Pak troops take control of Afghan border area

One Pakistani soldier was killed and another wounded in an exchange of gunfire with some resisting tribesmen Monday when troops were deployed in the Mohmand tribal region in an operation coordinated with US and Afghan forces active on the Afghan side. "The operation is dangerous for the country as it constitutes a violation of long standing agreement with tribesmen not to encroach upon their special status," warned Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a leader of Pakistan's powerful Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

Ahmed said the operation topped the agenda of the alliance's leadership council meeting Monday in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province which is ruled by the alliance.

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The meeting participants agreed that the operation had the potential to destabilise the entire tribal region and posed serious dangers.

"Any uprising against operations jointly sponsored by the Americans could spread to the entire tribal belt which will weaken country's ability to defend its eastern border with India."

Some 2,000 Pakistani troops, border scouts and tribal militias were mobilised at the Mohmand border while around 500 US and Afghan troops were on the Afghan side to block cross-border routes used by extremists to launch attacks.

"We have secured seven out of eight passes in the Mohmand and there is some resistance at just one pass," Interior Secretary Tasneem Noorani told AFP.

Noorani said negotiations were underway with the resisting tribesmen through a tribal Jirga (council) in order to resolve the problem.

"By-and-large, people of Mohmand agency have welcomed the deployment because it opens up the inaccessible area for development works."

He said one of the objectives of the operation was to fully secure the western border and remove the impression that there were still some "soft areas," that enabled fugitives to enter Pakistani territory from the Afghan side.

"We will ensure that our western border is secure and nothing is left to chance."

Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan also said that the border had been satisfactorily secured.

"There is only a very minor resistance, which is no cause for worry," he told AFP, adding that the resistance would be overcome "very soon."

"The purpose is to secure the border and (integrate) the area into the national mainstream."

US Special Forces troops and Afghan allies launched an air and ground offensive dubbed "Operation Unified Resolve" late last week to flush out and trap al-Qaeda fighters hiding in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces opposite Mohmand.

The tribal territory straddling the 2,600 km border with Afghanistan is home to deeply orthodox ethnic Pashtun tribes which are historically wary of government interference in their custom-bound lifestyle.