Swat : Final countdown begins

[HAIDER]

Today on Geo news.
Taliban already lost the war on political front - ANP Leader.

Military forces are building in the region after a peace agreement in the area all but collapsed as soldiers exchanged fire with militants.

"We have asked residents to leave their areas because security forces may engage militants and we want to avoid civilian casualties," said a senior official from the area, Khushal Khan Khattak.Clashes between security forces and militants in the north-west of Pakistan's have already created hundreds of thousands of refugees who have sought sanctuary in badly-supplied camps.

Residents of Mingora, Swat's main town, said militants had surrounded a paramilitary force base at a power station in the town and others had taken up positions on buildings and were patrolling streets.

"Security forces beat back militant attacks on Mingora police station and a power grid station," said a military spokesman.

"The city is under control and security forces are patrolling... We will crush these militants," he added.

The February peace pact, under which authorities agreed to a Taliban demand for introduction of Islamic sharia law in the former tourist valley, led to accusations from critics both at home and abroad that the government was caving in to militancy.

The Taliban refused to give up their guns and pushed into Buner district, only 60 miles northwest of Islamabad, and Dir, another district adjacent to Swat last month, where they have fought with security forces.

President Asif Ali Zardari is due to meet President Barack Obama and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, last month accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban while Mr Obama expressed grave concern the government was "very fragile" and unable to deliver basic services.

The New York Times reported at the weekend that US officials are attempting to bolster the government by broking a power-sharing deal between Mr Zardari and the conservative opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif.

Late night senior US senators unveiled plans to expand and overhaul civilian US aid to Pakistan.

But the US national security adviser, General James Jones, told the BBC that Washington needed further guarantees about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, despite reassurances that the weapons are out of Taliban reach.

Earlier today, a suicide car-bomber killed four security men in an attack on a check post near the main northwestern city of Peshawar. Pakistanis urged to leave Swat valley ahead of military operation - Telegraph

 

[Imran Khan]

thank god we take this action its already too late .now with help of allah we remove this mess and bring peace and old happy days in swat.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Troops, militants locked in intense fighting in Swat ​

Tuesday, 05 May, 2009 | 01:24 PM PST | Frightened residents fled parts of Mingora after an evacuation order igniting fears of an imminent new offensive. — AP Exodus expected

500,000 expected to flee from Swat: NWFP govt MINGORA: An intense gunbattle was ongoing between security forces and militants in Swat’s district headquarters of Mingora, DawnNews reported.

A witness Mingora said black-turbaned militants were deployed on most streets and on high buildings, and security forces were barricaded in their bases. Another reported heavy gunfire for much of the day. Both asked for anonymity out of fear for their life.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the militants were in control of ‘90 per cent’ of the valley and said their actions were in response to army violations of the peace deal such as attacking insurgents and boosting troop numbers in the region. He accused the government of acting under pressure from the US

‘Everything will be OK once our rulers stop bowing before America,’ he told AP by cell phone, adding the peace deal had ‘been dead’ since the operation in Buner.

Meanwhile, heavy shelling was witnessed in Swat’s Qambar area as militants engaged the security forces.

A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday that militants in Swat had blown up a police station and fired at check posts of security forces at Shangla Top, Shamzoi bridge, Bariam bridge and grid station Mingora.

Militants also looted a store of the World Food Programme in Swat and took away 217 bags of wheat and 400 cans of edible oil, the statement said.

The military ordered four neighbourhoods on the edge of Mingora to evacuate and announced a break in an indefinite curfew for the displaced to flee to a special camp as bullets rattled through parts of Mingora.

Local residents said ‘large numbers’ were leaving in panic, weighed down with whatever belongings they could carry on foot, waiting at bus stations or driving away in private cars, although the military withdrew the order.

‘We have now suspended this order and people are directed not to vacate their homes because the government has no immediate plan to launch an operation in these areas,’ said local military spokesman Major Nasir Khan.

A government official said five people died overnight in crossfire between militants and security forces in Swat.

Earlier on Tuesday the District Coordination Officer (DCO) of Swat asked Mingora residents to vacate the city as Taliban told the 46 besieged security men in the city to lay down their arms.

Curfew in Swat was relaxed from 01:30 p.m. till 07:00 p.m., the DCO said on Tuesday, adding that residents of Mingora city should immediately start leaving.

On Monday, the Taliban took control of the city of Mingora and reportedly laid siege to a place housing 46 security personnel.

‘This is a clear violation of the Swat peace agreement,’ an official who requested anonymity said. He said militants were patrolling the streets and holding positions at key points and on important buildings.

According to sources, militants on Monday attacked the headquarters of security forces located in the circuit house and a police station in Mingora, but attacks were repulsed.

Subsequently on Monday, the local administration imposed a curfew for an indefinite period after the attacks.

Earlier, the curfew was in force from 07:00 p.m. to 06:00 a.m. Clashes between security forces and militants were reported from Shamozai, Matta and Bahrain.

However, no casualty was reported till late night. Police have confined their activities to police stations.

A group of armed Taliban stormed the Rahimabad police station in Mingora on Monday night and blew it up. Local people said policemen had vacated the station just before the attack.

Security forces have also established check posts and started searching vehicles in the area. Shops and markets in the main Mingora bazaar remained closed for the second day because of fear and tension.

Over the past 16 days, five people were killed and 21 kidnapped by the militants. Three incidents of blasts and several cases of car-snatching, looting and firing, erecting road blockades and armed patrolling by militants had been reported from different parts of the district, the handout said.

Militants also blew up a government high school for boys in Tindodag area of Swat on Monday. It was the second government school blown up after the February 16 peace accord. On Sunday, a government high school for boys had been blown up in Nengolai.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attack on a convoy in Swat on Monday in which one soldier was killed and three others suffered injuries.

He said the attack was a reaction to what he called movement of military forces to positions in violation of the February 16 peace deal. He said the Taliban would carry out such attacks if security forces continued their activities in the valley.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Troops, militants locked in intense fighting in Swat

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

For those following the Pakistani media a bit more regularly, what's the message on the airwaves?

Anti-TTP or not?

 

[HAIDER]

Zardari, ISI chief and Chief military operation are in meeting with US officials. Lets see what PA will get emergency shipment.
watch live
www.geotv.net

 

[Machoman]

Yea we need some Apache and Cobra in action.

 

[Imran Khan]

but we don't have apache sir.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Pakistani Army Poised for New Push Into Area Held by Taliban​

Article Tools Sponsored By
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: May 5, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Residents were flooding out of the Swat valley by the thousands on Tuesday as the government prepared to mount a new military operation against Taliban militants there after the collapse of a peace deal negotiated in February.

For weeks the Taliban have flaunted their disregard for the February peace accord, and two weeks ago they used the territory all but ceded to them under the deal to launch an offensive into another district, Buner, 60 miles from the capital.

This week the Taliban reversed the only achievement of the deal, a ceasefire in the Swat district capital, Mingora, which they seized control of Sunday, when their turbaned fighters laid siege to several police stations, a local lawyer and resident of the town said.

The Taliban’s armed return to Mingora on Sunday signaled the final breakdown in the government’s efforts to negotiate a peaceful solution to two years of fighting that has costs thousands of lives and damaged homes and livelihoods the length of the once-prosperous farming valley of Swat.

The Pakistani military, which is fighting to clear militants from two other districts of the North West Frontier Province, Dir and Buner, now appears ready to push its operations into Swat once again.

But the question remains whether the military has the will and capability to sustain its operations in three districts. The task in Swat remains hugely difficult, not least because the Taliban were digging in and mining the streets, according to residents, and the military had already failed to drive out the Taliban before it agreed to the February accord.

But public opinion in Pakistan toward the Taliban has undergone an important shift since the deal, and has now apparently given the military more confidence to move with full force against the Taliban.

A recent video showing the Taliban flogging a young woman as the militants clamped down their version of Islam law on Swat shocked the nation. The government has taken great pains to show its efforts to make the Swat peace deal work.

Finally, the Taliban incursion into Buner two weeks ago solidified a growing consensus that the Taliban had gone too far and that the military needed to stand up to the insurgents, and it has provided the catalyst for the military to act.

The media, politicians and even religious leaders are now speaking out against the extremist position of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the main negotiator on the Swat deal, and Mullah Fazlullah, his son-in-law, who has links to the Qaeda-backed Taliban movement based in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Leaders of the Awami National Party, which governs the North West Frontier Province where all of the districts are located, still stand by the deal, which it says has been critical in winning people away from the militants and over to the side of the government.

The peace deal was popular among the people of Swat, who were desperate for peace and angered by the heavy-handed military campaign in the valley. But over the last three months of efforts to make the deal work, the Taliban have revealed that they have no intention of ending their insurgency. It has also become apparent that Maulana Muhammad is not able to control the militants, the politicians say.

There is no doubt that the military is fighting this campaign seriously, said Maulana Yousuf Shah, general secretary of the Jamiat-u-Ulama-i-Islam-S, a political party that is close to the Taliban and has helped negotiations between the two sides.

A Supreme Court lawyer Anees Jillani, who visited Swat recently, said the military remains divided and some have sympathy for the Islamists and are not willing to fight.

“When you ask them why are you not defeating them, they ask: ‘Why should we?’ and you ask about Sufi Muhammad, they say: ‘What’s wrong with him?’” he said.

On the ground, however, there has been a significant change in the military and paramilitary forces ranged against the Taliban.

Under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, an energetic and determined commander, the Frontier Corps, the local Pashtun paramilitary force, has become better armed and equipped in recent months, with the help of the United States.

Supported by army units, it has proved itself better able to push back the Taliban, first in the tribal areas in Bajaur last year, and now in Buner, though at big cost to civilians caught up in the operations.

Anti-terrorist police units have also been deployed in the operations in some outlying districts, in police actions that are better suited to counterinsurgency operations.

Peshawar anti-terrorist police units have killed 88 suspected militants in the last four months, cracking down on the kidnapping and general lawlessness that were reaching right into the city, a senior police official said, asking not to be named because of the nature of his work.

“It is a manageable problem,” he said, when asked whether Pakistan can contain the militant threat. “It does not take much to dishevel them,” he said.

American support has been critical in the improvement of the Frontier Corps and the police are hoping for the same help, he said. “If Uncle Sam shows the same generosity to our force, I don’t see why we cannot be a good supporting force,” he said.

He said it was critical to have weapons and equipment that were better than those used by the militants.

“It’s a bad situation, but certainly not a lost situation,” he said. “It’s not false bravado, I have seen the small dent we have made in this area. That has made them more hesitant of operating in this area.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/world/asia/06pstan.html?_r=1&hp

 

[ajpirzada]

For those following the Pakistani media a bit more regularly, what's the message on the airwaves?

Anti-TTP or not?

everyone has turned against taliban and most ppl are now supporting any army operation against them. locals are willing to cooperate given gov doesnt back out later on and let taliban roam around. sunni tehreek ulema have carried out an anti taliban protest. the only party which seems to be in a fix is JUI. they dont know whom to support and are therefore making confusing statements. better than before atleast, when they were only supportin talibans.
in short we have now got the national consensus which was needed to fight against TTP

 

[Munir]

If the US skips goodies this time then they pretty much can forget everything up there. Pakistani's are not comparable with uninformed US civilians. They damn well know how US dumped then on more then one bad occasion...

 

[ajpirzada]

today ppl in mangora were told to leave their houses but later orders were withdrawn. i think army is not yet ready to take on these talibans. they want to clear the adjoinin areas first.
but this should be the final operation. if we loose here that means we have lost this war against TTP

 

[Screaming Skull]

Thousands flee as Taliban seizes buildings in Pakistan valley​

MINGORA, Pakistan – Turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Monday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region.

The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach half a million people.

The developments brought Islamabad's faltering campaign against militancy into sharp focus as President Asif Ali Zardari was preparing to hold talks with President Barack Obama in Washington on how best to counter an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups behind surging violence here and in neighboring Afghanistan. Complicating matters, some of these groups have enjoyed support from Pakistan's intelligence services.

"We need to put the most heavy possible pressure on our friends in Pakistan to join us in the fight against the Taliban and its allies," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in Washington. "We cannot succeed in Afghanistan without Pakistan's support and involvement."

Pakistan has waged several offensives in the border region against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in recent years. Most have ended inconclusively or with peace deals amid public anger over civilian casualties and distaste for taking on fellow Muslims. The army has long focused on the threat posed by longtime rival India and is not used to the demands of guerrilla warfare.

Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs.

"I do not have any destination. I only have an aim — to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell."

Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing.

"Can you hear the explosions? Can you hear the gunshots?" he said, pointing to a part of town where fighting was continuing.

It is far from certain that the Pakistani public has the stomach for a long battle in Swat. Given that the militants have had time to rest and reinforce their positions in the three months since the truce took effect, any operation would involve fierce fighting in an urban setting and almost certainly cause significant civilian casualties and damage to property.

In recent days, however, there have been signs of a turn in mood against the Taliban. Many commentators now say the movement's true nature was exposed by its refusal to go along with the peace deal despite the government's best efforts.

Pakistan agreed to a truce in the valley and surrounding districts in February after two years of fighting with militants who had beheaded political opponents and burned scores of girls schools in their campaign to implement a harsh brand of Islam modeled on their counterparts in Afghanistan.

As part of the agreement, the government imposed Islamic law last month in the hope that insurgents would lay down their arms — something they did not do.

Last week, the Taliban moved from their stronghold in the valley into Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital. That caused alarm at home and abroad.

The army responded with an offensive it says has killed more than 100 militants and was "progressing smoothly" Tuesday, according to a brief statement.

Fighting, which had been rising in Swat in recent days, escalated Tuesday in Mingora and the neighboring town of Saidu Sharif, according to Associated Press reporters in the towns and an army statement. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Black-turbaned militants were deployed on most streets and on high buildings in Mingora, and security forces were barricaded in their bases. Khushal Khan, the top administrator in Swat, said insurgents were laying mines in the town to hinder any army advance.

Late Tuesday, several dozen militants surrounded a police residential compound and an adjoining station in Saidu Sharif after occupying the offices of the police chief and the civil administration, said an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

"The limited forces inside the police building cannot survive for long unless the militants are engaged from outside," he said from inside the station. "We are in war conditions and need reinforcements and supplies."

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North West Frontier Province, said up to 500,000 people were expected to flee the valley. Swat is already struggling to house half a million people driven there by fighting from other northwestern regions over the last year.

Hussain said authorities were releasing emergency funds and preparing six new refugee camps to house them.

Neither the military nor the central government was available to comment Tuesday on whether a fully fledged offensive was planned in the valley.

Before the peace deal, the militants were estimated to have about 4,000 well trained and heavily armed fighters in the valley. It is unclear how many security forces are already stationed there. Under the terms of the truce, the army was not required to pull out of the region.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the militants were in control of "90 percent" of the valley. He said they were merely responding to what he called army violations of the deal — attacking insurgents and adding troops. He accused the government of caving to U.S. pressure in moving into Buner to counter the Taliban.

"Everything will be OK once our rulers stop bowing before America," Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman, told AP by cell phone, adding that the peace deal had "been dead" since the operation in Buner.

The United States and other Western nations have opposed the peace deal with the Swat Taliban, warning that other deals had broken down and given the militants time to regroup.

Thousands flee Pakistan valley as truce crumbles

 

[Screaming Skull]

Militants occupy govt buildings in Swat​

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

SWAT: Militants occupied the government offices of Swat Nazim and Deputy Inspector General of police, and surrounded the residence of Commissioner Malakand Division on Tuesday.

According to sources, three militants were killed when clashes erupted between security forces and the militants in Kanju. While one policeman also sustained injuries following a militants’ attack on the police station.

In Swat, curfew was eased from 1:30pm to 7:00pm. During the curfew interval, militants occupied the empty offices of DIG police and District Nazim Nasir Jamal in Saidu Sharif. They had also besieged the office of Commissioner Malakand region.

The militants attacked a police station in Saidu Sharif, injuring one policeman.

Militants occupy govt buildings in Swat - GEO.tv

 

[ajpirzada]

Operation on the cards, Nizam-e-Adl to stay

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: A military operation is in the offing in Swat where the whole population in targeted areas would be evacuated and shifted to camps before decisive storming by the Army.

However, despite the military operation, the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 2009 would remain enforced while the Qazi courts would also be established, as soon as peace and normalcy returns to the valley.

A key Frontier government source said that the Army had been given go-ahead for a decisive military operation for which the targeted areas would be vacated and all locals shifted to camps in Peshawar, Mardan and Durgai, creating a situation where the militants would be flushed out and any civilian appearing in the area would be considered “enemy”. Once launched, the operation would be completed within a few weeks.

However, military spokesman Maj-General Athar Abbas, when contacted, said that according to his information, the provincial government had not yet decided to launch a military operation in Swat and whether the peace deal was over.

The Frontier government source said that the military had been asked for a decisive, focused and result-oriented operation, which should not last long and cause minimum possible collateral damage. Political initiative like the enforcement of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation to meet the demand of locals for quick justice would be a part of the carrot and stick policy now being adopted after the Frontier government became convinced that the militants were not allowing Maulana Sufi Muhammad to honour his words.

Sources in the Frontier government say whether the peace deal with Maulana Sufi Muhammad works or is discarded, the demand of the Swat people to establish the Islamic courts would be fulfilled.

Information Secretary Awami National Party Zahid Khan, when contacted, confirmed that the military operation in Swat was in the offing but, at the same time, claimed that since the enforcement of the Nizam-e-Adl was the demand of the people of Swat, the new system would be fully established and Qazi courts would be set up and made functional as soon as peace was restored in the Malakand Division.

In order to isolate the militants from ‘peaceful Taliban’ and others, the Frontier government would stay in touch with Maulana Sufi Muhammad who, the provincial authorities insist, has still a tremendous following in the area but has no control over the militants.

A source said that even Maulana Fazlullah, the man who led the Swat Taliban, did not have control over his force. In a meeting of his Shura, it is said, he objected to inhuman acts like beheading of people but immediately found a militant pointing a gun at him.

Zahid Khan is also of the view that Maulana Sufi Muhammad is helpless in controlling the militants but admits that the provincial government does not want to lose people like him and all others who are peaceful, have some influence in the area and would be helpful in isolating the disgruntled and criminal elements. “We know we cannot win this war without winning the hearts and minds of the people,” said the ANP information secretary. He said that the provincial government had tried its level best to avoid the military operation and resolve the matter through peaceful means but now a swift and focused military operation had become imminent.

He said that the provincial government would not backtrack from its commitment to establish the Qazi courts in all the Tehsils and districts of the Malakand Division as envisaged in the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, and resolved that once peace was back in the troubled area, the militants would be produced before the Qazi courts to be punished under Shariah.

Operation on the cards, Nizam-e-Adl to stay

 

[kingkong]

No deals in SWAT valley the Pakistani army should wipe out the terrorists fighters there
before they post a bigger threat.