The Pakistani Army has claimed “successful conclusion'' of its anti-Taliban operations in the Kurram and Orakzai Agencies in the tribal belt between Afghanistan and Pakistan. To mark the wrapping up of the operations, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited the two agencies during the day.
Besides being briefed about the security situation in the two agencies that are part of the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies, General Kayani interacted with troops and met the tribal “masharan”. During his meeting with the tribal elders on Tuesday, the COAS thanked them for their consistent and wholehearted support to the security forces. He also sought to assure them of an early return to normality and prosperity.
The operations in Orakzai and Kurram began after the Army's concluded its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, and the past couple of months have seen an intensification of the airstrikes on the two tribal agencies with daily reports of terrorists being killed. However, since access to these tribal areas is restricted, there has been no independent verification with even international aid agencies having to go by information provided by their local partners.
Though the Army declared the conclusion of the operation on Tuesday, reports of more militants being killed continued to trickle in a day after. According to the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations Athar Abbas minor clearance operations in the countryside would continue in the two agencies just like they did in South Waziristan. “The key areas and the population centres have been cleared, and the major operation has concluded.''
The operations have resulted in an exodus of residents to safer areas. According to the latest available data with the United Nations, 16,487 families had been displaced from Kurram Agency. And, as of May 25, the number of families displaced from Orakzai stood at 32,347. With the average family size in these tribal pockets being seven-member strong, this takes the number of Internally Displaced Persons from these two agencies to nearly 3.5 lakh.
Given the way areas that had been declared “cleared'' by the Army in recent months have seen sporadic but frequent instances of terror strikes, aid agencies working in this region do not anticipate an early return of IDPs despite the tough conditions in which they are presently surviving.
