Islamabad,June 13:Pakistani army plans to enlist pro-government tribesmen in a fresh campaign to flush out “hard-core” al-Qaeda elements and their affiliates from North Waziristan tribal region, but the Haqqani militant network would be spared “for the time being.”
The move is aimed at deflecting growing US pressure for a full-scale offensive against the Haqqani network – the deadliest of all Afghan Taliban factions – that is believed to be based in the lawless tribal region, a media report said today.
Under the plan, tribesmen have been urged to form ‘laskhars’ or militias to take out “hard-core al-Qaeda elements and their affiliates” who have challenged the writ of the state by mounting terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
The idea was discussed in the June 9 meeting of the army’s Corps Commanders and taken up during army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s talks with CIA chief Leon Panetta the following day, an unnamed military official told the daily.
—Agencies