Some brief updates in the war raging in Pakistan’s Tribal Regions.

It seems the main city of Kahr in the Bajaur Agency has been mostly cleansed of the terrorists since the government is asking people to return and take up residence in their homes so they cannot be used by terrorists:

As security forces continued to hunt militants in the Bajaur tribal region on Saturday, political authorities asked the displaced people to return to their homes in Khar.

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Local people said the administration had asked residents of Khar to return to their homes and resume their business.The announcement, made through loudspeakers, said that if people did not return to their homes, militants might use their vacant houses for shelter and the security forces would dismantle suspected sites.

Witnesses said that some displaced families returned after the announcement. 

More here, with lots of threats from the pro-Taliban side that if the government doesn’t stop kicking Taliban butt there will be hell to pay:

Hundreds of Pakistani tribal families, in an effort to escape the ongoing fighting, have crossed over to the eastern Kunar province from Pakistans embattled tribal region of Bajaur due to fighting. Governor Fazlullah Wahidi told Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday the families sought refuge in Kunars border districts of Shigal, Marwari and Dangam. Yet to be settled in camps, the displaced Pakistanis are living with locals. Also included in the migrants are the Afghan families living in the agency, where hundreds of people have been killed in weeks of clashes between security personnel and local Taliban. Thousands of families have been displaced due to the fighting.

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Maulana Shoaib demanded of the government to stop the ongoing military operation in Bajaur, adding that if the government failed to provide relief to the migrated people, all the migrants would be brought in front of Governor’s house and hunger strike would be observed. He said that we did not support militants or terrorists but in the ongoing operation the innocent people were killed, therefore government should stop the operation. Shoaib asked the government to solve all disputes through dialogues. Maulana Shoaib threatened the government that if the operation was not ended the consequences of the operation would be seen in the whole country, and government would be responsible for that.

Yeah, that fool doesn’t support either side?  OK.

What I see as the big news of the day is the fighting in Kurram Agency, where local tribes are welcoming government military intervention, is now seeing an influx of terrorist forces from Northern Waziristan Agency:

Almost 200 people have died in nearly two weeks of fierce sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in a remote Pakistani tribal region, officials said Sunday.

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Local newspapers said that Taliban militants from the neighbouring North Waziristan tribal zone had entered Kurram to back the Sunni tribes involved in the fighting, now in its 12th day.

Residents said Sunni tribesmen torched three villages belonging to Shiite tribes and both sides used rockets, heavy machine guns and mortars in the fierce clashes.

Local opposition to the Islamo Fascist thugs is always a good sign. What is also nice to see is movements of forces, which can be tracked back to the hidey-holes. I am sure this surge of reserves is doing wonders for our intelligence and target identification efforts.

And on a final note I am wondering if Ayman Zawahiri reads the Strata-Sphere. As folks who read this blog know I have been using the phrase “al-Qaeda is no longer the future of Islam, it is now the enemy of Islam” to describe succinctly what the result of The Surge and The Awakening was in Iraq. Now Zawahiri is trying to use the same statement to target Pak President Musharraf:

“Pervez (Musharraf) has proven himself to be one of the biggest enemies of Islam, if not the biggest,” Zawahiri said in the message, which was posted on a website usually used by militant groups. He chided Musharraf for offering “all support to topple the Muslim emirate in Afghanistan,” referring to the US-led war which defeated the Taliban regime.

Sort of laughable given the dwindling support for al-Qaeda’s bloody methods in the Muslim Community. This is one main reason we cannot let Musharraf step down right now – it would only give some PR oxygen to Zawahiri and al-Qaeda. If al-Qaeda is purged in Pakistan and we have Zawahiri and Bin Laden (dead or alive) then, and only then, should Musharraf consider stepping down – in victory. 

 

Tags: al-Qaeda, Bajaur, FATA, Kurram, North Waziristan, Pakistan, Taliban, Zawahiri