Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Taliban to Paki Govt: You've got two days to pull out of Swat or it's...

ALL OUT WAR.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has given another two days to the government to end the military operation in Swat and pull out all security personnel from the area, and warned that it will expand its actions from Waziristan to Kohistan and settled districts if their demand is not met.

Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the organisation, told Dawn by telephone on Wednesday that an earlier deadline for withdrawal of troops had lapsed on Dec 15, (??? Bhutto didn't die until Dec 27) but they did not resume their activities because the entire nation was in mourning following the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto.

“Now we extend the deadline for two days and ask the government to withdraw troops and halt the operation in Swat. Otherwise, we will attack the government everywhere and it will be an all-out war,” he warned.

Maulvi Omar said his organisation claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of four military personnel in South Waziristan and said that troops had been building new bunkers in the area for a possible operation against their commander Baitullah Mahsud.