DAVOS, Switzerland: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said yesterday US drone attacks on Pakistani territory were “counterproductive” and called for a new approach by the US administration.
Gilani explained that each drone attack undermined Pakistan’s policy of trying to build relations with tribes in restive areas and separate them from militants. “When there is a drone attack that unites them again, the tribes and the militants,” he told delegates here during a discussion about Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“This thing is counterproductive for Pakistan and the Pakistan military,” he said. He added: “Army action is not the only solution. We have to have a new strategy because in the US and in Pakistan, the people have voted for a change,” he said. “The change should be visible.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday vowed to rein in Taleban militants in northwestern Swat Valley, a spokesman said, amid efforts to wrest back the area. Zardari spoke by telephone to a senior Swat politician, Afzal Khan Lala, to congratulate him over his “courageous stand” against militants and offered him full support, spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP in Islamabad.
“The president vowed that the Taleban will not be allowed to set up parallel courts and call people to appear before them or face death,” Babar said. Pakistan’s military is battling extremists loyal to radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah waging a violent campaign to introduce Islamic Shariah law in a valley that once attracted Western holidaymakers to its snow-capped peaks.
Fazlullah this week released the names of 40 people, including provincial ministers, MPs and local government officials “wanted” by the Taleban. The cleric had told them to appear before a Taleban court or face death, blaming them for the unrest in the area.
Lala, a veteran politician of the ruling Awami National Party who lives in the rural town of Druskhela in Swat Valley, had refused to leave the area after threats from militants. Fazlullah’s men have executed dozens of state employees and government supporters, and residents say government control is practically nonexistent.
Separately, troops in Minglore and Sangota village killed seven militants and injured 11 others, a military statement said late Wednesday. “Today, security forces killed seven militants and injured 11 others during an operation in Minglore and Sangota,” it said, adding that forces “consolidated” their hold in the area.
Taleban militants shot dead a tribesman in Pakistan’s lawless northwest tribal region, accusing him of spying for the United States, a local official said yesterday. The body of 30-year-old Ameer Khoon was found dumped in a drain early yesterday outside Daigan village, 40 km west of Miranshah, the main town in the restive North Waziristan tribal district.
“A note on Khoon’s body said he had been killed by the Taleban because he was spying for the Americans,” said local administration official Nazeer Khan. It appeared that Khoon was shot dead overnight, Khan told AFP. His was the 15th such body reportedly found this month alone.
Militants routinely kidnap and kill tribesmen, accusing them of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces, who are fighting to quell a Taleban-led insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.
In North West Frontier Province, which neighbors North Waziristan, police said at least two militants were killed and five others wounded in a gunbattle with paramilitary forces and police yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pakistani police said yesterday three Pakistani men had been arrested on suspicion of spying for bitter rival India since 2005 and being involved in two bombings in 2006.
The police chief in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, Pervez Rathor, told reporters the three Pakistanis were recruited, trained and paid huge sums by India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.
Pakistani police said the alleged spies were arrested a few days ago and were residents of a village close to the Indian border. “They are Pakistani nationals, they were spying for Indian intelligence,” Rathor told AFP.
He named the suspects as Mohammed Fayyaz, Mohammed Ikram — both Muslims — and Shahzad Bhatti — a Christian.
