Army in full control, militants evicted from Shawal Valley

PESHAWAR: Plans are underway to repatriate the displaced families and execute development projects in Shawal now that the militants have been evicted and the writ of the state has been restored in the stunningly beautiful valley.

During a visit to the Shawal valley, North Waziristan, arranged by the Pakistan Army for Peshawar-based journalists on Friday, one saw soldiers moving around in vehicles and manning posts fairly relaxed. No presence of militants has been reported in Shawal since March 15 this year when the troops spread out to the far corners of the valley, occupied all the vintage points and set up posts on the Pak-Afghan border. 

Briefing the journalists at the Makki Garh Top overlooking the forested Shawal valley, Brigadier Shabeer Narejo said his troops were deployed right on the “Zero Line” on the border with Afghanistan and ready to defeat any bid by the militants to infiltrate into Pakistan. “We have sealed the border in a ‘water-tight’ way as there is no gap that can be infiltrated by the terrorists,” he argued.

Brig Narejo, who is from Sindh and is commanding a brigade of the Pakistan Army’s 9th Division deployed in Shawal, said the militants who escaped to Afghanistan after suffering defeat were based just across the border and often conducted fire raids or resorted to sniping against the Pakistani security forces. “Even this morning at 10:00am, the terrorists fired at our troops from across the border. Our soldiers using small arms repulsed the attack,” he added. 

He recalled that there was a clash earlier on August 23, 2015 at the Makki Garh Top, the Army post sited at a commanding height where he was briefing the media. “We killed three terrorists when they attacked us.”

According to Brig Narejo, the final phase of the military operation in Shawal began on February 24 this year when Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif during one of his frequent visits ordered the troops to fully secure the valley and advance up to the border. “We captured 312 square kilometres area, killed 100-120 terrorists and caused injuries to another 60-80. Six of our soldiers including a captain were martyred and 26 of our men including a Lieutenant Colonel were wounded,” he added.

Shawal is presently without its 150,000 population as they were displaced due to militancy and military operation. Military and civil officials said these internally displaced persons (IDPs) were being registered to plan their repatriation to Shawal and rehabilitation.

They also said the unpaved road from Razmak passing through Shawal valley villages of Mana, Gurbaz and Dabar Miami and linking up with the Wana-Angoor Adda road via Dre Nishtar and Khamrang would be metalled to open up these beautiful valleys, reduce transportation time and promote trade and commerce. They said other projects in the education, health and other sectors were also in the pipeline now that Shawal has become a peaceful place.

The members of the media were also shown an elaborate tunnel system opening above into a large mud-house in Dabar Miami village used by the terrorist as their command and communication centre. One had to step deep down into these narrow tunnels that were 300 metres long and 15-35 feet below the ground level. There were two small rooms also in these tunnels that were better kept and were apparently the hideouts of important militant commanders. The security officials described them as ‘high-value targets’ but were short of information about their identity. 

According to the security officials, this hideout with tunnels was so strongly built that even artillery fire or air strikes could not have damaged it. In the vicinity of the hideout were scores of the precious ‘Chilghoza’ trees that bear this much sought after winter dry fruit. 

The journalists were also shown the arms and ammunition seized by the Army during the Shawal operation. They also saw a Humvee vehicle reportedly snatched by the militants from the US forces in Afghanistan and brought to Pakistan.

The sturdy Humvee, which is like the armoured personnel carrier, had slogans of “Mulla Mohammad Sangeen” and “Bilal Fateh Karwan” painted on it. This explained that the vehicle was captured by Haqqani network’s late commander Mulla Sangeen, who had captured a US soldier in Paktika province and then exchanged him to secure release of five important Afghan Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison.