Foreigners leaving Pakistan's North Waziristan region

Foreign fighters have started to leave North Waziristan over fears that tribesmen may launch a new operation to evict them, a purported militant spokesman said Sunday.
Some 75 families of foreigners have headed to their respective countries in a month, the spokesman who introduced himself as Gohar Ayub said from North Waziristan over phone.
Ayub said he is speaking on behalf of local Taliban central spokesmen Abdullah Farhad and Tariq Jamil.
President Pervez Musharraf told army generals from 22 countries on Friday that tribesmen had killed some 300 foreigners in South Waziristan and that he wants similar action in North Waziristan.
They decided to leave North Waziristan after the tribal Lashkar launched operation against Uzbeks in South Waziristan.
The foreigners were saying they do not want problems for their women and children, the Taliban spokesman said.
He said that around 50 families, including Chechens, Turkistani, Tajiks and five Arab families, have left for their countries after the action in South Waziristan.
Ayub, speaking in Pashto, said that most of the families have headed for their countries through Afghanistan.
He said the Arabs were scheduled to proceed to Iraq.
It was difficult to verify the claim independently.
He said it may be possible that they come to Afghanistan for Jihad from their respective countries.
However, he said it depends on them either they come to Afghanistan or live in their countries.
When asked if the foreigners were leaving the area on the advice of tribal elders or voluntarily, he said they have themselves taken the decision because the tribal people had started to fight against foreigners in South Waziristan.
He said the foreigners told their local supporters that they would chalk out future strategy after leaving their women and children in their respective countries.
When asked whether the local Taliban would honor the September 5, 2006 peace agreement with the government, the Taliban spokesman said they are strictly following the agreement and if the government doesn't violate it, the local Taliban would never violate it.
He said no one enters Afghanistan from North Waziristan and fighters may be coming to fighting areas from other parts of Afghanistan.
Courtesy: IRNA

Pakistan army role revealed in clashes

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that tribesmen killed about 300 foreign al-Qaeda militants near the Afghan border and admitted the army was helping the tribal fighters.
Musharraf's comments came after months of pressure from key ally the United States and other nations with troops in Afghanistan to crack down on Islamic insurgents on Pakistan's lawless, tribally ruled frontier.
"The people of South Waziristan now have risen against the foreigners," Musharraf told a conference in Islamabad of defense officials from 22 countries. "They have killed about 300 of them. They have support from the Pakistan army. They asked for it."
Previously, officials have only said that the army had secured parts of South Waziristan, after the tribesmen drove out the mainly Uzbek and Chechen insurgents themselves, and that the military provided medical aid.
They have also given lower casualty figures than Musharraf, telling reporters on a rare trip to the region Wednesday that about 200 foreign militants and 40 tribesmen had died.
Musharraf said the tribesmen, who once gave shelter to the foreigners after the fall of Afghanistan's Taleban regime in 2001, were likely to fight rebels in other parts of the region.
"We want a similar activity in North Waziristan and there are indications that this can happen there as well," he said.
NATO and US officials claim cross- border attacks on their forces have risen since the deals in South Waziristan in 2005 and North Waziristan in 2006, but Pakistan said such assaults have in fact dropped.
Fighting broke out in South Waziristan March 19, sparked by a Taleban commander-turned-government supporter's demand that Uzbek militants in the area leave or disarm. The tribesmen hoisted white flags, pounded war drums and proclaimed victory earlier this week, saying that the foreigners had been driven out of their bunkers - a claim backed by the army.
But the regional army commander said Wednesday Uzbek commander Tahir Yuldashev, who has alleged links to Osama bin Laden, was not caught.
When he spoke at the conference earlier, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz urged the United States not to belittle Islamabad's anti-terror efforts or link aid to its success against militants.
US Vice President Dick Cheney told Musharraf during a surprise visit to Islamabad February 26 he was concerned that Taleban and al-Qaeda militants were regrouping in the tribal areas.
He denied threatening Pakistan with a cut in aid, but Democrats in March introduced legislation that would make aid conditional on Islamabad's counter- insurgency performance.
Courtesy: TS