ISLAMABAD, 4 January 2007 — Pakistani troops captured 52 suspected militants yesterday in the restive northwestern valley of Swat, the military said. The arrests were made days after a remote-controlled bomb killed eight people including a politician from the main party backing President Pervez Musharraf in Swat.
“These militants were apprehended in Shakardara area yesterday morning during a search operation,” the statement said.
According to government reports, more than 300 Taleban-style militants have been killed in the area since Musharraf deployed the army against them on Nov. 24. The rebels had seized control of the region and called for the enforcement of Shariah law.
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani chaired a meeting of corps commanders yesterday that discussed security environment with a special focus on army’s deployment in Swat and Waziristan.
Addressing the participants, Gen. Kiyani stressed the need for focusing on training and operational preparedness to meet internal and external threats. He said the modernization of the army was progressing well. Kiyani said welfare of troops would be given top priority. Declaring 2008 as the ‘Year of the Soldier’, Kiyani said efforts would be made to improve the quality of life of soldiers.
Speaking about the security environment, the army chief said the only way to counter national threats was through a comprehensive national effort, where all segments of the society can play their rightful role.
British Envoy Meets Nawaz
British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley held a meeting with former Premier Nawaz Sharif in Lahore yesterday during which they discussed the country’s political situation. Brinkley was, however, stopped from meeting detained lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, the British High Commission said in a statement.
Ahsan, a former member of the National Assembly for the party of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was detained after Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3.
He is being held under house arrest at his home in the eastern city of Lahore.
The British envoy went to Ahsan’s home but police posted there did not allow him in to see the lawyer. Police did not give a reason, a British High Commission spokesman said.
“We just wanted to underline the fact that we’re still calling for the release of all those detained under the state of emergency,” the spokesman said.
Brinkley was allowed to meet Ahsan’s wife and some other family members, the spokesman said.
Musharraf cited rising militancy and a meddling judiciary when he invoked emergency powers and purged judges seen as hostile to his bid to secure another term as president. Former army chief Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, lifted the emergency on Dec. 15 but Ahsan and several judges, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, remain under house arrest.
Ahsan, a Cabinet minister in Benazir’s first government in the late 1980s, rose to prominence last year after he acted as top counsel for Chaudhry after Musharraf suspended him in March.
Chaudhry’s suspension whipped up a campaign against Musharraf by lawyers and opposition activists. Musharraf quit as army chief and was sworn as a civilian president in late November.
Last month, police stopped US Ambassador Anne Patterson from meeting Ahsan. He was briefly released last month for a Muslim holiday but was soon detained again.
