August 09, 2008	Saturday	Sha’aban 6, 1429

MANSEHRA, Aug 8: Militants from Swat have started crossing into the Kohistan district through infrequent routes to escape the military operation in their region, it is learnt.

Reliable sources in the Kohistan district said that following the fierce clashes in Swat, militants had started fleeing the area and entering the adjoining district.

They said militants had been using the tribal area of Kala Dhaka and mountainous areas to enter Kohistan because heavy contingents of the FC and police had been deployed at the usual routes to Kohistan from Swat and Shangla districts.

They said the Kohistan police had taken into custody some militants who had come from Swat, on complaints of local people.

However, when contacted, the Kohistan police denied the arrest of any militant and said police had prepared a strategy to cope with any such situation if the Taliban entered the district.

Meanwhile, elders of Kohistan have given an assurance to the district administration that they would not provide shelter to militants. The assurance came in the backdrop of militant leader Maulana Fazlullah’s earlier announcement that his second abode after Swat would be Kohistan, claiming support of the people of the area.

To stop the entry of militants in Kohistan, a meeting of the district administration with local elders was recently held in Dassuo, which was attended by District Police Officer Mohammad Ilyas, DCO Ahmad Hassan, District Nazim Saifullah Khan, Puttan Tehsil Nazim Shahdar Khan, Dassuo Tehsil Nazim Maulana Noor Nabbi and representatives of the FC and other departments concerned.

Speaking at the meeting, former MPA Malik Dildar, Dr Idraj, Abdul Malik and others said the people of Kohistan would not provide shelter to militants. “We are patriotic and law-abiding people and will never allow disrupting the peaceful environment of the district.”

They said they would soon convene a jirga of all tribes of Kohistan, in which it would be unanimously announced that militants would not be allowed in the district and if any militant was found in the area his whereabouts would be told to police.