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A tribal elder told IOL that only 20 pro-Taliban militants took part in the daring operation. |
ISLAMABAD — Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan have set conditions to secure safe passage for some 205 Pakistani security forces ambushed and besieged in a remote region near the border with Afghanistan, well-placed sources said Saturday, September 1.
"They (pro-Taliban militants) are demanding the release of 10 commanders, who have recently been arrested in different parts of north western frontier province
(NWFP), and Balochistan" one delegate told IslamOnline.net on condition of anonymity.
The Taliban commanders had been arrested in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and Zhob districts, which border the volatile northern tribal belt.
Two top commanders were arrested after an encounter with army soldiers in Zhob district last month, in which a top militant commander, Abdullah Mahsud, blew himself up to avoid his arrest.
But his family cried foul and accused the army of shooting Mahsud at point blank range.
Tribal sources told IOL that the pro-Taliban militants are holding hostage about 205 security personnel, including 105 regular troops and 100 personnel of the Frontier Corps.
A colonel, three majors and some captains were among the personnel seized by the militants, the sources added.
A tribal elder told IOL that only 20 militants took part in the daring operation.
The soldiers are trapped near Wana, the capital of restive South Waziristan, which touches Afghanistan.
The border area is a known hub of Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-linked militants engaged in a bloody confrontation with tens of thousands of troops deployed in the region to hunt them down since 2002.
Risky
It will be risky for the soldiers to get out without an agreement between the militants and the tribal chieftains, sources privy to the talks said.
"We are trying our level best to persuade them (Taliban) to show some flexibility, so that we can ask the government too to do the same," said the tribal delegate.
He, however, said the pro-Taliban militants have not proved forthcoming yet.
Security forces, meanwhile, have detained 20 Mehsud tribesmen in South Waziristan under the territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) to step up pressure on militants to free the security personnel.
Witnesses said police had initially apprehended 200 tribesmen from a passenger van near Wana but later put only 20 of them into custody.
Pakistan's tribal areas are still being run under FCR, which had been introduced by the British rule in the 19th century.
Under this law, the political agent, who is the representative of the federal government, has been granted massive powers and authorities.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has been under pressure to crack down on militancy in the restive frontier region, where US officials say Al-Qaeda's leadership has regrouped.
But hopes for pacifying the tribal area faded in July after pro-Taliban tribesmen scrapped a landmark peace accord reached with the government in protest at what they called army violations and restrictive measures adopted in their region in the wake of a bloody raid into the Red Mosque in Islamabad.
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