Posted on 03/09/2004 9:14:45 PM PST by B.Bumbleberry
PESHAWAR, March 9: The government on Tuesday decided to use force to flush out Al Qaeda militants in remote South Waziristan tribal region. "There would now be less talk and more action," said a senior government official. "The wheel has started running and it will continue to grind," remarked the official. The decision, said this official, was taken at a meeting at the Governor's House here. Governor Lt-Gen Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah presided over the meeting that was also attended by senior security and administration officials.
"It was a review meeting to discuss the situation in South Waziristan and consider the future course of action," the official said. The decision marks a change in the government's approach which has hitherto been stressing the need for involving tribes in the hunt for Al Qaeda militants in the region.
The official said that it appeared that the tribes were buying time to fend off a possible operation by the government. "They are just wasting time," he said.
"We have said that foreign militants have no business to use our soil. They either have got to surrender or leave the place. They have no other option. We intend to send out a very strong message."
He said that the political administration in South Waziristan had been asked to gear itself up for more action. "The administration there has been asked to prepare for action. The time for holding jirgas is running out", the official said.
He said that additional paramilitary force had already been sent to South Waziristan and more troops would be sent in due course depending on the situation.
The official said that the Pakistan army had also been approached for regular troops but that they would be used only as a stand-by force. However, another official said that doors of further dialogue with tribesmen had not been completely shut.
"Channels of communication with tribesmen will remain open but, at the same time, there will be no let-up in action against foreign militants too," he said. The change in approach came as authorities in South Waziristan struggled to make last-ditch efforts to persuade Zalikhel tribesmen to get those of their clansmen who are suspected of sheltering and helping foreign militants.
Efforts to bring influential Zalikhel tribesmen on board hit snags when three of the six tribal elders refused to be released from the infamous Dera Ismail Khan Central Prison on bail.
A tribal source said that three of the six men detained last week after they failed to reach an agreement on a commander for tribal volunteers had informed the authorities they would rather undergo detention than become part of any action against their own people.
Their refusal delayed once again a jirga of the Zalikhel tribe, the largest among the Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen inhabiting South Waziristan. The authorities had agreed on Monday to let go the six tribesmen in exchange for support for a tribal Lashkar to hunt down five fellow tribesmen accused of supporting Al Qaeda militants.
Also on Monday, the authorities had de-sealed hundreds of shops belonging to the tribe in Azam Warsak to enable armed tribesmen to gather there and carry their weapons outside Wana.
But the deputy administrator of Wana, Mr Rehmatullah Wazir, played down latest problems in persuading the tribesmen to agree on forming the tribal lashkar and the refusal by three influential tribesmen to become part of the exercise.
"They can't just run with the hare and hunt with the hounds," Mr Wazir said of the three tribesmen. "They cannot sit on the fringes and let others do the job for them. I have put them on notice and I have told them that I will formally charge them with abetting Al Qaeda if they don't join others in the search for foreign militants," Mr told Dawn by phone from regional headquarters in Wana.
He sounded optimism that tribesmen would come around and agree on launching the Lashkar to hunt down fellow clansmen who were helping Al Qaeda and turn over foreign militants. "These are small irritants and I hope that these would be overcome in a day or two," he said.
In that case, the terrorists must be facing hell itself because I've been lately noting a HUGE amount of talk from those same official sources saying things like "We've got him cornered. We're just about to get him. He's on the run now."
Hmmm, maybe they really are serious about this operation. Let's hope this is real heat and not just empty words intended to placate the U.S.
He forgot the rest: Or die.
Does this surprise anyone.....the tribes are stalling.
I agree. Your colorful description fits your comment rather well. Pakistan has delivered almost all the major Al Qaeda captures in the war on terror.
* Government orders 'conditional' release of 5 key tribal leaders
* Demands 'positive results' within days
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: Various Wazir sub-tribes are meeting today (Tuesday) in the South Waristan Agency to plan a search for wanted tribesmen and foreign terrorists in the area as the political administration allowed the "conditional" release of five arrested tribal leaders and unsealing of around 600 shops.
The arrested elders include chief of the Ahmedzai tribe Malik Bismallah Jan, Malik Khanzada, Malik Sarwar Khan, Malik Ali Shah and Malik Bakhan. Their release was subject to "positive results" from a 1,200-man tribal lashkar (army) "within days", a senior official told Daily Times from Wana on the phone.
"We have told the Wazir tribe that the Lashkar - agreed upon on Sunday in a meeting between all Wazir sub-tribes and five senators - must deliver within three days. The government will be justified in taking extreme measures if they [tribesmen] do not meet that demand," Wana deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir told Daily Times. [snip]
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-3-2004_pg7_2
--Boot Hill
Good quip! In case anyone really doesn't get it, a jirga is a tribal council. In in every adult male in the tribe can speak his peace (family and clan heads have the most weight). Jeffersonian democracy it's not, but it's as close as these guys get to a Viking althing or a New England town meeting.
As the unnamed Pak official recognizes (and some FReepers as well), a jirga is a great stalling tool for the tribal leaders. "I intend to act on your wishes, efffendi," says the tribal chief, "but, alas, I am but one man. On matters of this weighty import, the tribe must rule. And it takes time to assemble a jirga, you see; I will have to send riders to the four corners of the district..."
Neither the tribal leaders nor the Pakistani authorities are new to this process. The tribes pulled this same act for the British, and the Moghuls before them, and their reputation has preceded them. No one messes with the tribes lightly, the Paks mostly let them alone, and that they are willing to roil them is another indicator of Musharraf's (and also the average Sindhi or Punjabi Pakistani's) support for rooting out Bin Laden, etc.
The fact of the matter is, for millennia the Pathan/Pushtun tribes have been an island. Because foreign criminals now use this as cover, this National Geographic-worthy practice is coming to a hard reckoning with the civilized parts of the world. The final losers in this will probably be the ancient Pathan ways, and the code of Pushtunwali.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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