US delivers message to Musharraf: Tribal areas of NWFP will be bombed

How the North-West can be won?

Are the Americans poised to go the whole distance in their search for 'terrorists'? The NWFP government is worried that this may be the case

By Behroz Khan


The news is quite disturbing for the people and the governmnet of the NWFP; it has been reported that the United States has warned that it will bomb any part of the province in pursuit of 'terrorists'.

The warning, it is said, was conveyed to the NWFP governor, Khalilur Rehman and of course to the chief minister, Akram Khan Durrani, by none other than President General Pervez Musharraf himself at a meeting in Islamabad. The tone of the message, an insider tells TNS, is tantamount to bullying.

"The president told the governor and chief minister that Americans have warned that those who are hiding in the Frontier and elsewhere will be bombed out," a source privy to the meeting revealed, requesing anonymity. The warning left the president angry as well as concerned, the source added, saying this could be an epilogue to increased target hitting by umanned Drones on Pakistani territory.

Apart from killing Commander Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan Agency, the US planes have targeted two suspected terrorist hideouts in Miramshah and Mirali areas of North Waziristan and Damadola in Bajaur Agency over the past few months. In Miramshah, all the victims turned out to be local tribesmen while mystery shrouds the president's claim that Hamza Rabia, al-Qaeda's No-3, was killed in a raid on Khisokhel village in Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan. Sources, having links with militant groups active in the tribal belt and across the border in Afghanistan, deny the claim.

Similarly, claims by the American media and Pakistani authorities that al-Qaeda's No-2, Aiman Al-Zawahiri, was the target of the air strike in Damadola, or that top al-Qaeda operatives have actually been killed, are still to be verified.

The clergy-led government in the Frontier, already on the defensive over its silence on military operations in tribal areas and US air strikes, is taking the new warning as a declaration of open war. Confirming that President Pervez Musharraf has informed him of the new dangers ahead, Akram Khan Durrani has said that the US has warned to go after the so-called 'terrorists' even in the settled areas of NWFP, if the attacks against the Americans and their allies continued in the neighbouring Afghanistan.

"What use is our strong defence if we cannot defend our innocent people against such naked aggression," said Durrani when approached for comments regarding the fresh US warnings. The US authorities, official sources said, are of the opinion that extremists and terrorists take shelter in the tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border and parts of NWFP after carrying out terrorist attacks in the eastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. Pakistani nationals have been identified carrying out suicide bombings and fighting the US and allied forces in Afghanistan.

"This is a conspiracy against Pakistan. The US believes that bombing can unite the Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line," said Durrani, adding that by doing so the Americans are making more enemies than friends.

In the wake of the warning, Pakistani officials foresee that the US air strikes against 'terrorists' might be more severe than the ones carried out in North Waziristan and Bajaur agencies. "The US action will not be limited to the tribal or border areas this time. It will engulf the whole of NWFP and even beyond," the sources said.

The president, a source said, actually read out the exact words sent to Islamabad by the US government. The president has directed the federal government and the NWFP governor to go after these extremists in the tribal belt while the MMA-led provincial government has been asked to make sincere efforts in identifying extremists and those who support them in the province, the source said.

At the same time, President Musharraf has questioned the validity of the list of wanted Taliban leaders that Kabul believes to be residing in Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has handed over the list to Islamabad as Kabul asks Pakistan to do 'more' to stop cross border infiltration and to destroy hideouts of the Taliban and other extremists operating from Pakistan in Afghanistan.

Sources in intelligence agencies say religious seminaries and places of worship would be kept under strict watch and activities of hardline religious leaders monitored regularly. Already, extremist elements are being blamed and tracked down for explosions in the southern districts of the province and for encouraging mass uprising against the government policies in northern districts of NWFP. Swat and Dir districts are in the grip of a certain kind of preachers these days where the easily installed FM radios enable clerics to air their messages without much hassle.

Intelligence agencies as well as tribal sources believe that a sizeable number of the local Taliban and foreign nationals have moved out of the tribal areas and are believed to be hiding in settled districts of the province.