Civilian casualties in Afghan border anti-terrorism campaign
Government views campaign as "success", pledges compensation to civilians.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) Innocent civilian casualties and thousands of refugees from tribal areas are the sad outcome of the campaign launched by the Pakistani army in South Waziristan's Wana district (located along the country's northern border with Afghanistan), this according to a report released yesterday by Wali Khan Afridi, chairman of the commission of inquiry set up by the Peshawar High Court Bar Association to investigate the violence in the region.
"In the bombing of so-called terrorist training camps, 52 civilians died," Mr Afridi said. He was referring to Pakistani army operations against al-Qaeda bases in the area.
According to the commission's findings, the recent operations caused only civilian casualties. "We have a list of those who died in the Dhele Khora Karama attack given to us by witnesses. No one on it was a foreigner," Afridi stressed. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao had instead stated that the military operations in the Wana area were directed only at "foreign elements".
Afridi's report calls for an end to bombing in the area and an immediate troop withdrawal. It demands refugee camps be built and compensation be paid to those who lost property in the military offensive. "The bombing destroyed crops and hundreds of tribal people were forced to sell their cattle and move to the cities in the North-West, Punjab and Sindh", the report says. "It is the largest wave of refugees in the area after the Afghan war." Launched in March as part of the "war on terrorism", the military campaign focused on a 30 sq. km area in the Wana district. Some 200,000 people used to live there; with the operations, 30,000 left.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has urged members of parliament to conduct a detailed fact-finding mission into the whole Wana operation. Its president Tahir Khan said that the anti-terrorism campaign "raises many questions about the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force", and the "the safety of innocent people".
In a recent interview, Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that "Pakistan is not fighting terrorism on behalf of the US but for its own security," adding that "our fight against terrorism is directed at the narrow-minded people who want to take us back to the stone age."
Responding to demands by humanitarian groups, Interior Minister Sherpao stated that the government would compensate families of civilians who died in the campaign. To this effect, "we have started the political process to deal with situation in collaboration with the opposition," he said.
According to Pakistan's President Musharraf, "the terrorists' sanctuaries in three valleys in the south [were] busted. We were very successful [but] there may be more elsewhere." Military operations are thus expected to continue.
Pakistani and Western intelligence services think that there are al-Qaeda bases in the country's northern mountainous regions along the Afghan border. After the overthrow of the Taliban regime, bin Laden's followers have been training in the valleys of northern Pakistan in areas inhabited by tribal peoples.
In addition to its military operations, the Pakistani government has been trying to dismantle the bases by dealing with local tribal chiefs who often support hide and the terrorists.
Islamic parties have condemned the operations in South Waziristan. (QF)
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29/02/2024 20:15
