Kidnappings and Violence in Pakistan
CNN and others are reporting that militants in a Taliban-controlled area of Pakistan have captured over 400 students, coming on the heels of a violent attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore and continuing violence in Swat.
From the New York Times’ story on the event:
The convoy, of about 30 minivans, was ferrying students and teachers from the Razmak Cadet College, in north Waziristan along the border with South Waziristan. The area is a stronghold for several groups of Taliban as well as Al Qaeda. Pakistan’s government, after a month of battling the Taliban in the Swat Valley, has said it is planning an operation in the area.
The convoy was accompanied by a local Taliban group for protection, but around 5 p.m., when the convoy reached a checkpoint at a place called Khajuri, that group left and armed men with another Taliban group approached…
“This is because of the impending operation in Waziristan,” the employee said.
This and other events are part of a growing trend of violence in Pakistan noted in ASP’s recent “Are We Winning?” interim report.
See also several posts here on the Flash Point Blog by ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard I. Finel on the threats posed by continued Predator drone airstrikes in Pakistan, and the largely negative effects they are having on the situation there.
