Pak military plans 'high-tech' jamming of Taliban radio terror in Swat

Lahore, Jan. 27 (ANI): Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Athar Abbas has said the military was planning to use the latest technology to jam illegal radio transmissions of the Swat Taliban.

"Taliban's FM radio transmitters were mobile and could not be destroyed immediately. The acquisition of the technology would help block the illegal transmissions," the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

Abbas blamed the Taliban for creating an atmosphere of panic in a bid to run parallel government in the Swat Valley.

He also said that the Taliban wanted to extend their presence to other parts of Pakistan, but the military would control the situation soon.

The Taliban has been spreading its terror in the Swat Valley of Pakistan through the airwaves. Every evening, the Swat residents wait around their radios sets to update themselves on the new dictums issued by the Taliban, as failure to follow might lead to beheading.

On most nights, a local Taliban leader Shah Doran has been announcing the newly forbidden 'un-Islamic' activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school, the paper said.

Names of the persons the Taliban has recently killed or planning to kill for violating their diktat are also aired. "They control everything through the radio. Everyone waits for the broadcast but the army has not taken any step to destroy the mobile radio transmitters," said a Swat resident.

The immobility of 14000 strong troops stationed in the region had convinced Swat residents that the military might be conspiring with the Taliban.

Unlike other Taliban-infested tribal regions, Swat is within the reach of Pakistan's three major cities, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. (ANI)