Published: September 01, 2008
Shaky Ramadan Cease-fire in Pakistan
The Media Line Staff
Taliban gunmen operating in northern Pakistan under the command of Maulana Fazlullah rejected a governmental announcement, which suspended the military operation in the region for the duration of the holy month of Ramadan, the Pakistani daily The News reported.
"The military drive is being stopped temporarily to allow civilians to observe Ramadan in a peaceful atmosphere," Rahman Malik, an interior affairs adviser to the prime minister, announced over the weekend. However, Malik warned that the army would retaliate immediately to any attack by the Taliban. A few hours after the announcement, Taliban armed men conducted several operations in the tribal areas, next to the border with Afghanistan.
First, they destroyed four abandoned bungalows belonging to Haroun Rashid, a local leader of former president Pervez Musharraf's party, the PML-Q. In a second attack early Sunday, a civilian was killed when a mortar shell hit him on his way home. Shelling in Bara Bandi and Ningwalai also hit three civilians, including two children, while several houses were damaged.
On the other hand, Taliban fighters under the command of Maulvi Omar, have accepted the Ramadan cease-fire and have released six of the 30 Pakistani soldiers who were abducted last July.
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