12 July 2004	Monday	23 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR/WANA, July 11: Around 60 tribesmen are missing from the South Waziristan region in the aftermath of air strikes on suspected militant hideouts in the besieged Shakai locality last month.

Local people and members of the affected families said that an unspecified number of tribesmen had either been killed or injured in the bombardment, in addition to around 60 of them missing since the start of the operation.

Reports about the missing people surfaced only after security forces partially lifted a month-long siege of the troubled Shakai area, about 15 kilometres west of Wana.

Civil and military officials in Peshawar and Islamabad, however, expressed ignorance about the missing people in the South Waziristan Agency. Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Maj- Gen Shaukat Sultan denied that the security forces had made any arrests during the June 11 encounter with militants in Shakai and Angoor Adda. "Better ask this question from local authorities," the ISPR chief said.

Officials of the political administration, when approached, neither denied nor confirmed the reports about the people missing in the wake of the military offensive. The affected families claimed they have found no trace of the missing relatives after the military forces bombarded suspected hideouts in the region.

Information collected from the area revealed that 25 houses were destroyed in Mandata and Boya areas as a result of the air strikes and shelling by the government forces.

So far four civilian casualties have been confirmed in Shakai and its surrounding areas, while five others, including two minors, were injured. The deceased have been identified as Eid Alam, Alam Jan, Sheikh Mohammad and Malik Shahi.

About 25 families have lost houses, cattle and other valuables in the operation. They are: Alaf Khan, Eid Alam, Eida Khan, Shakam Khan, Dawar Khan, Akmal Khan, Shah Zor, Mujahideen, Noor Ghadi, Mohammad Hassan, Qaim Din, Maulla Khan, Khanadar, Habibullah, Faiz Rasa, Sard Ali, Faisal Khan, Kulat Khan, Sher Zaman, Gul Zaman, Mohammad Awaz, Shafiullah, Taser Khan, Haji Manar Khan and Gul Rehan.

The displaced families including women and children have been living under open sky in various parts of the South Waziristan Agency. The excessive use of air power and artillery also killed more than 200 cattle in Shakai.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan coordinator Tariq Khan told Dawn in Peshawar that the commission was concerned about the state of civilians in the area. He, however, said that the commission had yet to confirm the disappearance of tribesmen, because the HRCP or any other relief body had not been able to visit the affected areas.

An office-bearer of the Edhi Welfare Trust said that the authorities had refused to allow the organization to carry out relief work in the area. In Baghar, near Angoor Adda, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, seven houses were demolished when security forces pounded suspected locations, official sources claimed.

Jamal Khan, a resident of Baghar, said that Hazrat Gul and his mother were killed in the bombing, while his wounded wife and daughter were in the custody of the army troops. He said that nine tribesmen were missing in the operation in the area.

Another tribesman, Gulzar Khan, also fell prey to the air strikes in Baghar village, while his wife and brother were injured. Security forces are also holding Abdul Khaliq, 14, and Abdul Ali, 10, in the Wana jail on charges of possessing hand grenades.

Abdul Khaliq told Dawn in the lock-up that they were arrested after the security forces told them that they had recovered two hand grenades during a raid on their house.

Paramilitary forces operating in the region have also occupied government school buildings in Angoor Adda, Sam high school near Kanikuram in the Mahsud area and three primary schools in Birmal tehsil. But officials denied that forces had inhabited schools' buildings in the area.