FATA Archive

How we lost Darra Adamkhel – By Nasser Yousaf: DARRA Adamkhel, the tribal area in the frontier region under the administrative control of the federal government, is a 30-minute drive from the Peshawar cantonment on the Indus highway. Sandwiched between two cantonments and hidden beneath high and gloomy
Drone Attacks on Pakistan, Syria shows the way to Pakistan – by Rahimullah Yusufzai: Saturday, November 08, 2008 The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar The way the Syrian government and people reacted to a recent US military raid on a village in Syria near the Iraqi border forced one
The FATA challenge — Imtiaz Ali: Local people have taken up arms and it’s high time to isolate terrorists through winning the hearts and minds of common Pashtuns. That’s the only way to undermine Al Qaeda and ensure security for Pakistan, as well as its
Need for review of US anti-terror policy in Pakistan: Tuesday, November 04, 2008Khalid Aziz Since September there have been 19 missile attacks on suspected terrorists by the US, most of them in Waziristan. They have led to the deaths of some foreign fighters; at the same time they
Unless there is precision in drone attacks on confirmed Al-Qaeda & Taliban hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal areas, such attacks may be counterproductive.: Counterproductive US raids into FATA As “drone attacks” increase from across the Durand Line into Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in Islamabad Saturday that “American and NATO missile strikes inside Pakistan are
Intelligence, psy-ops & the Fata war – By Naeem Sadiq: One need not destroy one’s enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage. — Sun Tzu WITH the truth coming first in the line of fire, the stories of any war are often carefully prepared half-truths, selected truths
Jirga to nowhere – by Rahimullah Yusufzai: Saturday, November 01, 2008 It was obvious from the beginning that the Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga, which held its inaugural session with much fanfare in August 2007 in Kabul and its much-delayed sequel recently in Islamabad on October 27-28,
FCR in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: What to do with FCR? Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had declared last April that he would like to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the Tribal Areas because it was “a barbaric colonial-era law that had ruled
Listen Hamid Gul: The controversial Pakistani policy of creating strategic depth in Afghanistan has now become a noose around our neck.: Hope and fear in NWFPTuesday, October 28, 2008Khalid Aziz FATA and the NWFP are in the midst of “interesting times.” According to the Chinese such periods are unstable and bring a whirlpool of difficulties. Pakistan has entered a sinkhole
Almost one million people of Parachinar remain stranded for more than a year by the criminals of Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba & Al-Qaeda: Appeal for help to the international community PESHAWAR: Delay in reopening road delays return of peace to Kurram By Zulfiqar Ali PESHAWAR, Oct 23: Delay in reopening of Thall-Parachinar Road despite an agreement, reached between the warring tribes of
Letting someone else rule the Tribal Areas: As Mr Shaukat Tareen, the finance advisor, makes his last-ditch efforts to arrange a $4.5 billion short-term bailout for the economy, PMLN leaders Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Raja Zafarul Haq have spoken at a press conference in Islamabad
Drone attacks and ground assaults – By Rahimullah Yusufzai: Drone attacks and ground assaults Saturday, October 25, 2008 Rahimullah Yusufzai Whether it was General Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorship or Asif Ali Zardari’s democratic set-up, the government came to the conclusion that it cannot afford to antagonize the US by
Talking peace with militants in Tribal Areas: Let us not hurry into another appeasement. Khalid Aziz: Talking peace with militantsTuesday, October 21, 2008by Khalid Aziz Since April of this year the military changed the method of fighting the insurgency in FATA and the NWFP. Prior to ‘Operation Zalzala,’ which was conducted in the Mahsud area
Sectarian Strife Paralyzes Life in Pakistan’s Kurram Tribal Agency:: By Imtiaz Ali Pakistan’s Kurram Tribal Agency has been at the center of sectarian Shiite-Sunni conflict for decades. The area witnessed bloody clashes between the two rival sects of Islam long before the arrival of the Taliban phenomenon and
Right at the Edge: New York Times analyzes situation of Taliban in Pakistan: By DEXTER FILKINS (New York Times)First Published: September 5, 2008 Late in the afternoon of June 10, during a firefight with Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistani border, American soldiers called in airstrikes to beat back the attack. The firefight
JUI-F opposes use of force in Tribal Areas: Fazlur Rehman emerges as ‘Taliban spokesman’ in parliament: JUI-F chief opposes use of force in Tribal Areas: Fazl emerges as ‘Taliban spokesman’ in parliament * Offers mediation between govt and Taliban* PML-N calls for fresh anti-terror policy* Wants any secret US-Musharraf deals made public By Irfan Ghauri
Dangers in the north – An analysis of Pakistan’s war with Talibans by I. A. Rehman: Dangers in the north By I.A. Rehman A SERIES of developments in the tribal areas and in Afghanistan over the past couple of weeks has greatly heightened ordinary Pakistani citizens’ anxieties about their future. And their expectations of reassurances
Modifying the FCR in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: A Long Term Strategy to Fight Terrorism: “WE cannot rein wild horses with silken braids,” wrote John William Kaye, secretary of the political and secret department of the India Office, justifying the special set of laws he helped draft to control the unruly tribesmen of Fata.
Militant activity in the tribal belt: As long as militant activity in the tribal belt was directed outwards, it never attracted our attention. And when these militants turned inwards, we were caught napping. Harmonising interests Talat Masood …………..The result is our security forces turning a
Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahab conducted a joint operation in Kohat and Darra Adam Khel: Two reports: The first one by BBC Urdu’s Abdul Haye Kakar, in which he reports that the extremists destroyed a control room built in the Kohat Tunnel, and on the walls graffiti read: ‘Long Live Sipah-i-Sahaba’ and ‘Long Live
Fixing the tribal areas – Rustam Shah Mohmand: In the following column, Rustam Sham Mohmand suggests that Pakistan must ensure that there should be no training camps of any sort, by any group, in the tribal areas, (as well as in other parts of the country?). The
In Pakistan, a Shia-Sunni war to oust Taliban: Nirupama Subramanian, The Hindu, Sep 03, 2008 According to Shia leaders and independent analysts, the Taliban control the Sunni tribes in Kurram and want to battle the Shias until they have control of the region. Kurram is not the
Safe havens were provided to Taliban, Jihadis, and sectarian terrorists in Pakistan’s tribal areas: ANP Provincial Chief stresses need for curbing militancy Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Says issue more important than restoration of judges By Khalid Kheshgi PESHAWAR: Provincial President of Awami National Party (ANP) and Peace Envoy to NWFP government Afrasiyab Khattak
Crackdown on militants by tribal volunteers in Tribal Areas: By Anwarullah Khan KHAR, Oct 5: Hundreds of tribal volunteers marched in Mamond and Wara tehsils, strongholds of militants in Bajaur Agency, on Sunday and warned pro-Taliban elements to either surrender or leave the area. The armed tribesmen did
Who is protecting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists in FATA: This TV report suggests that instead of hunting down and killing the Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan’s tribal areas, Pakistan Army has been unable to avoid the the collateral (i.e. innocent civilians) while
Is the USA doublecrossing Pakistan in FATA: Bajaur: the crucial test Reports are that terrorists known as Taliban are crossing the border from the Kunar province in Afghanistan to fight against the Pakistani forces in Bajaur and other areas. Pakistan has informed the US about this
Silent majority stirs – People in FATA rise agains Taliban: FATA’s silent majority now seems to be stirring. It has for years watched in agony the destruction of its environs. Its once peaceful valleys and ravines are now a theatre of war, with homes, fields and shops destroyed, the
‘Stability in Bajaur within two months’: * FC IG says 1,000 Taliban, 63 soldiers killed in operation* Says 65% of problem would be eliminated if Taliban defeated in Bajaur KHAR/TANG KHATTA: The situation in Bajaur Agency will be stabilised within two months, the Frontier Corps