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North Waziristan tribals end peace deal with Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

Bloody Sunday in Pakistan’s NWFP; 38 killed, nearly 100 injured in two bombing incidents

— Photo: AP

Targeting the military: Scene of a suicide bombing on a military convoy in Swat, a mountainous area of the North-West Frontier Province, on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD: Pro-Taliban militants in North Waziristan announced on Sunday that their peace deal with the Pakistan Government had ended, while bombings in two places in the North West Frontier Province(NWFP), one of them confirmed as a suicide attack, killed at least 38 people and left nearly 100 wounded.

Taliban men distributed pamphlets in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal agency, announcing that the Taliban Shura or council had scrapped the September 2006 peace agreement with the Government. The announcement came a day after a suicide bombing on a military convoy in North Waziristan that killed 24 soldiers.

After the announcement, tension gripped Miranshah, and many people left for safer places.

According to reports, local Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur had asked tribesmen not to take up any Government jobs, and warned of dire consequences if they did. The pamphlets said the Government had violated the truce by deploying troops at checkpoints dismantled under the agreement. The militants said they had given the Government a deadline of 4 p.m. on Sunday to withdraw the troops.

The Government set up the checkposts and sent troops to many parts of the NWFP amid a resurgence in bombings and attacks during a week-long siege at the capital’s Lal Masjid, culminating in a commando strike to clear militants that killed 75 people. The Government had set much hope by the North Waziristan peace agreement as an example of its “holistic” approach to militancy despite criticism from the United States that it was not working as the tribal militants were not keeping their commitments. Warning signals that the deal might collapse have been around for a few months, and the events of the last few days appear to have acted as a catalyst.

A violent week culminated in a particularly bloody weekend in the entire region.

The day after the suicide attack in North Waziristan, a suicide bombing on another convoy, this time near Matta in Swat district of the NWFP, killed at least 12 people, 10 of them soldiers, and left 47 others wounded.

Swat is home to the pro-Taliban Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed, headed by Mullah Fazlullah, who asked his followers to wage jihad against the Government when troops blockaded the Lal Masjid.

Since then there have been several bombings targeting security personnel in the district. The Government moved in more troops there last Friday.

Meanwhile, in the southern NWFP town of Dera Ismail Khan, where police said they had arrested three would-be suicide bombers on Friday, a bomb attack on a police recruitment centre killed at least 26 people and left more than 50 wounded.

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