Report on North Waziristan Military Operation

Suicide Attack: On 18 December, 2013 a suicide bomber (SVBIED) rammed his explosive-laden mini-truck into a roadside Pakistani military check post in Khajori area of Mir Ali subdivision North Waziristatan Agency. In a result five soldiers were killed and 42 others injured. The Ansarul Mujahedeen militant group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack to avenge the death of the TTP head Hakimullah Mehsud. Curfew has been imposed in the area for three days in the area. Senior officials claimed that the TTP faction and al Qaeda linked militants have led so many campaigns against the Pakistani Military in this year concentrated largely in the northwest. In retaliation of that suicide attack security forces laid an operation against the TTP and Al Qaeda linked militants in the regions. Military officials have claimed more than 30 militants were killed in the offensive, most of them ethnic Uzbeks, had been killed in the Operation. Local leader Comments: But the local elders claimed from the first day of the operation till now more than 70 civilians have been killed in which most of them are truck drivers and shopkeepers, markets were hit by gunships, mortars, and artillery shelling directly. Political Parties and their leaders comments: 1) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Comments: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan said that military operation is not the solution of the problem; it can further exacerbate the militants in the region. In a statement issued here Imran Khan demanded the government to inform the nation if it intends to start a military operation in North Waziristan Agency (NWA). He also condemned the attack on the military personnel in NWA which led to the martyrdom of five soldiers. Imran said that if the military had intended to respond with an attack, then it should have cleared the area of women and children at least before they bombed Mir Ali through helicopter gunship and artillery. He said that civilians, especially women and children were already victims of drone attacks and now military action will further add to the miseries of these innocent victims of a war, they are not responsible for. "Military operations in one's own country do not resolve problems; instead they exacerbate them and the same will happen if a military operation is launched in NWA.

2) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Comments: Mualana Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) reiterated that the issue of North Waziristan should be resolved through dialogue, and stress for the halted of Military operation in the area on immediately. JUI-F chief also said that curfew should be lifted from North Waziristan while the injured should be allowed to go to hospitals.