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Pakistani tribesmen have killed 300 militants, says Musharraf

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, April 13, IRNA
Pakistan-Musharraf
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that tribesmen have killed some 300 foreign militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border.

Speaking at a conference of senior defence officials from 22 countries General Musharraf said that the army had assisted the tribal fighters.

"The people of South Waziristan now have risen against the foreigners. They have killed about 300 of them," he told the international land forces symposium on Common Security and Global War on Terrorism.

"They have support from the Pakistan army. They asked for it." The President said he wants a similar operation in North Waziristan tribal region, adding there are indications that this can happen there as well.

Musharraf said there were indications that tribesmen in other parts of the region were ready to take up arms against the foreign insurgents, many of whom fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

He said the tribal people for the first time have risen against foreign terrorists in South Waziristan and killed about three hundred of them.

He said the Taliban resurgence is mainly inside Afghanistan and the leadership of the movement including Mullah Omar is also hiding there.

He said Pakistan is selectively fencing its border with Afghanistan and also taking other measures including military actions wherever needed to check any military activities.

The President said Pakistan is fully committed to combating terrorism and said that Al-Qaeda sanctuaries and command and control structures have been smashed in the mountains of the tribal areas and hundreds of Al Qaeda bigwigs have been arrested and killed in the ities and now they are being hunted in the mountains.

President Musharraf urged the Western countries to see the ground realities and efforts Pakistan is making to check Taliban activities and root out foreign terrorists from the tribal belt.

The President said that there is a perception in the Muslim world that injustices are being done to them and Islam is being targeted as a religion and equated with extremism and terrorism.

He said this view of the common people in the Ummah needs to be rectified by addressing the long-standing disputes.

The President calling for joint efforts against terrorism has emphasized that success against the menace could only be achieved by addressing the underlying root causes of extremism.

The President said the unresolved political disputes, especially Palestine, and sense of alienation, helplessness and injustice in the Muslim world is spawning extremism and terrorism.

2020/235/1420