North Waziristan - Pakistan's New Waziristan Strategy

Pakistan's New Waziristan Strategy

On June 4, 2007, the National Security Council of Pakistan met to decide the fate of Waziristan and take up a number of political and administrative decisions to control "Talibanization" of the area. The meeting was chaired by President Pervez Musharraf and it was attended by the Chief Ministers and Governors of all four provinces. They discussed the deteriorating law and order situation and the threat posed to state security.

The government decided to take a number of actions to stop the "Talibanization" and crush the armed militancy in the Tribal regions and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The NSC of Pakistan has decided the following actions will be taken to achieve the goals:

• Deployment of unmanned reconnaissance planes
• Strengthening law-enforcement agencies with advanced equipment
• Deployment of more troops to the region
• Operations against militants on fast-track basis
• Focused operations against militant commanders
• Action against madrassah's preaching militancy
• Appointment of regional coordinators
• Fresh Recruitments of police officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The ministry of interior has played a large part in the information gathering for the operations against militants and their institutions. The Ministry of Interior has prepared a list of militant commanders operating in the region and they have also prepared a list of seminaries for monitoring.

The government is also trying to strengthen the law enforcement in the area by providing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police with weapons, bullet-proof jackets and night-vision devices. The paramilitary Frontier Corps will be provided with artillery and APC's. The state agencies are also working on studying ways to block FM frequencies of illegal FM radio channels.