-- PESHAWAR, 21 October 2007 (IRIN) -- After over a week of fierce fighting in and around the town of Mirali, in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan Agency, lying along the country's mountainous north-western border with Afghanistan, some semblance of normal life is returning slowly.Perhaps Osama miscalculated a little when he called for jihad on Pervez Musharraf.
But the majority of the 80,000 people who have fled Mirali and areas around it as a result of the latest fighting have still not returned, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in the neighbouring North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
If you're gonna back a guy into a corner, maybe you should pick on someone who doesn't have his own military juggernaut on 24/7 combat alert.
The Pakistan military closed off roads leading into North Waziristan at the height of fighting, effectively cutting off the area from the rest of the country.And it looks like Pervez is more than a little ticked off.
Pakistan army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said 200 people had been killed in the clashes, including 45 soldiers and 150 militants. There has been no official estimate on the number of civilian casualties.
"We have seen plenty of fighting in our lifetimes, but never anything like the aerial bombardment of the last week."Geez... I'll have to keep that in mind.
"Waziristan is no longer a place where one can safely bring up children," said farmer Mohammad Arshad.
Technorati Tags: Pervez Musharraf, North Waziristan, payback is a bitch
