Kayani authorised to use force in restive Pak area

Pakistan government authorised Army Chief to decide on the use of force to cope with a spurt in violence in the troubled North West area.

Pakistan government on Wednesday authorised army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to decide on the use of force to cope with a spurt in violence in the troubled North West Frontier Province and adjoining tribal belt near Afghan border, where over 70 people died in the past few days.

The decision was made at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to review the security situation in NWFP and semi-autonomous tribal region, which have witnessed violent clashes between rival groups.

Gilani was briefed by top military officials on the security situation in region. The meeting was held against the backdrop of growing concern about the spread of militancy from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to settled regions of NWFP.

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The meeting decided that army chief Gen Kayani will take all decisions on the “application of military effort”. Though the paramilitary Frontier Corps and law enforcement agencies are under the charge of NWFP authorities, they will come under the army chief’s command for military operations, said an official statement.

The meeting – which was attended by Kayani; Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi; Rehman Malik, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs; National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani; Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Nadeem Taj; and NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti – also reviewed the strategy for dealing with growing militancy.

The three-hour meeting agreed that the “elimination of terrorism and extremism is the gravest challenge to Pakistan’s national security” and a multi-pronged strategy will be followed to fight this menace.

It decided that the government will reserve the right to use force if tribes did not comply with peace deals signed with the authorities.

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Over the past few days, scores of people have been killed in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud and clashes between rival militant groups.

On Monday, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters captured Jandola, a town in NWFP bordering South Waziristan tribal region, which is the stronghold of Mehsud. The town fell to the Taliban following intense fighting with a pro-government group.

The Taliban kidnapped and executed up to 28 members of a pro-government peace committee in the region last night.

Twelve more pro-government tribesmen were killed earlier.

Taliban fighters retreated after the army sent tanks and armoured vehicles into Jandola yesterday. Gunship helicopters were also used to bombard militant positions.

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In the nearby Khyber Agency, 33 people have been killed in clashes over the past four days between the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam. The rival militant groups are engaged in a turf war to gain control of the Khyber Agency.

The meeting chaired by Gilani declared that the government will counter terrorism through the political engagement of people through elected representatives and tribal elders, large-scale development, economic empowerment and “selective use of military force”.

However, the principle of using “minimum force and avoidance of collateral damage” will be the focus of military operations, which will be swift and initiated “on actionable intelligence to eliminate terrorists and to stop hostile movement across the border for operations against coalition forces in Afghanistan”, the statement said.

“The meeting decided that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used against other countries, especially Afghanistan, and under no circumstances will foreign troops be allowed to operate inside Pakistan,” it added.