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No respite in militant attacks question govt writ
April 06, 2012
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Repeated Militant attacks in Khyber Agency and mass migrations as a result of this are raising questions as to how much government writ has been restored. This is a vicious cycle to which the locals have been accustomed.
On January 20 four militants, two each from both sides, were killed when cadres of LI clashed with the TTP militants in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Unidentified assailants shot dead an official of Frontier Corps in Malikdinkhel area of Bara tehsil.
Seven SF personnel were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Baz Garha area of Bara.
Three volunteers of a tribal peace committee were injured in a bomb blast in Tirah Valley.
Militants blew up a government primary school for boys at Bacha Mayna in Landikotal near the Torkham border at around 8:30pm.
On January 21 a little known Tehreek-e-Taliban Islami Pakistan group militants shot dead two alleged kidnappers, Israfeel and Ghulam Nabi, in Touda Chenna area of Kurram Agency in FATA.
An Army official, Lieutenant Atta Muhammad, was killed when a landmine planted by militants on a dirt track exploded in Talai area of Kurram Agency.
Four Levies Force personnel received injuries when their vehicle was targeted with a remote controlled bomb near Mian Mandi Bazaar in Haleemzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency. The spokesperson for TTP Mohmand Agency chapter chief, Mukarram Khurassin, talked to local journalists by telephone and claimed responsibility for the attack.
A security man, Bashirullah, was injured when one of the vehicles taking paramilitary forces from Alizai to the garrison town of Thall was hit by a bomb near the Chappari check-post of Kurram Agency. Officials said about 240 militants have been killed so far.
TTP released a video showing them killing 15 FC personnel who were abducted in a raid on December 23 in FATA. 15 soldiers stood blindfolded, handcuffed to each other on a barren hilltop as one of their bearded TTP captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge. TTP militants on January 5 killed 15 FC personnel in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency in FATA.
Around 390 families from Khyber Agency took refuge in Jalozai internally displaced persons camp as an intensified crackdown on militants has triggered displacements from Shalobar tribal area.
Two militants were killed in a bomb blast in Zakakhel Banjwal area of Khyber Agency in FATA.
A donors’ conference will be held next month to raise the required USD 200 million funds for quick rehabilitation of internally displaced persons of FATA. A handout issued said that during a presentation on FATA Disaster Management Authority, held at Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar was told that so far 145,338 displaced families out of total 298,715 had been sent back to their permanent dwellings.
As part of an interagency humanitarian response, UNHCR is assisting thousands of families in Pakistan who have fled fighting in a parts of the country's Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), which borders Afghanistan.
An estimated 101,160 people, mostly women and children, have become displaced since 20 January when Government troops began security operations against militant groups in the Khyber Agency region. A recent increase in the intensity of the fighting is driving even larger numbers of families flee the region to the safety of the Jalozai camp, where UNHCR is registering them and providing them with basic humanitarian supplies. A partner UN agency, the World Food Programme, is providing food aid. Jalozai is located near the western city of Peshawar in Kyhber Pakhtunkhwa province, formally known the Northwest Frontier Province.
New arrivals say that they left their homes because of the proximity of fighting and due to instructions by the authorities to evacuate the area. Systems are in place to identify vulnerable families and individuals and to identify special needs and to prioritize them in the process of registration, tent allocation and provision of humanitarian assistance.
On a single day this week, Wednesday, UNHCR registered a total of 1,721 families or 7,054 individuals. The average since 17 March has been nearly 2,000 families each day. The vast majority opt to live outside the camp with host families. For example, of those registered in the Wednesday group, just 515 of the 7,054 chose to live in the camp.
All of those registered were provided with UNHCR aid package, a UNICEF hygiene kit and an initial one-month food supply. The number of people living in Jalozai now stands at 62,818 people of which 47,134 were living in the camp before March 17. This is now the largest IDP camp in Pakistan.
Saluting the sacrifices of security personnel and the people, the martyrs are a valuable asset of the motherland and the nation. It must be said insurgency was not limited only to Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Fata, but also the entire nation was facing it due to the presence of militants in the whole region. The peace and stability in Pakistan will remain a pipe dream as long as the Afghan situation did not improve. There is an outside hand was creating trouble in the region adding that the countries of the region should collectively work out a solution to the problem because ‘we have common issues, problems and difficulties’.
It is need of the hour that government should stop target operation and through the tool of dialogue must establish writ of the state in the war-torn areas.
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