Kiyani’s Army: Operation Lightening or Operation Déjà Vu?

Mohmand Agency

“It’s déjà vu all over again!” — Yogi Berra

A couple of days ago I saw this headline and had a sense of déjà vu and I laughed out loud:
Sept 01, 2011: Army claims 80 per cent of Mohmand cleared

Then today, early in the morning, I saw this headline staring at me:
Sept 03, 2011: 85pc of Mohmand Agency cleared: corps commander

PESHAWAR: Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik has said that most of Mohmand Agency had been cleared of militants and terrorists after the successful military operation restored the writ of the government there.

Talking to journalists at Mamadgat in Mohmand Agency, he said, the army had reclaimed 80 to 85 percent area of Mohmand Agency after the successful military operation Brekhna (lightning) in which 72 soldiers, including three officers, embraced martyrdom and around 150 other soldiers were injured.

The corps commander said that the major action in Mohmand Agency had been completed and now only search and cordon operation was being carried out in a few pockets….

And I went “Wow! Kiyani’s ‘men’ have managed to clear 5% of Mohmand in only TWO DAYS so we should be 100% clear in another six! Man these ‘guys’ are good!!!”

Of course I was being cynical.

Let me not say another thing and let the headlines/timeline do the talking:

• Sept 16, 2009: 80pc of Mohmand Agency cleared
• Jan 5, 2010: 80 per cent of Mohmand Agency cleared, say Army sources
• In early 2010, the Pakistani military claimed they had cleared Mohmand Agency in FATA. These claims were undermined by Taliban-led attacks in the agency as early as July 2010, which killed over 100 civilians. The Taliban once again controlled the Mohmand agency in 2011, which forced the Pakistan military to again conduct major operations there in February 2011. These operations displaced 25,000 people.
• Aug 2010: Army claims 80 per cent of Mohmand cleared
• Feb 2011: Pakistani Military Steps It Up In Mohmand Agency – 22,000 Civilians Clear the Hell Out
• Feb 16, 2011: 90pc area of Mohmand Agency cleared of militants: Pakistan Army
• April 22, 2011: Phase II for Operation Brekhna Launched in Mohmand Agency
• May 2011: Peace returns to Mohmand Agency
• July 16, 2011: Over 1,500 militants surrender in Mohmand Agency

You know what is even funnier? Here are two pics released by ISPR on the Mohmand Agency operations:

Kiyani and his girls in Mohmand Agency April 21, 2010

Kiyani and his girls in Mohmand Agency on July 13, 2011

Yes, it’s déjà vu all over again!, eh Yogi! 🙂

Mohmand Agency IDPs

(P.S. Looking at this last picture, ask yourself “Are these ladies wearing ‘burqas’ because the bad old Taliban forced them to?”)

NOT Israel vs. Palestiine! Eyewitness Account From S Waziristan

No surprise!

S Waziristan as I saw it
Monday, May 03, 2010
Ayaz Wazir

Believing that the government was now making genuine efforts to improve things in Waziristan, I was always hard put to believe visitors returning from Waziristan who told me horrifying tales of the problems they faced traveling on the Wana-Gomal-Tank road. But seeing is believing, and I experienced the same difficulties myself when I traveled on that road last week, the other road linking Wana with Tank via Jandola being closed to traffic since the launch of the military operation in October last year.

It is not the rough ride that makes one sick but the manner of the all-too-frequent checking conducted by the security agencies. At a check point where one enters South Waziristan from the settled area of Tank, all travelers are asked to disembark and present their identity cards, standing in a queue under the blazing sun without shelter. Meanwhile, the driver of the vehicle slowly walks forward to the check post, hands raised in the air in a gesture of surrender, to get written permission for the onward journey. All items inside the vehicle are checked, counted and then recorded on the permission slip. This slip is required to be handed in at the last check post, where the passengers and their luggage, and any animals with them, are rechecked to ensure that nothing in the list is missing. In case any item is indeed missing, vehicle and passengers are sent back to the first check post. There the driver gets a proper thrashing and the passengers are made to stand, often for hours, before the procedure is repeated and they are allowed to proceed onwards on the basis of a fresh slip.

In a recent incident a boy put his life in danger to retrieve the family dog that had bolted on the road. The driver was slowly negotiating a difficult bend when the dog jumped out of the truck. The youngster immediately jumped out to bring the dog back. A bystander advised him to forget the dog and return to the truck because trying to catch the dog in the rough terrain could be hazardous. Ignoring the advice, the boy kept chasing the dog because he knew that if the animal was discovered missing at the last check post the family would be maltreated and humiliated, and then ordered to return to the first check post for fresh permission.

On my return from Wana, I travelled on the road from Wana to Tank via Jandola which passes through the Mehsud area. What I saw was stuff nightmares are made of. Houses, shops, madressahs and even official buildings on the roadside stood in ruins or demolished. All along the road from Madijan to Jandola, villages on both sides had the appearance of a war zone and testified to the fact that they had borne the brunt of the military operation. There was no sign of any human or animal life, except for a few cows wandering about in the deserted villages.

At Jandola it was a different scene. The market of the Bettani tribe had been completely razed to the ground and the debris dumped in the nearby riverbed. There is no market or shopping area for the tribesmen to buy food or essential items. They have to go all the way to Tank to get items of daily consumption.

I was told the internally displaced people (IDPs) were under tremendous pressure from the authorities to return to their homes in Waziristan. The officials are not interested in the reason for the IDPs’ reluctance to return to their hearths and homes: they worry about their safety if they returned. Has the government taken steps to ensure the complete security of the returnees? Have arrangements been made for reconstruction and rehabilitation of their homes and their villages? Has travel on the roads in the Mehsud area been permitted? If it hasn’t, how will the IDPs arrange for their food and items of daily use? These are some of the basic prerequisites that need to be met by the government before it forces the IDPs to return.

All civilian form of government has been missing from the area for the past eight years. Matters have been left in the hands of the army and a Grade-18 officer, the political agent. Since the army is not trained for taking political decisions, it is incapable of taking them. As for the political agent, he is not even able to travel in his area of posting except under the protection of an army helicopter. The government needs to face reality and wake up to the extremely grim situation. It needs to show presence at a senior level if it is serious about getting to the depth of this complicated problem and resolving it.

The president should himself have visited the area and taken bold decisions, but he preferred to address a tribal jirga in the air-conditioned hall of the Governor’s House in Peshawar. In his address to the tribesmen he chose not to touch upon the real problems faced by people in that area. He did not even pay lip service to the promises that he had made earlier about introducing political and economic reforms in FATA. Surely, travelling to Waziristan is less time-consuming than travelling to China, Dubai or London. If he felt Waziristan did not merit his personal attention he could at least have directed his governor to visit the area. Interaction with the inhabitants, at the highest level, is the need of the hour to bridge the deep trust deficit which exists between the people and the government.

Unless urgent and effective action is taken to this end, I fear all military actions taken so far will prove to be in vain, and we may well hear news of a resurgence of militancy. The military may win all the battles. but the government will certainly lose the war if it does not pay urgent attention to the problem.

The writer, a former ambassador, hails from FATA. Email: waziruk@hotmail.com

Related Posts:

Pakistan: All Chaos on the Western Front

IDPs Cross 3 Million Mark

Chris Floyd on Pakistan…

Stop Romanticizing This War

In Pakistan, an Exodus that is Beyond Biblical

Mingora “Regained”

Winning Hearts and Minds….

IDP Corner

Swat: Still No Escape From Hell

Pakistan Army Creates Killing Fields in Swat Valley

IDP Corner: Still NO National Policy as Another 500,000 Face Displacement

Pervaiz ‘G W’ Kiyani

Army Captures Swat — Resort, That Is…

A Quickie: An Occupied vs ‘Free’ Country

DAWN: Bring IDF-Style Check-Posts To Pakistan

From The ‘Destroying The Village To Save It’ File

A Quickie: From NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Our Army Compared to Our Enemies

Swat Is Finally FREE!

A Quickie: Kiyani Says As Whores, We Are Matchless

A Quickie: Bayghairat Mercenaries Exposed Again

The Vietnam War In Pictures: The 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon

Army: Bending Over In Plain Sight Yet Denying The Obvious

Remember: All this “freedom” comes courtesy of Samar Minallah:

Fake Swat Video Finally Declared Fake

“The Price Is Worth It”, Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah

No Surprise: Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah Unrepentent

Additional Notes on Samar Minallah, Swat Video, And NGOs

“The Price Is Worth It”, Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah

Dawn reports:

IDPs from tribal areas

IDPs in Swat, April, 2010

Not only has the theatre of war against the militants in the northwest expanded in recent times, it has also extracted a heavy price in the process by displacing people from various affected areas on a very large scale. The fact must be kept in mind and both state and civil society should come to the aid of the IDPs. According to one relief agency, it has registered over 1.3 million IDPs from the tribal areas. The exodus from Orakzai Agency alone amounts to over 75,000 tribesmen at even conservative estimates. Parts of the agency have reportedly turned into ghost towns where starving children search for food. Unsurprisingly, the battle against militancy has led to mass migration, with people seeking refuge in Kohat and Hangu districts and Khyber Agency. The exodus was a predictable consequence of the operation against the militants, but little evidence is available of the state having made efforts to mitigate the IDPs’ suffering. The sole relief camp in the area is in Hangu district, accommodating less than 4,000 people. There is no room for the hundreds of people streaming into the area everyday. Apparently, no relief camp exists in Kohat district, where over 22,000 IDPs have registered themselves with the social welfare department.

This is an unacceptable situation. The IDPs are caught in a war that is not of their making and they have a right to receive the state’s protection. Tackling the militants must of course continue with full force — after all, just on Wednesday militants blew up five schools and a basic health unit in the Utmankhel area of Orakzai Agency. But the fallout on ordinary citizens must be mitigated as far as possible. The conflict must speedily be brought to a successful closure. Meanwhile, efforts are needed towards setting up relief camps.

“Tackling the militants must of course continue with full force” – Now that is fvcking amazing, isn’t it?

BTW: This is nothing new for Dawn. Exactly a year ago they had a similar piece:

Plight of internally displaced persons

PROTECTING the lives and property of citizens is amongst the most fundamental duties of a government, in fact its raison d’être. In the case of thousands of residents of Pakistan’s militancy-infested areas, however, the state appears to have been unsuccessful on this count. Not only has it failed to effectively curtail the militants’ reign of terror, it has worsened the plight of victims who have borne the brunt of retaliatory military operations. Nor has the state been able to provide meaningful succour to families who were forced to flee. The point is reflected in the grim future faced by internally displaced persons in various parts of the country.

A UNHCR survey estimates that there are over 43,500 IDPs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi alone. Threatened in equal measure by militants and the security forces, these families fled in the hope that the state would come to their rescue. Yet no refugee camp or aid centre has been set up in the twin cities’ jurisdiction and the IDPs have been left to fend for themselves. Little imagination is required to realise that the step from subsistence-living to disillusionment and crime is a short one. However, this realisation is yet to dawn on the federal government that refuses to accommodate refugees in camps anywhere but in the NWFP because of ‘security concerns’.

Meanwhile, an estimated 41,000 IDPs live in the NWFP’s Jalozai camp. They are now being asked to return to their homes since the military operation has ended. Faced with the daunting task of returning to battle-scarred areas, these citizens are demanding that they be compensated for the destruction of their homes and have their safety guaranteed upon return. But the government has shown little interest in addressing these concerns, and no compromise with them has been attempted. Little wonder then that violent clashes have occurred between IDPs and the police, most recently on Wednesday when a protester was killed. A press note issued by the DCO’s office blamed the protesters for having cast the first stone, but that is not the point. The real issue is that thousands of people found themselves caught in the crossfire between militants and security forces, and fled a situation that was not of their making. Their demand for aid is legitimate. If their needs are not addressed, the state runs the risk of adding to the ranks of disillusioned people who turn to arms in order to have their voices heard.

Of course it was clear then as now no help would come IDPs’ way but “Talibs had to be stopped”.

And I am sure even if asked today, Ms Samar ‘Albright’ Minallah would say “The price was worth it!” Of course she will say it with crocodile tears about that “poor girl getting flogged” and wanting us to believe that alone justifies the murder of thousands since and suffering of millions.

"We are so glad to go thru this suffering. Thank you Samar!"

Related:
Swat Flogging Video Fake

A Quickie: From NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

“It took 109 years to correct a historical wrong and what a journey it has been…”
Thus begins the above titled piece in Dawn.

What utter bullshit!

This “was” NWFP:

This “is” what is going to be Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:

So let the celebrations begin!

"Wish I'd waited for the name change. The burns would have felt so much better! At least my brothers will be droned as Khyber-Pakhtunis!"

DAWN: Bring IDF-Style Check-Posts To Pakistan

In the wake of yesterday’s bombings in Lahore, today’s Dawn features a piece by some motherfvcking Sri Lankan piece of trash proposing IDF-style check-posts (not that we are far from it). It goes on to say what good are the checkposts if they are not a bigger nuisance and don’t delay people for hours on end. It also proposed that if Supreme Court comes in the way of such measures, it should be ignored.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

Be warned: It does state things like “Oh God! Aren’t there women terrorists in this part of the world? Don’t they know it was a woman suicide bomber from Tamil Tigers who killed the Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi?”.

IDP Corner: Still NO National Policy as Another 500,000 Face Displacement

National policy on IDPs demanded

…The speakers said military operation was continuing for the last five years and a national policy on IDPs should have been put in place by now to provide a solution to the problems faced by the affected people….

Pakistan conflict could displace 500,000 more: UN

‘Half a million people or more might come out of Waziristan. They will not go to the same geographical area as the present (uprooted people), so it’s a completely separate operation,’ he told Reuters in a telephone interview fron New York.

Pakistan Army Creates Killing Fields in Swat Valley

by Waseem Shehzad
(Sunday, June 7, 2009)
“Pakistan’s tragedy is that it has no leaders of stature or vision. Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s president, is not fit even to run a cinema from where he made his debut into business, much less running a country as complex as Pakistan.”

Amid all the confusion surrounding the Pakistan army’s month-long campaign against the Taliban or whoever they are fighting in Swat and Malakand, the only certainty is that it has created nearly 2.5 million refugees, dubbed internally displaced persons (IDP). Before the launch of army operations on April 26, people were ordered to leave their homes immediately. As hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of their towns and villages, most with little except the clothes on their backs, the government announced they would be housed in camps set up for this purpose and looked after well until the area was cleared of militants. Appeals for help have also been made to international donors. United Nations officials have confirmed that there are 1.5 million new refugees bringing the total to 2 million with half a million already from Bajaur. On May 21, an international donors’ conference in Islamabad reportedly pledged $224 million for the IDP. Already cynics are saying much of the aid money, if it ever materializes, will end up in the pocket of corrupt officials as happened following the October 2005 earthquake disaster.

Pop Quiz: Only One was caused by the country’s OWN forces

Gaza

Lebanon

Afghanistan

Iraq

Swat

IDP Corner

While the government and army claim one victory after another in Swat, the situation on the ground seems to put them all to shame. I don’t know how many towns — our own — have been conquered by our army so far and made “safe” for return, civilians are still streaming out of there every chance they get. And who’d blame them? Even Afghanistan appears safer. Mingora, one of the first towns “liberated”, is still a ghost town, with no electricity, no gas, no food, and no communication lines. Their crops are destroyed as well. Though Rehman Malik keeps asking people to go back to their homes, the government officials of the area are doing the opposite and discouraging refugees from returning. Things going back to normal seems a long way off as the army is already claiming it will need to stay there for a year at least .

Things at the IDP camps appear to be heading for the worst.

UN is claiming it is running out of money and has warned against disease outbreak in the IDP camps. It is also expected that this month alone, some 6000 IDP women to give birth, with an estimated 900 requiring life-saving surgery from complications — facilities for which are non-existent in the camps. 

Of the promised aid, only 11% seems to have been received so far . 

maybe the refugees can take comfort in the fact that their issue is among those to be taken up today in the Senate. In the mean time, those not yet registered have to wait  for five days as registration has been suspended. Those already registered have to wait another week for cash grants.

Winning Hearts and Minds….

A Pakistani man carries on Wednesday, May 27, 2009. his belongings rescued from the rubble of his house, destroyed in an air strike in Sultanwas village, in Buner district, Pakistan. Pakistan's army destroyed much of this village when it drove the Taliban back, reducing houses, mosques and shops to mounds of rubble where dusty children's shoes, shattered television sets and perfume bottles now lie. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Residents Seethe as Pakistan Army Destroys Homes
SULTANWAS, Pakistan (AP) —

When Pakistan’s army drove the Taliban back from this small northwestern village, it also destroyed much of everything else here.

250,000 (Add To That 100,000) — Mercecenaries

Jeremy Scahill reports on Alternet that Obama has 250,000 ‘contractors’ deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and is increasing the use of mercenaries:

Overall, contractors (armed and unarmed) now make up approximately 50% of the “total force in Centcom AOR [Area of Responsibility].” This means there are a whopping 242,657 contractors working on these two U.S. wars. These statistics come from two reports just released by Gary J. Motsek, the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Program Support): “Contractor Support of U.S. Operations in USCENTCOM AOR, IRAQ, and Afghanistan and “Operational Contract Support, ‘State of the Union.’” 

This means a full 50% of the US contingent in these two countries consists of mercenaries.

But in case of Pakistan we must add to the number of mercenaries the number of Pakistani forces personal fighting America’s war, killing their own in return for dollar$$$…

Mingora “Regained”

The Army claims to have “liberated” Mingora so it is odd to see “Thousands of residents flee conflict-hit Mingora”

But reading the stories about the state Mingora is in, it is hardly a surprise – No water, no electricity, no food, and no shelter after month long bombardment of the city:

‘Desperate’ Swat Valley situation revealed

After a month of fighting in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, aid groups have for the first time been allowed to assess the extent of damage, and they have expressed alarm about the humanitarian situation there.

The main city in the Swat Valley, Mingora, has been bombarded by artillery and street fighting for the past month.

Aid agencies say buildings and shops in the centre of town have been entirely flattened.

In Pakistan, an Exodus that is Beyond Biblical

Locals sell all they have to help millions displaced by battles with the Taliban

By Andrew Buncombe

May 31, 2009 “The Independent” — The language was already biblical; now the scale of what is happening matches it. The exodus of people forced from their homes in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and elsewhere in the country’s north-west may be as high as 2.4 million, aid officials say. Around the world, only a handful of war-spoiled countries – Sudan, Iraq, Colombia – have larger numbers of internal refugees. The speed of the displacement at its height – up to 85,000 people a day – was matched only during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. This is now one of the biggest sudden refugee crises the world has ever seen.

Until now, the worst of the problem has been kept largely out of sight. Of the total displaced by the military’s operations against the Taliban – the army yesterday claimed a crucial breakthrough, taking control of the Swat Valley’s main town, Mingora – just 200,000 people have been forced to live in the makeshift tent camps dotted around the southern fringe of the conflict zone. The vast majority were taken in by relatives, extended family members and local people wanting to help.

“Rehman Malik sold Pashtoon to the Americans”

Cynicism among Pakistani refugees

Most displaced people say they have left their homes not because of the Taleban’s excesses, but because of shelling by the army.

“The Taleban captured our area and started patrolling the streets, they snatched vehicles from NGO staff, government officials and private individuals, and they threatened local people,” says Nasir Ali, a high school student.

“But it wasn’t as bad as the shelling by the army – that was what actually forced us to leave our homes.”…

I interviewed a large number of refugees in Swabi, but I did not meet a single person who actually saw the army and the Taleban as members of opposing camps.

Instead, I heard, they were “two sides of the same coin”.

“The Pakistani army has hurt us badly – but while they have killed civilians, I swear I haven’t seen a single shell directed at the Taleban,” says Shahdad Khan, a refugee sheltering at a camp in Swabi’s Shave Ada area.

Others question the Pakistani military’s stated commitment to “eliminating” the Taleban.

“No way,” Siraj tells me.

“The army brought the Taleban to our area! It’s politics. The Taleban and the army are brothers.” [continued…]

It is indeed hard to make sense of it all, particularly if the report is coming from BBC. Is this part of the propaganda to  keep the pressure on and leave the doors open for an assault on Pakistan army once it is done servicing its masters and can’t drain itself and destabilize Pakistan any more?

Or is this reprot mixing the truth with falsehood because the reporter couldn’t hear anything substaintial about the Taliban excesses which could justify this war within Paksitan?

Or does it prove that Taliban is the label given to those terrorist elements which have been supported by RAW and CIA and sent in to Paksitan to do exactly what the “Mujahideen” used to do againt the Soviet regime in Kabul. Those Mujahidden, too, were fully convinced that they were fighting in the cause of Allah, but where did that greater cause go when the Soviet left and their Jihad turned into a struggle for more power, loot and plunder and butchery of ordinary Afghans?

Whatever may be the real truth, what we cannot ignore is the fact that there is far more to the story than these headlines can tell us. “Taliban” and “Paksitan army” and the rulers in Islamabad or White House are mere puppets in the hands of the real powers behind the scene. The world is in the grip of a perfect tyranny.

See: Three key issues and How much time do we have?

Iraq redux?

(The following is part of an article from Winter Patriot posted previously but deserves it’s own space for discussion purpose so is being reproduced here.)

Wither Iraqi style democracy? According to a very ominous cover story in Newsweek, it’s here in Pakistan. Newsweek is confident in asserting that ‘today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan’. Not even Iraq. In fact, according to Newsweek Iraq is so 2006, Pakistan is it now; we’re the new black. We’ve managed to kick Iraq off the pages as the world’s most horrifying, most destructively precarious country and reclaim the title for ourselves. According to the Newsweek article, Pakistan has ‘everything Osama Bin Laden could ask for’ including a vibrant jihadi movement, political instability, access to worrisome weaponry, and a lonesome nuclear bomb. The article quotes a now deceased Taliban commander as romantically noting that ‘Pakistan is like your shoulder that supports your RPG’. It is swoon worthy stuff really.

Winter Patriot on Pakistan

Thoughts On The War Between The USA And Pakistan
 

Scrub towers in the distance,
Riders cross the blasted moor
Against the horizon.
Fickle promises of treaty,
Fatal harbingers of war;
Futile orizons…– Van Der Graaf Generator: “Arrow“

Signs and omens, suddenly everywhere, tell us war between the USA and Pakistan is imminent.

Chris Floyd has been doing his usual fine job in covering the recent developments and reading the tea leaves. Particularly disappointing is the flow of war propaganda from McClatchy, in the person of Jonathan Landay. McClatchy and Landay were among the few voices of skeptical reason on the national media scene during Bush’s pre-Iraq propaganda campaign. But apparently they are now on board with Obama’s pre-Pakistan propaganda campaign. Success at last! This must be the change we were hoping for, just as Obama’s marketers promised!

Stop Romanticizing This War

By Dr. Haider Mehdi

“At least 80 militants were killed and three soldiers martyred while 21 suicide vehicles, motor cyclists and bombers were eliminated during the …operation in Buner district…The operation in Buner is progressing smoothly…three soldiers embraced Shahadat, says ISPR Press release…”
The Nation, May 4, 2009

Pakistan’s political and military establishment is “romanticizing” the so-called “war on terrorism” – a war against its own people that has been going on for almost a decade now and which has its inauspicious origin in the dubious and odious American global agenda in this region of the world. The latest political tendency to “romanticize” this conflict is a dangerous phenomenon because the strategic contents of this policy do not offer a resolution to the issues involved – the logistics adopted here will only intensify and completely wreck the chances of a peaceful resolution of this country’s problematics. This is a war that, if continued, will not eliminate the enemies of Pakistan. It will most certainly kill Pakistan. The escalation and the “romanticizing” of this war poses the ultimate existential threat to this nation…

(Continue reading “Stop Romanticizing This War”)

Chris Floyd on Pakistan…

Hard Rain Keeps Falling: Talking Peace in Prague, Dropping Bombs in Pakistan

Apr 07

“I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it.” — Bob Dylan

While the usual gaggle of sycophants and media hive-minders — along with some ordinarily perspicacious analysts — tell us that Barack Obama literally changed the course of human history by disgorging a great load of thrice-chewed cud about nuclear disarmament in Prague this week, the high-tech drone war the great hero of peace is waging inside the sovereign territory of America’s ally, Pakistan, is helping drive tens of thousands of people from their homes and killing civilians almost daily.

IDPs Cross 3 Million Mark

Click to view the slide show

While claims are being made the “IDPs are returning home“ to give the impression of the “success” of the army operation, it is interesting to note that the residents are finding not much to return to. It certainly is no surprise than that despite the talk of such successes, the number of IDPs has INCREASED, passing the 3 million mark.