by hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah who wanted to impose his own version of Islamic laws in the region.

It is a carnival atmosphere as thousands of people have turned up to see visitors from different parts of the country to watch the Swat Festival. Every face is gleaming with joy. The Swat Festival is a welcome event for the entertainment-starved people of Swat, the region where Maulana Fazlullah and his supporters led a bloody rebellion until they were routed by government troops in 2009. They had tried to erase everything that they thought was un-Islamic, including the centuries-old culture of the Pathan.

Fed up with the activities of militants, residents of Swat fully supported government troops against militants.

It’s a different Swat today, with bazaars crowded with shoppers and people doing their businesses without fear of militants. Today’s Swat owes everything to Pakistan Army troops and law enforcers who laid down their lives to make it possible.

There is a flurry of activity in the main bazaar in Mingora, with taxis and buses honking horns, auto-rickshaws making their way into the bustling bazaar and roadside vendors shouting at the top of their voices to attract customers.

“Swat Festival has been organised to provide relief to the people who underwent psychological trauma under the Taliban,” Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Tourism Syed Aqil Shah said.

He heaped praises on the Pakistan Army which organised the festival with the assistance of PARSA and local hoteliers. The festival also featured musical shows which attracted artists from other parts of the country.

It also featured events like kite-flying, canoeing, paragliding, dancing, car rallies, sporting events besides all this a poetry recitation.

“Hoteliers in Swat, the popular ski resort in Pakistan, have announced a 50-per cent cut in their charges for guests during the festival,” said Shah. He added that the Swat peace gala was an effort to boost confidence of local people.

It’s quite encouraging that a large number of people are turning up at the festival which shows the scenic valley, once known as “Little Switzerland” is recovering after the reign of terror unleashed by militants.

Local residents are very happy with the event. They hope that the Swat Festival would play a vital role in the revival of tourism which has been a major source of livelihood for them.

“We cannot forget the time when thousands of people displaced by fighting lived in tents under the scorching sun. The people of Malakand division put up a brave fight against militancy,” Shah said. “I cannot forget the day when I first visited a camp where I saw a bare-footed young man. When I asked him, ‘Do you want to play?’ he said, ‘yes’ but I’ve lost my football in the war.”

“We are thankful to the industrialists of Sialkot and the government for their donations of sport gears and we organised ‘Play for Peace Festival’ in each and every camp,” Shah added. “This Amn Mela (Peace Festival) is an effort to express solidarity with the people of Malakand division,” Shah said.

The minister said that the government was planning to lay an Astroturf hockey ground in Kabal sub-division of Swat besides providing facilities of cricket and football to the youth.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2010.

Reviving the lost glory of the valley of Swat – The Express Tribune

 

[air marshal]

 

[Javed3]

I hope Swat is really open to Tourism; and the 6 check points between Mingora and charbagh are gone.

 

[iPhone]

^ yeah, hope so, too. Just tell those terrorist you sympathize and apologize for to leave Swat and Pakistan and the entire world in peace and surrender.

 

[air marshal]

Army’s approval rating and challenges in Swat

By Iqbal Khattak

Until before the start of the “decisive” military operation last year, the army’s approval rating in Swat was not good. Locals were attributing all the previous military operations since the third quarter of 2007 and until May 2009 to the rise of terrorism in their district.

Now the situation appears to have changed drastically. They all look at the military for a solution to their problems ranging from security to road construction to help in reviving the tourism industry.

The change in hearts and minds of the people of Swat comes after the army conducted Operation Rah-e-Rast against the Mullah Fazlullah-led Taliban in May last year, with a high degree of success for the first time. This success has not come without a high price that the military has paid in terms of the loss of lives of its soldiers and officers. “We are all looking at the army for a solution to our problems,” villagers in Kuza Dureshkhela were heard as saying during informal chat on the situation in the district. Same words for the army are quite common in Swat these days. Not only the villagers, but also the people attached to the tourism industry have the same feelings.

A visit to the district after a gap of six months gave a feeling of improvement in security on the ground, as many checkpoints beginning from Swat’s jurisdiction at Landaki checkpost have been handed over to the civil administration. The military has made itself available as a back-up force and has allowed the community and regular police to take charge of the security.

With police taking charge, it gives an added feeling of security to the local population and it also puts the capacity of the civil administration and law enforcement agencies to test, as to what deficiencies they have to overcome.

While travelling through the district, one can see some reconstruction taking place. Residents point to the fact that it has been done mainly by the military. In some cases, the military has used its own money, while in others, it has played the role of a supervisor to ensure timely completion of projects. Construction of Ayub Bridge near Mingora is a case in point.

The number of refurbished or reconstructed schools for girls and boys is small. And they too were built by the army with its own budget.

Brigadier Zubair generated donations from the local community to build a six-room primary school for girls in Runial area. This demonstrates the fact that the military knows the people need quick results. An eye-catching park on the roadside is a gift for the children of Fatehpur Union Council, by the military. There is a dearth of parks for children in Peshawar.

The destroyed schools on the roadside are a reminder of the recent Taliban-linked violence. Girls and boys are getting education in tented schools in the hot summer. It makes one believe that the provincial government is doing little and this delay is taking civilians closer to the army.

Affected residents have not yet been compensated for damages done to their houses, despite all the paperwork that had been completed a long time ago.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti has visited Swat 12 times in the last eight months, showing personal commitment to rebuilding the lives of the people of Swat, but he appears to not have the resources to undertake reconstruction projects at the earliest.

The pledges made by Islamabad and the international community to share the cost of the reconstruction have not yet translated into real-time action. Swat residents have pinned great hopes on the army’s permanent stay in the district as the federal government has already sanctioned a garrison there.

They believe with a cantonment in their district, more development will take place in Swat. They think “good army-run schools will open up, nice shopping malls will be constructed and tourism will flourish with a good road network” in the district.

People are expecting more from the military than the civil administration, as all powers and resources to tackle terrorism are at its disposal.

The residents “are sharing information” regarding the Taliban with the military more than they share it with police.

Public expectation from the military to deliver more and on fast track is growing. However, to meet these expectations there is a need for huge money – around one billion US dollars – to rebuild Swat. Till now, the money arrival is snail-paced, making all worry. However, this situation will have serious consequences for the army in particular. If reconstruction pace does not pick up or pledges remain just pledges it will make the army as “occupational force” in the eyes of Swat people. And it appears the army has also realized what likely scenario will build if the required money is not made available for reconstruction and interests in early completion of small projects suggests there is need on part of the army to do something than happening nothing. For army, best option to keep public confidence going in it is to work for tourism revival. If it happens it will bail out the military, as all required money for the reconstruction looks a distant cry in present global recession period.

Once security problem is over and Swat also rebuilt, the military will need to address fundamental issue of cycle of violence involving landlords and landless people. The military and the government can find no better time than now to integrate Malakand into mainstream administrative and judicial systems of the country to deny any space to people like Sufi Muhammad or Mullah Fazlullah in future. If Malakand is reintegrated into mainstream country Operation Rah-e-Rast will really mean it for Pakistan.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Javed3]

"" Public expectation from the military to deliver more and on fast track is growing. However, to meet these expectations there is a need for huge money – around one billion US dollars – to rebuild Swat.""

One billion dollars ... Thats the key!

This is America's war; Swat / FATA operations were launched on the behest and prodding of the US. Army should have demanded the right price for reconstruction and re-integration efforts. Instead, our leadership was content with just a pat on the shoulder by CENTCOM officials.

 

[TaimiKhan]

"" Public expectation from the military to deliver more and on fast track is growing. However, to meet these expectations there is a need for huge money – around one billion US dollars – to rebuild Swat.""

One billion dollars ... Thats the key!

This is America's war; Swat / FATA operations were launched on the behest and prodding of the US. Army should have demanded the right price for reconstruction and re-integration efforts. Instead, our leadership was content with just a pat on the shoulder by CENTCOM officials.

You seem to have some really troubled mindset.

Swat Operation was on US demand ?? Are you serious or just being delusional as usual.

Pathetic to have people like you, who call themselves Pakistanis.

 

[GUNNER]

This is America's war; Swat / FATA operations were launched on the behest and prodding of the US.

Then you support the Taliban ? And what they did in Swat and elsewhere? You think they were serving the true cause of Islam by killing people, flogging girls, kidnapping children and blowing up schools?

 

[fatman17]

HRW uncovers military’s ‘role’ in Swat

* Accuses army, police of human rights violations, extra-judicial killings in valley
* Locals afraid to take up cases with authorities

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Pakistan government should investigate reports of summary executions, torture, and mistreatment during counterterrorism operations in Swat, according to a Human Rights Watch report on Friday.

Since September 2009, the HRW has received credible reports of extra-judicial executions, allegedly by soldiers in Swat or police, acting at the behest of the military. The HRW has since February researched alleged human rights violations in Swat, based on an initial list of 238 suspicious killings provided by local sources and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

None of the killings were falsely reported in the cases examined, suggesting that the total number of killings is as high as or greater than this. To date, the military has not held any of the perpetrators accountable.

“The Pakistani military has yet to understand that a bullet in the back of the head is simply not the way to win hearts and minds in Swat,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at HRW. “Killing suspects and their relatives is vicious, illegal, and constitutes an appallingly bad counterterrorism practice that just creates more enemies.”

On March 28, Farman Ali, a resident of Matta, surrendered to the army during a search operation in the Kokari Jambeel area of Swat. Witnesses said two unidentified men were also taken into custody then. The bullet-riddled bodies of those two were later produced by the military authorities as those of the Taliban killed in a military “encounter”. Farman remained in custody, without access to family members.

In May, locals in Matta reported that military authorities told them to “expect Farman’s body soon”. On May 26, his body was found dumped in a field with a gunshot wound to the head.

“It beggars belief that Farman was killed by anyone other than members of the 12th Punjab regiment, given that he never left their custody,” Hasan said.

Locals also told HRW that on February 21, the bodies of two wanted Taliban commanders, Muhammad Aalim and Shamsul Hadi, were found in Maidan, along with the bodies of two men, Murad and Saleem. While the locals agreed that the former were Taliban commanders, they said Murad and Saleem had no connection with the Taliban. Yet, military commanders claimed that all four were killed in an “encounter”.

Another resident said, “On February 16, the army killed all four in the Grid Station area in the town. The corpses of Aalim and Hadi were tied behind military vehicles and dragged in the Char Bagh, Bagh Dheri, and Matta areas. The people were encouraged to spit at and throw garbage on their bodies. But the entire population knew Saleem and Murad were innocent.”

Fear: The resident said the locals were afraid to take up the case with the authorities.

“The local people are very angry at their murder but dare not say anything for fear of the army,” he said. “When the TV shows militants killed, this is not true. We’ve seen so many people picked up from their houses by the army and their dead bodies thrown away.”

The reported cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Swat follow a similar pattern. In January, 12 corpses, including that of a prominent Taliban leader, were found near the Swat River.

“By abusing locals, the military is perpetuating the lawlessness on which the Taliban thrives,” Hasan said. “Real peace and security will remain elusive in Swat so long as the military neither follows nor seeks to establish the rule of law.” HRW said reports of alleged summary executions linked to the military had declined in recent months, but not ended. The military should investigate reported killings and send unequivocal orders that those responsible for such killings would be held accountable, it added.

“Civilians already enduring Taliban abuses should not have their misery compounded by the military’s behaviour,” Hasan said.



the army shd reply to these 'accusations' immediately!!!