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Army, tribesmen talks fail
Pakistani military authorities dispatched a contingent of 250 troops supported by air defence [sic] to launch fresh attacks on the suspected hideouts of Al Qaeda members in the Darmilan area, 75kms from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency on Friday afternoon. Cheesed about their guys getting shot up, are they? The military reinforcement came when talks between a high-level team of military officials and tribal elders from the Ahmadzai tribe failed to make any headway over the handing over of the absconding men and women involved in the killing of ten army and militiamen broke down, a source informed Dawn from Wana. The operation, which was delayed for four days in the wake of tribesmen's attack on the army on Wednesday night, was planned a fortnight ago on the information of an FBI team about the presence of Al Qaeda suspects in the area. Soldiers were pressing tribal elders to lead them to the Al Qaeda fugitives, and threatening to destroy their homes if they were found to be sheltering the militants. Yup. That's a symptom of sharp cheddar. The mullahs are probably birthing entire herds over this one little incident... Troops sealed off the bazaar in Azam Warsak, the village where the raid took place, and were taking "more punitive measures against" the local Sarke Khel tribe who are believed to have hidden the militants. "Lemme 'splain this to you, Mahmoud. You have a turban and an AK-47 with 40 rounds and a few buds to back you up. We have rockets, tanks, gunships, bulldozers and lotsa bombs, and two entire armies to back us up, and we're in a really crappy mood..." Powerful local tribal chiefs met local military commanders on Friday and promised not to give refuge to the Al Qaeda men. What makes you assumed they've stopped being goddamned liars? Some 15 tribesmen were rounded up Thursday for questioning about the location of the militants as paramilitaries demolished tribal homes in Khawaza Panga near Azam Warsak, tribal leader Purdil Wazir. Paramilitaries were conducting house-to-house searches in a 100-square kilometre stretch of mountainous terrain. Guess they'd really like to talk to those Chechen boys. It'll do them a lot more good to catch them and find out which of the holy men the Chechens have been taking their orders from. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-06-29 |
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