This should be good for a laugh
UNDER pressure from the regional governor, hundreds of armed Pakistani tribesmen today started a hunt for al-Qaeda suspects believed to be hiding in remote territories near the Afghanistan border, a tribal elder said.
| "Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?" |
Members of the Utmankhel tribe in South Waziristan started the search a day after the regional governor, Iftikhar Hussain Shah, told elders in the provincial capital, Peshawar, that they have until April 20 to expel foreign militants or face military action.
Officials believe that hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are hiding in the South and North Waziristan regions, some harbored by tribe members in villages near Wana, the main town of South Waziristan. On Tuesday, about 600 Utmankhel tribesmen, many armed with assault rifles, rolling their eyes and gnashing their teeth gathered in Azam Warsak, a small town about 15 kilometres west of Wana, said Malik Iqbal Khan Wazir, an Utmankhel elder. Wazir said the men travelled to nearby Shin Warsak where they searched houses and questioned people in the area for clues to find the militant suspects. "We will go to every part in our territory when we get information about the presence of foreign terrorists," Wazir said.
Wazir’s pledge notwithstanding, it was not immediately clear with what level of conviction the search was being undertaken. US, Afghan and Pakistani authorities all accuse the tribesmen of doing little to move against the foreigners in recent months. Shin Warsak is in a region where Pakistani troops fought fierce battles last month with militants hiding in fortress-like mud houses, killing at least 63 foreign and local militants. Nearly 50 Pakistani troops and officials, and a dozen civilians also died in the clash. Government soldiers captured more than 160 suspects, but hundreds managed to escape. Uzbek militant leader Tahir Yuldash, believed to be among the escaped, was wounded in the action, officials said. |