Army not withdrawing from South Waziristan: General Abbas

Pakistan Army is not withdrawing from South Waziristan rather it is relocating its positions to facilitate return of displaced civilians to their homes. This was stated by Major General Athar Abbas during a detailed briefing to foreign and local media personnel, who were taken on a tour of the area by ISPR.Earlier, the media teams were briefed by Major General Tariq Khan, GOC 14 Div at Dera Ismail Khan on ‘Operation Zalzala’ carried out by the army to clear South Waziristan of miscreants and restore law and order.Tariq reiterated that Pakistan Army was operating in accordance with the government’s policy and would now ensure the return of the civilian population.The GOC provided details of the Army operation after the brutal act of Baitullah Mahsood, who razed the Sararogha Fort and slaughtered some FC personnel on January l6, 2008. He said the operation was carried out in three phases and areas of Spinkai, Kotkai and beyond Kotkai were respectively cleaned up of the miscreants in four days. Replying to a question, Tariq responded that not a single civilian casualty took place since leaflets were distributed in the area for civilians to vacate, who moved out and nearly 200,000 civilians are located in different camps. Remaining were the miscreants, who chose to fight and have either been killed or retreated from the area, he added.He said that the Army was constructing roads, providing electricity, food and ensuring other facilities of life to the people of South Waziristan to bring them into national mainstream. In order to reduce the influence of Talibanisation, three FM Channels have been set up to provide wholesome and meaningful programmes, he informed.In response to a question whether the miscreants would not return to the area once they are relocated, the GOC stated that Army would keep monitoring the area and carry out patrolling to ensure the miscreants do not return. He said return of civilians was being carried out with the help of Maliks and tribal elders to ensure their safe and permanent return, adding, local “Aman” and village based defence committees were being formed for complete restoration of the peace in the area.The GOC informed that 52 children, who were trained to be suicide bombers, were recovered and have been handed over to an NGO ‘Save the Children’ for better upkeep and enabling them to return to normal lives. Later, the media teams was taken to Spinkai near Jandolla and briefed by Brigadier Ali Abbas. The media personnel were shown two factories, where jackets for suicide bombers and other explosive devices were produced by the miscreants. Locations of bunkers, dugouts, terrorist training camps and ammunition dumps were also shown, which have now been destroyed by the Army.Some displaced persons from Tank, Sarrarogha, Spinkai and Jandola were also introduced to the media teams. Nawabzada Siddiq Khan of Tank, while talking to APP said that people of the area welcome the government and the Army and are against the miscreants but were forced to obey them. Most of the displaced persons opined that they were keen to return home and informed the media persons that cases of terrorism have reduced considerably since the Army operation.