South Punjab may be next Swat: Malik

[LahoreEstate]

* Interior minister says TTP chief now hiding, calls Baitullah ‘ineffective’
* Says elimination of terrorists may take ‘some time’

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The government is putting the provinces of Punjab and Sindh on alert amid growing concerns that the Taliban could spread south.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the Financial Times – in an interview published on Friday – that his department had analysed 1,148 terrorist threats in the country over the last four months alone.

“Now, for example, we suspect something similar [to Swat] may arise in south Punjab. We are sharing the information with Punjab,” he said. “You know Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad … all those people basically hail from that area. What we suspect [is] perhaps all those terrorists who fled from Waziristan or Swat might take refuge in south Punjab.”

Eight would-be suicide bombers were recently arrested, including two this week who were targeting parliament in Islamabad and the offices of a law-enforcement agency.

Malik said the military offensive in the Swat valley was in its “final phase” and had killed more than 3,500 Taliban. Gearing up for the next phase, the military, in the last two weeks, has stepped up its operations in Waziristan along the Afghan border. The minister conceded that major cities were under threat from terrorists, but said, “The level of threats has been reduced, that is my assessment.”

Asked if there was danger of a backlash from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, the minister said, “The backlash is already there, he is already … [carrying out] suicide bombings. I think his activities are continuing … [but] the suicide bombings have decreased, though the threats are there. The good thing is that real-time intelligence is being shared by all the intelligence agencies. The Ministry of Interior is analysing the information.”

Malik said Baitullah was now hiding, and the TTP chief had become “ineffective”. He said the security forces were already looking for Baitullah. “It’s … just a matter of time. We are looking for him. The moment he comes out he will be targeted.” The minister, however, said that total elimination of groups such as the TTP and Al Qaeda would “take some time”.

Malik also emphasised the need for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to develop a joint strategy to combat the common threat of the Taliban.

He also cited concerns that too much weaponry was crossing the border from Afghanistan, and said the neighbouring country needed to take stronger action to monitor the movement of arms more closely. “Every bullet, every Kalashnikov is coming across the border from Afghanistan” he said, and called on the Afghan government to increase the number of checkposts on its side of the border.

Malik also said China had agreed a multi-million dollar loan to Pakistan to help the country set up electronic scanners to check all road traffic entering its main cities.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?pag...2009_pg7_1