People of Waziristan leave home again © 2009 Tariq Saeed/IRIN
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thousands of people displaced by the two-week old conflict in South Waziristan, in Pakistan’s northwest, are arriving in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, sometimes fleeing the fighting by difficult, dangerous and expensive routes.
Their escape from the middle of a war zone, access to and from which is tightly controlled by the Pakistan military, is recounted in an article by Irin News. A local newpaper, Dawn, reports 20 October on a family, 12 of whose members were killed by a bomb while fleeing.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says about 125,000 people have fled since hostilities began, joining the 81,000 who had already left since August. Most find accommodation with friends and family, following Pashtun tribal customs of hospitality. The UN children’s agency, Unicef, says most of the displaced are women and children.
US national security advisor Jim Jones said 9 August on ABC television’s “Meet the Press” programme that the US was “90 percent” certain Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan militant Taliban insurgency, was dead. US and Pakistani officials have publicly said they are sure that Baitullah Mehsud was killed 5 August by a missile strike carried out by a US drone on his father-in-law’s house in the remote region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Initial reports said only that this had killed Baitullah Mehsud’s second wife. Later reports then said that an unidentified man had also been killed, leading to speculation it was Baitullah Mehsud.
Reports surfaced a day later that he was not actually dead. Another Taliban commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, said to be a rival of Baitullah Mehsud, called the BBC to say Baitullah was alive and well. Other reports said that Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed in a shoot-out with another top Taliban commander, Waliur Rehman, in a dispute for the leadership.
Sunday 9 August, Baitullah Mehsud’s top aide claimed in a telephone call with the BBC that Baitullah Mehsud was not dead but gravely ill. Pakistan’s leaders have called for physical proof of the deaths. BBC, CNN, Reuters
