CHAMAN, Pakistan: Hundreds of Pakistanis from a pro-Taleban religious party rallied yesterday to denounce possible future US drone attacks on the southwestern province of Balochistan.
Activists from Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) gathered in Chaman, a town near the border with war-torn Afghanistan, chanting “Balochistan will be a graveyard for Americans” and other anti-US slogans, said an AFP reporter.
“Taleban safe havens are in Afghanistan, not Balochistan,” a local party leader, Maulvi Abdur Rahim, told the crowd of largely turbaned men wearing traditional Pakistani dress.
“After attacking Afghanistan and Iraq the US, on the basis of false assumption, now wanted to attack the people of Balochistan,” Rahim told the gathering.
The New York Times reported last week that US President Barack Obama and his top aides are considering expanding covert operations against Taleban leaders to Balochistan, in and around Quetta. Pakistan, which bitterly opposes US missile strikes against militants in its semi-autonomous tribal region on the Afghan border, downplayed the report.
Some US officials fear that strikes in Balochistan could increase tensions with Pakistan, which said in late February it wanted to discuss ending controversial US drone attacks inside its territory, the paper said.
At least 35 such strikes have killed over 340 people since August 2008. In February, John Solecki, a US citizen and the local head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) was kidnapped in Quetta. Baloch rebels claim to be holding him.
Also yesterday, Pakistani troops destroyed two militant hideouts in Balochistan.
A large quantity of weapons, rockets, explosives and communication equipment were found at two secret hideouts used by militants and outlaws, a paramilitary spokesman told AFP. The arms cache was destroyed, he added.
The operation was launched in Uchh district, some 270 km southeast of provincial capital Quetta, after two soldiers were kidnapped by rebels, the official said on condition of anonymity.
“Our men were kidnapped three days ago while patrolling and during a search operation we found two camps used by miscreants but when we raided them they had already fled,” he said.
