Author: Nafisa Hoodbhoy

Islamabad, June 15 – A long-awaited military campaign to destroy militant safe havens in a Taliban-dominated part of Pakistan‘s borderlands began , years after the US first demanded action.

The army said it had launched a “comprehensive operation against foreign and local terrorists who are hiding in sanctuaries in North Waziristan”, the troubled tribal region that has served as a staging area for attacks across Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Military sources said as many as 30,000 troops could be involved in the operation to secure the border region, which the army believes must be completed before the end of Nato combat operations this year in Afghanistan.

An official statement said “Operation Zarb-e-Azb” had been launched “on the directions of the government”, but the decision follows months of public controversy over the issue, with leading politicians arguing any attempt to seize control of the area would provoke a violent backlash by the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s cities.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, had instead tried to negotiate a peace deal with militants, something most experts said had no chance of success given the record of militants breaking ceasefires.

Sharif’s obstinacy in the face of army demands for North Waziristan to be dealt with before summer has exacerbated tensions between Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships, who have clashed over the treason trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

The military statement said the country could not afford to wait any longer. “Using North Waziristan as a base, these terrorists had waged a war against the state of Pakistan and had been disrupting our national life in all its dimensions, stunting our economic growth and causing enormous loss of life and property,” it said.

Pakistan’s military had already ramped up pressure on militant groups in North Waziristan in recent weeks, launching air strikes and limited ground operations which it described as limited acts of retaliation against Taliban attacks.

The latest came early on Sunday when the army claimed fighter jets killed 80 terrorists, most of whom it said were Uzbeks involved in last week’s lethal attack on Karachi’s airport. Military sources said Abdul Rehman, a senior commander from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who is said to have masterminded the airport attack, was among the dead.

North Waziristan is part of a swath of forbidding, mountainous border territory that fell under Taliban control after militants fled there from Afghanistan following the US-led invasion of 2001.

It soon became a global hub for a plethora of terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban.

The presence of a large safe haven next to Afghanistan enraged bWashington and Kabul who complained the region was being used to hatch plots, train fighters and prepare suicide bombers who could cross the border to kill Afghan and Nato troops.

But Pakistan refused to act, even after the attempt by a Pakistani American terrorist to bomb New York’s Times Square was traced back to the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan.

In 2011 the North Waziristan-based Haqqani Network, an Afghan militant group, launched a rocket attack on the US embassy in Kabul.

In response the White House expanded the use of missile strikes by unmanned drones to kill suspected militants, although the increase in strikes caused outrage in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s refusal to act in North Waziristan reinforced suspicions that it continues to support and protect some militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban, in order to gain influence in Afghanistan, a country historically feared by Islamabad because of its refusal to drop claims to Pakistani territory and long-standing ties with arch enemy India.

The army argued it was taking action, methodically clawing back control of parts of the tribal north-west that had slipped into militant hands by launching major operations in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan.

Some observers remain sceptical despite Sunday’s announcement. They argue the Haqqani Network and other militant groups regarded as useful allies are likely to be left untouched by the operation or will simply move into unsecured parts of western Afghanistan.

On Sunday the army insisted it would “eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and colour”.

Despite the dangers posed by North Waziristan, many analysts, including one senior western security official in Islamabad, warn an operation may only succeed in forcing dangerous militants into other parts of the country, including the already turbulent city of Karachi where the Pakistani Taliban has made dramatic inroads in recent years.

They say the police are simply not prepared to fight an urban insurgency.

Speaking on local television defence minister Khawaja Asif said “terrorists may carry out attacks, we have to be watchful”. But he vowed that the operation would be carried through “to its logical conclusion”.

“Any group that uses Pakistan’s soil for terrorism will be eliminated, the operation will continue till the complete destruction of terrorism,” he said.

Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) — Terrorists entered Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport at two different spots with a big plan: to destroy a group of parked airplanes and “bring down our aviation industry,” according to the Pakistani government.

It was late Sunday night, and the militants were armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests. They went into the cargo area, about a kilometer (0.62 miles) from where commercial planes take off.

In a “heroic” effort, security forces “laid down their lives” to block the terminal and stop the attackers, surrounding them and killing all of them, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

There were 10 terrorists, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said, and two of them detonated suicide vests.

By the time the attack was over, 28 people were dead, including eight members of airport security forces, two Pakistan International Airlines employees and one ranger. Another 24 people were injured, the military said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault on the country’s largest and busiest airport.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Bahar said the attack was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November in North Waziristan.

Bahar warned more attacks will follow.

“As long as we are breathing, our attacks will be continuing ’til the end of our lives,” he vowed.

Fire followed attack

A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, Bajwa said. The airport reopened Monday.

Some Pakistani media reported a renewed gun battle at the airport later Monday morning. But officials told CNN the noise was from fire-heated chemical containers exploding.

Still, as a precaution, security forces opened fire, said Ahmad Chinoy of the Citizen’s Police Liaison Committee. He said he was 100% sure there were no militants left in the airport.

Several days ago, Pakistan’s government had warned provincial officials of a possible “high-profile attack on a sensitive or key installation,” said Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh province. But the warning, he said, did not mention the airport.

‘We felt like sitting ducks’

Farooq Sattar, a member of parliament, was on a plane at the airport when the attack took place.

“My aircraft was on the tarmac ready to take off when suddenly, from what I understand, a message came to the pilot saying to get off the runway and return to the gate,” Sattar told CNN. “I heard shots and saw smoke.”

“Before the pilot could announce anything, I had text messages blowing up my phone saying ‘Karachi airport under attack.’ We were in the aircraft for three hours, full of fuel. They locked the doors.

“The airport was poorly guarded. It was only due to some airport security personnel that the attack got thwarted and the militants didn’t make it to our part of the airport. Passengers were extremely nervous. They started looking at me for answers.”

“We felt like sitting ducks on the tarmac,” he added.

Two crew members who were on their first ever flight “freaked out,” Sattar said.

History of terror

The Pakistani Taliban, which is formally known as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long conducted an insurgency against the Pakistani government.

“Their primary target is the Pakistani state and its military,” said Raza Rumi of the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani think tank.

“It resents the fact that (Pakistan) has an alliance with the West, and it wants Sharia to be imposed in Pakistan.”

The group claimed responsibility for a December 2009 suicide bombing at the United States’ Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.

The attack killed seven U.S. citizens, including five CIA officers and a member of Jordanian intelligence.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Mehsud in 2010 for his alleged involvement in the attack.

Mehsud took over from Baitullah Mehsud, a fellow clan member, in 2009 after the latter was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Four years later, Hakimullah Mehsud suffered the same fate.

More claims and threats

Another TTP member claimed that the Pakistani government has been “abducting and killing innocent people,” and explained why the airport was targeted.

“We chose a location where there would be less civilian and more official casualties,” TTP representative Shahidullah Shahid said.

Shahid warned the group will engage “in a full-out war with the Pakistani state, starting on June 10.”

But “if even now the Pakistani government backs down,” Shahid said, “we are ready to engage in meaningful dialogue.”

Karachi airport attackers were disguised as security workers

More violence

The airport wasn’t the only site of violence in Pakistan on Sunday.

Twin suicide attacks near the border with Iran left 24 people dead, including four terrorists, authorities said. Qambar Dashti, commissioner of the Quetta Division, told CNN two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a hotel where dozens of Shia pilgrims from Iran were staying.

Dashti said 14 out of 18 wounded pilgrims were in critical condition.

Extremist Sunni militant group Jaish el-Islam, a splinter group of Lashkar e Jhangvi, claimed responsibility.

On Monday, while Karachi operated as usual, there was violence in other parts of the country.

Three soldiers were killed and many others were wounded in a suspected suicide attack at a checkpoint in North Waziristan, military officials said.