Taliban in Pakistan ends all peace deals with Government

PAKISTAN: Taliban in Pakistan has decided to end all peace deals with the government, according to TV reports here Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar was quoted as saying that the decision at its central council was taken as protest against the military operation in the Khyber agency in Pakistan’s northwest.

Umar said that Taliban would launch counter attacks.

Also on Sunday, Pakistani security forces continued operation against militant groups in a tribal region on the second day and destroyed two more centers, officials said.

The government sent more reinforcement to the tribal Khyber agency, only a few kilometers away from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

Three extremist groups, Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam and Amar bil Maroof Wa Nahe Anil Munkir, have been active in the Khyber agency, and involved in internal clashes.

Lashkar-e-Islam fighters, who controlled some roads and small villages, have recently involved in fierce fighting with its rival group Ansar-ul-Islam. Over 20 people have been killed in the clashes over the last two weeks, according to locals.

“We are conducting operation on the public demand and with the government instructions,” said Muhammad Alam Khattak, who is in charge of the operation.

The inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps said Saturday that the operation would continue until the “gangs of criminals” were removed from the area and the government writ established.

All markets at Bara, a major town in the Khyber agency and famous for foreign goods, were closed Sunday as the security forces had advised the people to stay indoors.

Officials say that paramilitary forces and the police are taking part in the operation and regular army is not involved.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that the operation was aimed at purging the area from terrorists and criminal gangs. He said that gangs of criminals in the Khyber agency had been fighting for a long time and the forces would expel them.

Around 5,000 security men are taking part in the operation and 400 more were sent Sunday, according to local press reports.

Islamabad, Monday, Xinhua