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Thousands flee North Waziristan after airstrikes
[DAWN] Thousands have fled North  Wazoo region, which lies along the Pak-Afghan border, after The ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... to take tougher action against Talibs following a string of attacks across the country in the past week. Pak military sources put the corpse count at 40, all of them suspected to be krazed killers. Tribal elders said between 15 and 24 people were killed. A Taliban source put the corpse count at 27. Military sources said fighter jets were only targeting krazed killer hideouts. Residents said the bombardment started overnight without any warning. Latifur Rehman, a provincial disaster management front man, said Saturday the strikes displaced 6,000 families, but half of them had gone back to their homes. Rehman said authorities were making arrangements to provide shelter and food to those affected. A tribal prominent elder, Gul Saleh Khan, said more than 70,000 people had left their homes. He said people were still fleeing to nearby towns, villages and cities. ''We were sleeping at our home when the army suddenly started the Khan said he arrived in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. with his family on Tuesday. Local resident Raham Nawaz said many had to leave their homes due to fears of a full-fledged military operation. ''The government should have issued a warning before dropping bombs in our villages,'' Nawaz said. He said his family and other relatives were living at a school, miles away from their town of Mir Ali. Resident Salim Khan said people continued to flee Saturday. He urged the government to making public warnings ahead of such ''How we can go back to our homes when we don't know what will happen tomorrow?'' Khan asked. Angered over the increasing violence, people are pressuring the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to tackle the issue of militancy aggressively. Sharif has long supported a policy of negotiating with krazed killers. The Pak Taliban said earlier this week that they would be interested in peace talks but only if the government proved it was sincere and had enough ''power,'' a reference to the perception that the army wields the real power in Pakistain. North Waziristan is one of the seven regions in Pakistain's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) governed by tribal laws. An krazed killer insurgency led by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) plagues the region and the area is known to be infested with krazed killers, including those from Al Qaeda and other armed krazed killer organizations. The region, which lies along the Pak-Afghan border, also comes under attacks from US drones frequently which target krazed killer hideouts in the area. Posted by: Fred 2014-01-26 |
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