KHYBER PASS & BEYOND (6#) -

Out of town by sundown or else! -

Qaeda-linked Taliban militants in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, were issued a tribal ultimatum yesterday. The tribal council gave the militants one day's notice to vacate their territory or a tribal task force (lashkar) would go after them and extirpate them by force. Sure enough, a lashkar made good on that ultimatum. The tribal task force burned down the militants' hideouts and shelled them with artillery. Most of the militants fled.

+ Quite impressive really... but it is worrisome where the militants may have gone off to. Moving them around from place to place like this doesn't seem like a solution. It just gives the tribe next door the problem. Of course, the tribesmen cannot possibly afford to feed prisoners long term. And no one is suggesting a massacre as a viable alternative since that is not humane. But what is to become of them if they refuse reconciliation and pacification?

:: [FrontierPost] :: [DailyTimes] :: [Dawn] ::

* * * * * * * * * *
# Peshawar is in a very subdued
mood even though it's a holiday season.

# Due to increasing reports of terrorism incidents, police have begun to install a network of CCTV cameras around Peshawar.

# Who's Your Daddy?
Orphan Drone no one has claimed.

...