Posted on 03/28/2004 11:26:02 PM PST by Cap Huff
PESHAWAR: Pakistan risks more militant attacks as a result of its campaign to sweep Al Qaeda fighters from its remote tribal areas on the Afghan border, but analysts say a full-blown tribal revolt is not likely.
Age-old rivalry between tribes, strong local traditions that made militant ideology less appealing, and government promises of development aid to tribal areas would make an uprising unlikely, they said.
In recent weeks, Pakistan’s army has gone where it has never gone before and mounted a sweep through the semi-autonomous tribal lands where foreign Muslim fighters have been given shelter since the Afghan war in the 1980s.
The US believes Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden might be hiding out on the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border and US troops have launched their own hunt on the Afghan side.
President General Pervez Musharraf, linking foreign militants hiding in the tribal lands to attacks in Pakistan, including two attempts to kill him in December, has vowed to clear out what one official called a “hub of terrorists”.
About 100 people, including civilians, have been killed in fighting in South Waziristan since March 16 angering both the Pashtun tribes and Musharraf’s conservative Islamic opponents.
A rash of hit-and-run attacks, including three rockets fired into Peshawar, the bustling gateway to the Khyber Pass, has raised worry about the conflict spreading.
“What we now fear is that there could be an overflow of these events to other tribal agencies,” said former interior minister Naseerullah Babar.
But analysts say an all-out war with the deeply conservative Muslim tribes was not likely.
The ideology of international jihad, or Muslim holy war, espoused by Al Qaeda fighters did not find much resonance with the Pakistani tribes, said Afrasiab Khattack, a prominent Pashtun politician from the NWFP.
The tribals have no incentive to join these militants, he said. “Throughout Pakistan there have been attacks for the last two year. Where the militants are, they’ll carry out attacks, but to say they’ll get popular support, that’s unlikely.”
Mr Khattack said tribal traditions were too strong for the militant ideology to become appealing. “They are very pragmatic and the ideology (of the militants) doesn’t go deep into these regions.”
The Army says it has smashed a militant den in South Waziristan and has killed more than 60 of them, arrested more than 160 and surrounded several hundred.
A senior Uzbek Al Qaeda member, Tahir Yuldashev, was wounded in the fighting and was on the run, the military said.
No serious damage or injuries were caused in the rocket attack on Peshawar, but the message was clear.
Some government critics have said the offensive could jeopardise national unity, raising the trauma of the 1971 breakaway of the then-East Pakistan that after a rebellion and a war between India and Pakistan emerged as Bangladesh.
“The military operation against Pakistanis is a foolish step and it could develop a situation like the East Pakistan one,” Amir Sirajul Haq, a NWFP minister told a recent rally.
“The government should immediately call off the troops from the area,” he was quoted as saying in the Daily Times.
Analysts also said rivalry between tribes would appear to rule out a united stand and some tribes had already vowed loyalty to the government and were helping the Army with the sweep.
“The government will try to play up these differences,” said newspaper editor Rahimullah Yusufzai. “There is no chance of a revolt. There may be serious incidents but I don’t think the government will let the situation go out of control,” he said. “They have various means and resources to control the situation,” he said, referring to promises of aid and development for impoverished tribal areas. —Reuters
PESHAWAR: Pakistan risks more militant attacks as a result of its campaign to sweep Al Qaeda fighters from its remote tribal areas on the Afghan border, but analysts say a full-blown tribal revolt is not likely.
Age-old rivalry between tribes, strong local traditions that made militant ideology less appealing, and government promises of development aid to tribal areas would make an uprising unlikely, they said.
The ideology of international jihad, or Muslim holy war, espoused by Al Qaeda fighters did not find much resonance with the Pakistani tribes, said Afrasiab Khattack, a prominent Pashtun politician from the NWFP.
The Army says it has smashed a militant den in South Waziristan and has killed more than 60 of them, arrested more than 160 and surrounded several hundred.
A senior Uzbek Al Qaeda member, Tahir Yuldashev, was wounded in the fighting and was on the run, the military said.
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See also (unconfirmed, over 123 comments):
Report: Taliban chief Mulla Omar seriously injured ~ Haaretz News Ticker | 3/29/2004 | DPA
ISLAMABAD, March 29: Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar was seriously wounded and four of his body guards killed in a U.S. bombing blitz in the middle of March, the Urdu-lanugage daily Ausaf reported today. Quoting Dr. Jabbar Aziz, the paper claimed the raid on the Taliban chief's hideout in the southern Zabul province resulted in serious injuries to Omar's legs and the left side of his body. He is now out of danger but would not be able to move for about two months, the paper quoted Dr. Aziz as saying, without explaining how and where the conversation took place. (DPA) (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
So does my wife...
bump !!
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