Pakistani Taliban Re-emerging, Want Revenge: Report

The Pakistani Taliban is making preparation for a dramatic comeback in the seven tribal agencies that make up the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and in Swat, where a military offensive was launched last year to clear militants, reported BBC.

In some areas, those who ran away the fighting have returned and the situation in the region has once again become the focus of international attention, largely because of the recent failed car bomb attack in New York, report said.

The bomber Faisal Shahzad is reported to have received training with the Taliban in the Waziristan region.

According to report, Pakistani Taliban have again started killing local leaders, threatening population, posing a risk to the security forces and stopping development projects.

Report said that these tactics are well-known signs that the Taliban is reading to make a comeback in the valley.

Pakistani Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah is still alive and hiding somewhere and could reappear at any moment, said report.

General Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan’s army chief, has visited the region many times to take stock of the situation, said report.

Last year, after a heavy battled with Taliban fighters and deployment of nearly 50,000 troops, Swat and adjoining valleys were declared cleared of militants.

And the militants also want revenge on the army.

According to Western and Pakistani officials, the army is holding some 2,500 suspected militants in indefinite detention, because the civil justice system cannot deal with them.

Many of the detainees are from Swat, where Human Rights Watch has also documented some 300 alleged extra-judicial killings by the military over the past year.

Meanwhile in the tribal agencies, the army has announced that it has cleared most areas of militants, with several offensives over the past 18 months.

However, thousands of fighters and their commanders have regrouped in North Waziristan, which the army has left alone.