Pak to send more troops to NWFP, tribal areas

Islamabad, July 17: The Pakistan's government has decided to send reinforcements to the North West Frontier Province and tribal areas in the wake of an alarming rise in suicide attacks on security personnel across the region.

Today, two security officials were killed and another five injured in a suicide attack on Khajoori check post in Miranshah, the administrative centre of the restive North Waziristan region.

The decision to send more troops was taken at a meeting chaired by President Pervez Musharraf. It was the second meeting in three days following the Lal Masjid operation, local media reports said.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, NWFP Governor Ali Mohammed Jan Aurakzai and representatives of security agencies attended the meeting.

The Governor briefed the meeting about events leading to the break-up of the truce in North Waziristan Agency.

Dawn newspaper quoted sources as saying that the meeting expressed concern over the sudden rise in violence in areas bordering Afghanistan.

The governor said the peace deal was not struck with the local Taliban'. Instead, it was signed with the tribal elders and only they can scrap it. The participants asked the governor to contact the elders for defusing the situation.

Addressing the meeting, the President reiterated that 'Pakistan condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism and is desirous of peace and stability in Afghanistan'.

The agenda of the Pakistan-Afghan grand jirga, scheduled for the second week of next month, also came under discussion.

It was stressed the need for securing maximum support' for the government's measures aimed at tackling extremism and terrorism.

UNI

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