Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 29, 2009
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-wakes-up-bombs-taliban-dens-in-buner/452429/
Introduction: As US pressure mounts, Interior
Minister Malik says enough is enough, sends troops
Pakistani jets and attack helicopters bombed
Taliban positions in a district near the capital on Tuesday, expanding an
offensive against militants seemingly emboldened by a much-criticised peace
deal.
Troops and heavy artillery also joined the
operation in Buner, which follows urgent calls from the US for Islamabad to
step up its fight against the militants, who moved into the region this month
from the nearby Swat Valley. The Taliban set up checkpoints, patrolled streets
and warned locals to abide by strict interpretations of Islam. Military officials
said they even indulged in unlawful activities like kidnapping and killing
policemen and forcibly recruiting youths.
The offensive will cause major strains on
an already shaky peace deal in the Malakand region, to which Buner belongs.
The truce has been widely viewed in the West as a surrender to militants seen
as slowly expanding their grip over the nation.
Maj Nasir Khan said jets bombed positions
in mountains in the Babaji Kandao area of Buner. Casualty figures were not
immediately known. Another military spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas, said troops
were also moving into the region. He estimated between 450 and 500 insurgents
were in the area.
Witness Mohammad Shahid Khan said he saw tanks,
heavy artillery and hundreds of troops heading over the Ambala pass leading
to Buner.
Many of the Taliban were reported to have
left Buner starting on Friday. But Interior Minister Rehman Malik said earlier
on Tuesday that those remaining must leave or the government would take action.
"Enough is enough," Malik said as he warned that "a handful
of militants cannot challenge the writ of the government" and asserted
that "strict action" would be taken against the Taliban who had
come as close as 100 km from Islamabad.
Malik's warning came as the military stepped
up its offensive against militants in Lower Dir, another district covered
by the peace deal. Abbas said the Dir operation was almost complete and had
killed between 70 and 75 militants. TV footage has shown hundreds of refugees
fleeing the area, but officials have not released figures on any exodus.
The operation in Dir was launched on Sunday
and a "few pockets of resistance" that remained would be cleared
soon, Abbas said in Rawalpindi, adding that the operation was extended to
Buner district on Tuesday to "eliminate or expel" the militants.
