Taliban militants will not attack the military in the main town of Pakistan’s Swat Valley to avoid triggering battles that would result in civilian casualties and destruction, a militant spokesman said.
The army yesterday hailed the announcement as a sign that the outnumbered militants were “staring defeat in the face.”
Elsewhere in the northwest, security forces attacked militant hide-outs in the South Waziristan tribal region after the insurgents lobbed rockets on military camps, intelligence officials said. The violence was prompting many residents to flee.
PHOTO: AP
Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan denied his announcement was a call for a ceasefire and said the insurgents were not withdrawing from the town of Mingora.
“This is a long war and we will fight it strategically,” he said late on Sunday from an undisclosed location in the valley. “We will continue fighting until an Islamic system is enforced.”
Pakistan began the offensive last month against militants in the northwestern region after they ignored the terms of a ceasefire.
Its Western allies, worried the nuclear-armed nation was buckling under the threat of the militants, have hailed the operation.
Close to 1.9 million people have fled the valley and surrounding districts, but up to 20,000 remain in Mingora, where the military entered on Saturday after encircling it. Many of the estimated 4,000 militants in the valley are believed to be there, raising the prospect of bloody urban fighting.
STRANDED
A resident on the outskirts of the city said 3,000 people were stranded in his neighborhood and were suffering.
“We do not have anything to eat. We do not have water,” said Liaqat Ali. “We do not have medicines. We do not have any doctor or any hospitals to go to.”
Khan, the militant spokesman, said its troops would not engage the army in Mingora because “we have seen when the army retaliate for our attacks they always kill civilians. Their attacks always damage public property. We do not want that.”
Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the militants “have started using ploys to escape. They are now remembering the civilians whom they used to behead and decapitate.”
He said the operation in the city would go on as planned.
Commanders have said they aim to eliminate the militants in the valley and on Friday said any form of ceasefire was highly unlikely.
The military says about 1,100 suspected insurgents have died so far in the offensive. It has not given any tally of civilian deaths, and it’s unclear how it is separating noncombatants killed from militants. Residents fleeing the region have reported dozens of ordinary Pakistanis killed in the fight. Journalists have mostly been barred from reporting there.
Most of the refugees are staying with families or friends, but more than 160,000 are in relief camps just south of the battle zone.
Some fear the generally broad public support for the military campaign could drain away if the refugees’ plight worsens or if the army gets bogged down too long.
NEWLY DISPLACED
Nearly 2.4 million people have registered with provincial authorities after fleeing an anti-Taliban military offensive this month in northwest Pakistan, the UN and government officials said yesterday.
Ariane Rummery, spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said they had been given the figure by the North West Frontier Province authorities, and expected the number to fluctuate after cross checks are carried out in the coming days.
“In the new influx, 2.38 million people have been registered,” she said. “That’s the new influx registered from May 2 from Swat, Lower Dir and Buner.”
Pakistan’s security forces launched their onslaught against Taliban fighters in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8, sending terrified civilians fleeing their homes.
Most of the displaced are staying with friends and relatives, while others are crammed into government-run camps.
Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told reporters the government was doing all it could to care for the massive number of uprooted people.
“Around 2.3 million people have been displaced but this number is not final,” he said.
The newly displaced join more than 550,000 people who fled similar battles last year and rights groups have warned that it is Pakistan’s biggest movement of people since partition from India in 1947.
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