The military has suspended airstrikes in Pakistan’s volatile northwest for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, officials said yesterday, raising concerns insurgents seeking refuge along the Afghan border would have a chance to regroup.
Security forces warned that any provocations in the Bajur tribal region, a rumored hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, would bring immediate retaliation.
While Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar welcomed a cessation in fighting and reiterated an offer to negotiate with the government, he said militants would not lay down their arms as demanded.
Pakistan’s five-month-old government at first tried peace talks with militants, but those efforts bore little fruit. It has turned to force in recent weeks, including using helicopter gunships and fighter jets to strike suspected hideouts.
Pakistani Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said three weeks of fighting in Bajur had left more than 560 militants dead and sent more than 300,000 people fleeing to relief camps — some of whom started gathering up their belongings yesterday so they could spend Ramadan at home.
Others, barely scraping by, said they could not afford to make the journey and would spend the month with their families in sweltering, mosquito-infested tents.
US officials have pressed Pakistan to crack down on militants in its tribal regions, fearing Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters involved in attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan use those border areas as safe zones.
The US is suspected of launching a series of missile strikes targeting alleged militant compounds in Pakistan’s rugged and lawless tribal region along the border, including one on Sunday that left four dead.
Ramadan is expected to officially begin today or tomorrow in Pakistan, with the timing depending on the alignment of the moon.
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