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ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan suspended fighting in the volatile northwest for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and some of the 300,000 people displaced by air strikes and gunbattles started packing up belongings to return to their shattered homes.
The military warned, however, that any provocations in the Bajur tribal region, a rumoured hide-out of Osama bin Laden near the border with Afghanistan, would bring immediate retaliation.
Pakistan’s five-month-old government at first tried peace talks with militants, but those efforts bore little fruit. It has turned to force in recent weeks, including using helicopter gunships and jets to strike suspected insurgent hide-outs.
The operation in Bajur began in early August. Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said it has killed more than 560 insurgents. Mr. Malik did not commit to a formal end to the operation but said an estimated 300,000 people displaced from Bajur could return to the region “without any fear.”
Some started gathering their belongings from sweltering, mosquito-infested relief camps so they could go home for Ramadan. But others, barely scraping by, said they could not afford to make the journey and would remain with their families in cramped tents for the holy month.
Defence analyst Talat Masood said the suspension of massive military operations in Bajur, which began in early August, risked squandering any gains made by security forces so far.
“Definitely it will give a fair chance to the militants to regroup, consolidate their strength and stage a come back,” he said. “This has happened in the past.”
Bajur has been the primary focus of military operations against insurgents, though there have also been clashes in the northwestern Swat Valley, a formerly popular tourist resort.
It was not immediately clear whether authorities were also suspending fighting there, but Taliban militants said, in any case, they intended to keep up their activities.
“This is not a war, but jihad, and this is our faith that rewards for good deeds and that is multiplied during the holy month,” said Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman in Swat.
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan and international forces killed more than 220 militants over the past week in the country’s insurgency-wracked south, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
The militants were killed in several clashes from August 25-30 in Helmand province, where Taliban rebels control several districts, the statement received late Sunday said. Afghan and US-led forces suffered no casualties.
ANSF and coalition forces were attacked repeatedly by militants.
Kabul Raid Kills 2 Children –
U.S. troops backed by Afghan intelligence agents
See also my earlier diary –
US Bombing: 60 Children Among Afghan Dead
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
