Islamabad, May 05: The Pakistan government is
withdrawing Paramilitary troops from troubled areas in
southern Balochistan province, but a top military commander
has said the Army will remain in the North-western tribal areas
till law and order situation there improves.
The commander of the Peshawar-based Pakistan army corps,
Lt Gen Mohammad Masood Aslam, said on Sunday that the Army
will "stay in the tribal areas as long as the government wants
it to be there and the law and order situation does not show
signs of improvement".
Troops will stay in the troubled parts of the federally
administered tribal areas till militancy is brought under
control and the general public feels secure, Aslam said.
By and large, he said, it depended on the government to
decide how long the army should remain deployed in these
areas.
Aslam said to the reporters that the tribal people were
peace-loving and had supported measures taken for development
of their areas which had helped "lessen the influence of
militants".
He expressed hope that peace would eventually be restored
in the federally administered tribal areas due to the
development projects launched by the government and the
environment created by the Pakistan army.
Shortly after coming to power, the new coalition
government led by the Pakistan People's Party had said it
would end operations by security forces against Baloch
Nationalists as part of a strategy to improve the situation in
the resource-rich province.
In the initial stage, the federal government has decided
to withdraw the Paramilitary frontier corps from the port city
of Gwadar and Provincial Capital Quetta and hand over law and
order duties in these two cities to the police.
Frontier corps troops were seen withdrawing from their
positions on Sunday evening.
"The government has decided to withdraw the frontier
corps troops from Gwadar and Quetta," a senior official of the
Paramilitary force said the Dawn newspaper.
The corps personnel will gradually vacate all posts in
the two cities and be replaced by contingents of the newly
established Balochistan constabulary and local police.
The provincial government had set up over 40 pickets,
jointly manned by the frontier corps, Balochistan constabulary
and local police, following a deterioration in the law and
order situation in Quetta.
Sources in the frontier corps said the Paramilitary
troops are being withdrawn because "there is no longer any
need to keep them in the two cities".
However, officials said frontier corps troops will remain
stationed in troubled areas like Dera Bugti and Kohlu to
protect sensitive installations, including the Sui gas plant
and the pipeline supplying natural gas across the country.
Militants have often targeted gas installations and the
pipeline in bomb attacks.
In Quetta alone, over 600 frontier corps troops were
withdrawn from 28 check posts. About the same number of troops
were recalled from Gwadar.
The Pakistan government recently launched an initiative
for peace talks with Taliban and other militants active in the
federally administered tribal areas bordering Afghanistan,
which have been described by the US administration as a safe
haven for al Qaeda.
Bureau Report