ID :
11069
Sun, 06/29/2008 - 00:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/11069
The shortlink copeid
Taliban presence near Peshawar threatening US weapons' route
New York, Jun 28 (PTI) Taliban have tightened the noose on Peshawar, one of the biggest cities of Pakistan, running a brazen campaign of intimidation and threatening the weapon supply route of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
They also abduct residents for high ransoms in broad daylight and move unchallenged in the lawless tribal region just 16 kilometres away, a media report said Saturday.
The fundamentalists have turned up at courthouses in nearby towns, ordering judges to stay away. Thursday they stormed a women's voting station on the city outskirts, the New York Times said.
For United States, the major supply route for weapons for NATO troops runs from the port of Karachi to the outskirts of Peshawar and through the Khyber Pass to the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Safeguarding the route would be extremely difficult if the city were significantly infiltrated by the very militants who want to defeat the NATO war effort across the border, the paper stressed.
NATO and American commanders, it said, have complained for months that Pakistan's policy of negotiating with militants has led to more cross-border attacks in Afghanistan by Taliban fighters based in Pakistan's tribal areas.
The audacious presence of Taliban, just 90 minutes from
Islamabad, the capital, shows that the threat now cuts deeply on both sides of the border, not just with suicide bombings but also with the existence of militants among local population, the Times pointed out.
The fear, the paper says, is palpable. Many of the rich have fled their mansions and left for Dubai. Middle-class families are packing for other places in Pakistan, and the poor are vulnerable to the militants' entreaties.
With militants crowding in, the national government called a special meeting in Islamabad Wednesday to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
The government announced that it was turning over security of the province directly to the army. In the tribal areas, the police and the paramilitary Frontier Corps would remain the first line of defense, and the policy of peace deals with the militants would continue, the statement said.
Friday, the paper said, extra police officers were patrolling the main roads of Peshawar and its entry points from the tribal region.
Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf also approved army action against Taliban militants in the restive tribal areas Friday.
There were reports, the daily said, that Frontier Corps planned an operation in the coming days in Khyber agency, adjacent to the city, to clean out militants under the sway of Mangal Bagh, a former bus driver who has grown into one of the most feared extremist leaders, commanding thousands of men.
But whether there was sufficient resolve to push back the
startling gains by the militants was a point of debate.
"The government is helpless," the Times quoted Arbab Hidayat Ullah, a former senior police officer as saying. "It has lost its wits. The police have lost so many men at the hands of the Taliban they are scared."
Hidayat said the police of Peshawar had a considerable budget, but the money had little impact and the void allowed the brute force of Taliban to flourish.
They also abduct residents for high ransoms in broad daylight and move unchallenged in the lawless tribal region just 16 kilometres away, a media report said Saturday.
The fundamentalists have turned up at courthouses in nearby towns, ordering judges to stay away. Thursday they stormed a women's voting station on the city outskirts, the New York Times said.
For United States, the major supply route for weapons for NATO troops runs from the port of Karachi to the outskirts of Peshawar and through the Khyber Pass to the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Safeguarding the route would be extremely difficult if the city were significantly infiltrated by the very militants who want to defeat the NATO war effort across the border, the paper stressed.
NATO and American commanders, it said, have complained for months that Pakistan's policy of negotiating with militants has led to more cross-border attacks in Afghanistan by Taliban fighters based in Pakistan's tribal areas.
The audacious presence of Taliban, just 90 minutes from
Islamabad, the capital, shows that the threat now cuts deeply on both sides of the border, not just with suicide bombings but also with the existence of militants among local population, the Times pointed out.
The fear, the paper says, is palpable. Many of the rich have fled their mansions and left for Dubai. Middle-class families are packing for other places in Pakistan, and the poor are vulnerable to the militants' entreaties.
With militants crowding in, the national government called a special meeting in Islamabad Wednesday to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
The government announced that it was turning over security of the province directly to the army. In the tribal areas, the police and the paramilitary Frontier Corps would remain the first line of defense, and the policy of peace deals with the militants would continue, the statement said.
Friday, the paper said, extra police officers were patrolling the main roads of Peshawar and its entry points from the tribal region.
Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf also approved army action against Taliban militants in the restive tribal areas Friday.
There were reports, the daily said, that Frontier Corps planned an operation in the coming days in Khyber agency, adjacent to the city, to clean out militants under the sway of Mangal Bagh, a former bus driver who has grown into one of the most feared extremist leaders, commanding thousands of men.
But whether there was sufficient resolve to push back the
startling gains by the militants was a point of debate.
"The government is helpless," the Times quoted Arbab Hidayat Ullah, a former senior police officer as saying. "It has lost its wits. The police have lost so many men at the hands of the Taliban they are scared."
Hidayat said the police of Peshawar had a considerable budget, but the money had little impact and the void allowed the brute force of Taliban to flourish.
