The top brass of Pakistan army is said to be contemplating whether an operation clean-up in North Waziristan has become inevitable to arrest a serious deterioration in Pakistan-US relations. The situation in the tribal areas, particularly in North Waziristan, reportedly came under discussion at Corps Commanders Conference of September 8. But the ISPR did not issue any details of that Corps Commanders conference, which lasted for as many as seven hours.
A defence official, speaking on a condition of anonymity, recalled that the federal government directed the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in March 2011 to prepare a contingency plan for thousands of families likely to be uprooted after a military operation in North Waziristan. The official said about 50,000 families could be displaced from the agency, as speculations about the military operation against militants are at an all time high.
The FDMA received directives from the federal authorities to chalk out a plan in consultation with the United Nations' agencies and other humanitarian bodies to cope with mass displacement in the beginning of this year. They have been asked by the authorities to complete the task but there is no firm plan on the timing of the proposed military offensive, the official said. No location has been identified for relief camps so far.
The United States has linked the cessation of drones in the tribal belt with a full-scale operation by Pakistan military against an influential Afghan insurgent group, the Haqqani network, allegedly based in Pak-Afghan border areas. The US administration made it clear to Pakistani government that the CIA-led Predator strikes would continue until Pakistan eliminates Haqqani network from the tribal region.
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