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15,000 militants present in Fata, Owais tells Asma
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Asma Jahangir on Friday paid a day-long visit to the provincial metropolis in a bid to get the firsthand information about the growth of militancy in the tribal belt and certain parts of the Frontier province.During the visit, she met NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, NWFP Peace Envoy Afrasiyab Khattak, veteran politician Begum Naseem Wali Khan, civil society members and media persons. In this connection, a five-member delegation of the HRCP, led by Asma Jehangir, discussed with the NWFP governor the deteriorating law and order situation in Fata and settled districts of the NWFP with a special focus on the Swat region. Other members of the visiting team included HRCP Secretary-General IA Rehman, Vice-Chairperson for NWFP Musarrat Hilali, Council Member Kamran Arif and programme coordinator. When asked by Asma that being a concerned citizen what should be expected from the government, the governor said that unfortunately, most of the people did not understand the real nature of the problem. "It's not a law and order problem, rather, it's a well-planned ideological insurgency, therefore, it should be treated as such," he said. The governor said that the forces were facing highly organised and well-funded militants, "who are persistently being espoused by external spy agencies. There are about 15,000 militants in the tribal belt, who have no dearth of ration, ammunition, equipment, even anti-tank mines." They were being paid properly for that, he added. The governor said that a militant was normally given Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per month while their leaders got Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month which, he asserted, was next to impossible without funding from external intelligence agencies. He, however, sounded optimistic about containing these militants, saying that now they were back in the areas where the government had lost its writ, but he was quick to add that they had no resources for Fata to bring it at par with other parts of the country. The delegation also had a long meeting with Afrasiyab Khattak, who informed them about the policy of the ANP-led coalition government to put a permanent damper on militancy in the province. The HRCP chairperson also held a meeting with a group of media persons and discussed with them in detail the issue of law and order in the region. The journalists, nevertheless, appeared to be quite sceptical about the role of security agencies in eradicating the problem of militancy. One of them raised a very appropriate question about the supply line of the militants in Swat, saying that the valley was far away from the tribal region but the shortage of petroleum products across the NWFP had no effect on the local Taliban, "which clearly shows that their logistic activities go on uninterrupted." A senior journalist said the establishment must bear in mind the fact that the ongoing insurgency in the NWFP and Fata would not end here, rather, it would engulf the country. "You know first it was confined to Waziristan, then it spread to the whole tribal belt and has now crept into the settled districts of the Frontier and, eventually, it will go to other parts of the country, especially to the Punjab, which is the next door neighbour," he said. Other media persons apprised the HRCP chief of the threats to them owing to the growing influence of the local Taliban even in the settled areas of the province. The HRCP chairperson said the commission would soon launch a campaign outside the NWFP to make the people of other provinces aware of the situation prevailing in the northwest of the country. Posted by: Fred 2009-01-17 |
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