Pakistan faces tough task rejuvenating battered Swat: Reuters

Nearly a year after a Pakistani army offensive cleared the Taliban from Swat, government efforts to stabilize the region through economic rehabilitation have yielded limited results.

While small businesses are recovering from two years of fighting, massive state funding is needed to create jobs and industries in the former tourist hub where militants blew up hotels, houses and girls' schools and beheaded tribal elders.

Only that, officials say, will prevent the Taliban from returning to recruit residents disillusioned with a government widely perceived as corrupt and inefficient.

"This is by far the most important drive to keep the Taliban away," chief regional minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti told Reuters recently.

The first phase will require $1 billion, he said. It's a daunting task for the government, which will be hard-pressed to extract money from a sluggish economy battered by the steep cost of fighting Taliban insurgents.

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Pakistan reconstruction could cost billions: UN: AFP

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's reconstruction effort after fighting forced nearly two million people from their homes could cost billions of dollars, the top UN relief coordinator warned on Friday.

Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes also warned there was no immediate guarantee of security in parts of the northwest as the government prepares to return the first of the 1.9 million displaced people.

"As for rehabilitation and reconstruction, costs should be in billions of dollars for a year or so," he told a news conference in Islamabad.

In May, the United Nations launched a flash appeal for 542 million dollars in emergency assistance, of which 42 percent has been donated.

"We are not intending a new appeal but hope that donors will respond generously to the appeal launched by the UN," Holmes said.

A massive Pakistani offensive that started in late-April in the three northwestern districts of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat sparked a huge evacuation, but army commanders say almost all areas are now clear of Taliban rebels.

Most of the 1.9 million displaced, including about 500,000 who fled an offensive elsewhere in the northwest last year, are living with relatives or in communities, while others are crammed into hot and dusty refugee camps.

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Terrorists in Swat using American and Indian made weapons: Pakistan Daily

Written by Dan Qayyum

Monday, 01 June 2009 00:00

Briefing reporters about the progress of operation Rahe Rast, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas yesterday revealed the extent of foreign support that the TTP terrorists are getting from Afghanistan. Large caches of weapons of US and INDIAN origin have been found as the security forces completely secure control of Mingora city, destroying various training centres of terrorists and killing important militant commanders, the military said.

The Americans have their excuses in order – Earlier this year it was revealed that over 200,000 US weapons – including assault rifles and grenade launchers – are ‘missing’ from the US army’s inventory in Afghanistan. The US army is unable to provide serial numbers for a large number of the missing weapons and no records have been maintained for the location or disposition for the rest.

The Pakistan Army, quite rightly has told the Americans to stop worrying about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and start worrying about the weapons ‘lost’ in Afghanistan.

Coming to the issue of Indian made weapons found in Swat – India claims its consulates in Afghanistan only issue visas for Afghan tourists to India and runs scholarship programmes for Afghan students. The Indians also claim their presence in Afghanistan is limited to reconstruction and aid efforts.

Here is what Christine Fair of RAND corporation had to say about India’s actual operation in Afghanistan and Iran:

“I think it would be a mistake to completely disregard Pakistan’s regional perceptions due to doubts about Indian competence in executing covert operations. That misses the point entirely. And I think it is unfair to dismiss the notion that Pakistan’s apprehensions about Afghanistan stem in part from its security competition with India. Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Qandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Baluchistan. Kabul has encouraged India to engage in provocative activities such as using the Border Roads Organization to build sensitive parts of the Ring Road and use the Indo-Tibetan police force for security. It is also building schools on a sensitive part of the border in Kunar–across from Bajaur. Kabul’s motivations for encouraging these activities are as obvious as India’s interest in engaging in them. Even if by some act of miraculous diplomacy the territorial issues were to be resolved, Pakistan would remain an insecure state. Given the realities of the subcontinent (e.g., India’s rise and its more effective foreign relations with all of Pakistan’s near and far neighbors), these fears are bound to grow, not lessen. This suggests that without some means of compelling Pakistan to abandon its reliance upon militancy, it will become ever more interested in using it — and the militants will likely continue to proliferate beyond Pakistan’s control.”

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'Severe food shortage' in Pakistan conflict zone?: Asia One

By Sajjad Tarakzai

ISLAMABAD, May 20, 2009 (AFP) - Civilians trapped by fighting in northwest Pakistan said Wednesday they were surviving on bread and water as a government offensive against the Taliban closes roads and cuts off food supplies.

What little food is available is becoming increasingly expensive, they told AFP, adding to concerns about the humanitarian situation in a troubled region where hospitals have shut their doors and electricity is erratic at best.

In the Swat valley, once a popular tourist destination of soaring mountain peaks, families are struggling to survive as the military battles to crush the Islamist fighters, with civilians caught in the crossfire.

"We are a family of 10 people, we have started eating bread with water," said Shaista, a 28-year-old housewife from Bahrain town in Swat, who gave a false name for fear of retribution from the Taliban.

"There is a severe food shortage. All roads coming to our town are closed. There are no vegetables, no cooking oil, no flour - you can imagine how we are surviving," she told AFP by telephone.

Her brother said the only bazaar in Bahrain had been closed for two weeks, while other residents - all of whom spoke to AFP by phone under assumed names - said that where food was available, prices were soaring.

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Swat Situation: The Unfolding Crisis: Economistan

The serene valley of Swat that was once the hub of tourism industry in Pakistan is now a war zone. The crisis has deepened with the displacement of 1.5 million people who have lost everything they owned and are now refugees in their own country. Many people think that this situation is the climax of this crisis but the real climax and the real crisis perhaps still lingers in the future if measures are not taken to avert it.
The early signs of this crises appeared in Oct 2005 when several formally banned Jihadist outfits infiltrated in the area under the premise of relief efforts. It could not be ascertained that how many militants entered in the area during this time. Over the next two years these militants were able to gain strength due to preoccupation of government in South Waziristan and other tribal Areas...

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