ISLAMABAD, 12 July 2004 — Security forces and suspected terrorists exchanged fire early yesterday in Pakistan’s restive South Waziristan region but there were no reports of casualties on either side, news reports and senior military officials said.

Pakistan’s military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan confirmed an incident north of Shakai village, about 25 kilometers from the regional headquarters Wana.

This was the second armed clash in two days after militants attacked a security post in Mantoi area Saturday evening, provoking retaliatory fire from the government troops.

“Some miscreants launched unprovoked firing on the security forces early this morning, our forces returned the fire using appropriate weaponry. The firing continued for some time but it has now been stopped,” Sultan told the media in Islamabad.

Sultan denied any new operation in the area which remained tense after a “jirga”, or meeting of the elders of Ahmedzai tribe, failed Saturday to convince the local wanted tribesmen to surrender.

“There is no new operation but the political process and search for local and foreign militants will continue unabated,” he said. “Our objective is that foreign militants surrender unconditionally and local people should stop helping them”.

Sultan was unable to say how many foreign suspect terrorists were hiding in the area.

Two operations this year killed 170 people including mainly foreign suspected terrorists and government soldiers in the South Waziristan region that runs along the Afghan border.

The last operation ended in June after a top Al-Qaeda supporter Nek Mohammad was killed in a rocket attack in Wana.

No Terror Charges Against Pakistanis Deported From Cyprus

Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan has said that there was no allegation of terrorism against the 10 deported Pakistani students from Cyprus as they were deported merely on suspicions and doubts.

Masood Khan said that the officials in Cyprus have admitted this fact that that the 10 Pakistani students were not involved in any terrorist activity. They were taken into custody owing to some suspected communications on Internet and, thereafter, deported from Cyprus.

He said that the Pakistani Embassy in Cyprus was in constant touch with high officials in Cyprus and some more details in this regard would be released tomorrow. 

Cypriot authorities wrongly deported 10 Pakistani students from Cyprus on suspicion of belonging to the Al-Qaeda terror network, their lawyer said, saying he would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

But newspaper reports said the “group leader” was a former pilot in the Pakistani Air Force, with expert knowledge of surface-to-air-missiles and an unlikely student on the hotel management course he was pursuing in Cyprus.

Nevertheless, the Cypriot lawyer, Sotiris Drakos, said he was not convinced by the government’s case. “The government has no evidence to prove that these people were from Al-Qaeda. I don’t believe this was a genuine security case, none of it makes sense,” Drakos said.

He said that all the students were now back in Pakistan and that, as far as he knew, none had been detained when they arrived.

“If they were so dangerous why were they not arrested in Pakistan? Why were they not interrogated in Cyprus with the help of foreign intelligence?” he asked.

The authorities had revoked the students’ residence permits on the ground they were “undesirable persons”, but the detention and deportation order should have said “for security reasons”, the lawyer argued.

“The parents want to sue for libel because these people have been damaged and labeled as terrorists. I am going to take this case to the European Court of Human Rights,” the lawyer said. He claimed the government was using the terrorist issue to “get rid” of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, large numbers of whom study in Cyprus, “to make way for Europeans”.

Hudood Law Amendments Sent to IIC: Chaudhry Shujaat 

Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said yesterday the amendments in the Hudood laws have been referred to the Islamic Ideological Council, which will be presented to the Cabinet after incorporating input of the religious scholars.

Addressing the Ulema and Mashaikh Convention here at the Prime Minister Secretariat, Shujaat said the law dealing with the use of loudspeakers to fan sectarian feelings would also be finalized in consultation with the scholars.