Pakistani Taliban will continue attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, rejecting a government announcement it would halt military actions in the northwest, a Taliban spokesman said yesterday.
Pakistani security forces fighting pro-Taliban militants in the violent northwestern regions were scheduled at midnight last night to discontinue the offensives for a month, officials said.
The decision was announced overnight by the prime minister’s security adviser, Rehman Malik, who said the reprieve came in veneration of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan starting this week.
But Malik, who is believed to be the de facto interior minister, clarified that the military would not refrain from repulsing any attack on their personnel or installations.
“Any kind of militant action will be responded to with full force,” he said in the eastern city of Lahore at a seminar on cyber crimes.
Deteriorating security has coincided with a faltering economy and political upheaval, as the resignation of unpopular Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf on Aug. 18 was followed a week later by a split in the ruling coalition.
“It’s a joke. It isn’t a matter of holy or unholy. All months are holy. If they want to end fighting, it should be permanent,” Muslim Khan, Taliban spokesman in the Swat Valley, said by telephone. “We want enforcement of Shariah laws and will continue our struggle. We haven’t got instructions from our top leadership to stop fighting. If they do [order a halt] then we certainly will.”
Pakistan’s government had said on Saturday that security forces would suspend operations from last night for Ramadan, which ends at the beginning of next month, but would retaliate if attacked.
Worries about security and politics has unnerved investors who have sent Pakistani financial markets skidding lower. The country’s main share index has fallen about 36 percent this year.
Government estimates show up to 300,000 people have fled from fierce clashes between security forces and violent militants in the tribal region of Bajaur on the Afghan border.
Many displaced people have moved to temporary shelters set up in various towns outside the region, where despite government and foreign aid agencies’ efforts, shortages of food and medical supplies and poor sanitation are common complaints.
The US and other allies have been concerned the government led by assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s party might be less committed to the unpopular war against militancy after the resignation of firm ally Musharraf.
Washington says al-Qaeda and Taliban militants have been given shelter by Pakistani allies in ethnic Pashtun tribal lands on the Afghan border and from there not only carry out attacks on both sides of the border but plot violence in the West.
The Pakistan military is still engaged in fighting with militants in Bajaur, across mountains to the west of Swat, and in the South Waziristan region.
In Swat and Bajaur especially, jet fighters and helicopter gunships are being used to strike militant positions. Several hundred people, mostly militants, have been killed in recent clashes, government officials say.
A Pakistani private television channel, Aaj, broadcast footage yesterday of what militants said were 38 security force members abducted by them from Swat in late July.
The footage showed the hostages’ legs were chained while men carrying AK-47 rifles and wearing black scarves over their faces guarded them.
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