CHITRAL (via The News Int.):
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Population Welfare Saleem Khan Sunday
accused the Nato and Afghan forces of backing the terrorists, who
overran posts of Pakistani security forces along the porous Pak-Afghan
border.
He made the assertions while speaking at a function held to offer condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers. “Our neighbouring country is playing a double game with us in the action against the terrorists,” he remarked.
He made the assertions while speaking at a function held to offer condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers. “Our neighbouring country is playing a double game with us in the action against the terrorists,” he remarked.
He claimed that the raiders were backed by the Nato and Afghan forces. The minister said he would soon visit Peshawar to present suggestions to the chief minister to ensure security of Chitral district. The chief minister, who was scheduled to address the gathering, could not arrive in Chitral due to inclement weather. However, the function was held at the headquarters of the Chitral Scouts, a wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, to extend sympathies to the families that lost members during the recent attacks by the militants on security posts in Chitral.
Around 36 soldiers were killed in the coordinated attacks on August 27 on seven border security posts in Chitral’s Arandu tehsil by Afghanistan-based Pakistani militants affiliated with the Malakand division chapter of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Provincial Minister Saleem Khan, Commandant of the Chitral Scouts Haroon Rasheed, District Coordination Officer Rahmatullah Wazir, Khursheed Ali Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Prof Taufeeq Jan of the Pakistan People’s Party, members of the civil society and family members of the slain soldiers attended the function in large number. Chitral Scouts Commandant Haroon Rasheed asserted that 45 terrorists were killed during the gun battle.
He said that two Pakistani soldiers were still in the captivity of the militants and efforts were being made to secure their release in exchange for the bodies of the killed militants. In his address, PPP leader Taufeeq Jan came down hard on the civil and military officials for failing to respond properly to the cross-border attack. He added that the attack was launched at around 6 a.m. and lasted till 2:30 p.m. The attackers, he said, swiftly disappeared after staging the brazen attack. “Where were our helicopters and jetfighters when the attack was taking place,” he questioned, adding that the soldiers deployed in makeshift structures could not counter the attackers.