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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Bloody urban battles could lie ahead in Pakistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-18 09:59

Pakistan's army is geared toward fighting a conventional battle again longtime rival India on the plains of the Punjab region using tanks and artillery, and it has limited experience battling guerrillas in urban settings.

Complicating the fight is the widespread belief that Pakistani intelligence has offered a degree of support to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"They're maintaining contact with these groups, in my view as a strategic hedge," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview with "60 minutes" broadcast on Sunday. "They are not sure who's going to win in Afghanistan. They're not sure what's going to happen along that border area. So, to a certain extent, they play both sides."

Its most recent major offensive, in the Bajur tribal region, drew praise from US officials for dismantling a virtual Taliban mini-state but was criticized for the large amount of destruction it caused. The number of civilians killed in Bajur is unknown.

At a convention in Islamabad, hundreds of religious scholars and leaders -- many of them Barelvis, a Sufi-influenced strain of Sunni Islam -- denounced suicide attacks and other Taliban tactics in urging the government to continue the operation until peace is restored.

The attendees also criticized the US missile strikes, saying Pakistan should take up the matter at the United Nations.

"Internally, terrorists were attempting to weaken Pakistan by spreading terrorism and killing people and on the other hand drone attacks are on ... This is a conspiracy against Pakistan and we will foil it," said Sahibzada Fazl Karim, one of the speakers.

Most Pakistanis are relatively moderate Muslims, and many subscribe to Sufi-influenced traditions. However, hard-line versions of Islam have a significant following here, though the Taliban's approach is unusually extreme.

US officials say the missile strikes are a critical tool in killing top militants. Pakistan has protested them, though many analysts believe the two countries have a secret deal allowing the attacks.

The Taliban's ability to overrun Swat, once a premier Pakistani tourist destination, had proved particularly embarrassing to the Pakistani military and the weak civilian government.

Many of the main militant safe havens, however, are in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas, with South Waziristan serving as the primary base for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Britain's Sunday Times reported that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said military action would follow in the tribal belt.

"Swat is just the start. It's a larger war to fight," the newspaper quoted Zardari as saying in an interview.

In Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, meanwhile, police said a tip off led them to arrest four alleged militants of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned outfit linked to both the Taliban and al-Qaida. The men are suspected of planning attacks on high-value targets in Karachi, senior police officer Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam said

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