Makeshift, fly-by-night terror camps thriving in Pak under official tutelage: Report

Washington, Sep.26 (ANI): While the Pakistan Army's all out operation against the Taliban and other extremist groups in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has forced the militants to retreat, it has also forced the terror training camps being run in the Swat and Malakand Divisions to shift frequently, making the task of rooting them out more difficult.

According to a Christian Science Monitor report, the militant training camps being run in Pakistan are evolving into makeshift, fly-by-night arrangements that are more difficult for the authorities to close down.

One could not determine the region where a training camp may exist, as militants are even utilizing mosques and madrassas for imparting terror training.

"A training camp could be in the basement of a mosque. Every seminary has an associated training arrangement - they have makeshift equipment and before the security forces can move in they have shifted their arrangements," said Rifaat Hussain, a security expert at Quaid-e-Azam university in Islamabad.

A former Pakistan Army official said these training camps would continue to operate till they are brought to their 'logical end'.

He said the fact that there are terror training camps on the Pakistani soil can not be denied.

"Nobody is saying people haven't been coming here and have not been getting training," the official said on conditions of anonymity.

The report also pointed out that the arrest of would-be Afghan bomber Najibullah Zazi earlier this week from New York and his disclosure that he received 'detailed bomb-making instructions in Pakistan' would prove detrimental to the Pakistan government's claims that it is acting sincerely against the terror outfits operating inside its geographical boundaries. (ANI)