ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces continued their operation in the Bara region of Khyber Agency yesterday. The armed forces have rounded up 52 alleged militants during the operation in the area, which is still under curfew, in the troubled Khyber tribal district bordering Afghanistan, an official statement said.
The frontier state Governor’s Secretariat told Arab News that the purpose of the operation is to eliminate criminal elements. Sources said that government has not given any time frame to security forces for the completion of operation.
The government’s statement said the operation “continued successfully” on the fifth day yesterday, while the main bazaar in the town of Bara was under curfew and troops were patrolling the area, it said.
The centers of religious outfits Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansarul Islam and Amar Bil Maroof have also been destroyed during the operation. Around 100 college students from Bara staged a rally in Peshawar yesterday condemning the operation, officials and witnesses said.
A senior US envoy said yesterday the United States does not approve of negotiations with Pakistan’s top Taleban commander but backs Islamabad’s talks with tribal elders near the Afghan border. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher added that Washington welcomes an ongoing operation. “We don’t support making concessions to Taleban leaders like Baitullah Mehsud,” the Taleban chieftain who was accused by authorities of masterminding the slaying of former Premier Benazir Bhutto last year, Boucher told reporters.
Pakistani politicians should stop squabbling over the fate of President Pervez Musharraf and focus on pressing problems of rising Islamist militancy, soaring prices and energy shortages.
— With input from agencies
