ISLAMABAD, 27 January 2008 — Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said yesterday that the government was providing full security to politicians as all of them were the target of terrorists.
Speaking to reporters here, Nawaz said the governor of the North West Frontier Province, Ali Jaan Aurakzai, was sacked because his policy of entering into peace agreements with tribal elders failed. He said it was because of this policy that tribal militants had entered the populated areas of the province.
He also said that the operation in South Waziristan would continue until the area was purged of terrorists. As he spoke, hundreds of families fled in panic Dara Adam Khel, where security forces pounded militants’ hide-out, killing 30 of them. The evacuation from Dara Adam Khel, a town in the tribal belt which lies 40 km from the provincial capital of Peshawar, began Friday, shortly before the offensive which the authorities say was launched against militants who hijacked four truckloads of military supplies a day earlier. Two paramilitary troopers also died in Friday’s clashes around Dara Adam Khel.
In Islamabad, an official in charge of Pakistan’s strategic weapons gave an unprecedented presentation to foreign media to allay fears that nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.
The briefing by retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, director-general of the Strategic Planning Division followed assertions by President Pervez Musharraf in Europe that such scenarios were impossible.
“We have instituted command and control structures and security measures in a manner so as to make these foolproof,” said Kidwai. “We are capable of thwarting all types of threats whether these be insider, outsider, or a combination.”
