‘Pakistan army will face suicide attacks in North Waziristan’

Islamabad, June 12 (IANS) The Pakistan Army will face deadly suicide attacks if it undertakes operations in North Waziristan, according to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a media report said.

‘If Pakistani forces enter north Wazirstan, they will face deadly suicide attacks,’ Maulana Fazlur told reporters in an interaction, the Urdu daily Jang reported Sunday.

The US has been pressuring Pakistan Army to undertake operations in the mountainous Waziristan in northwest Pakistan where the Haqqani network carrying out attacks on coalition forces in adjacent Afghanistan is based. Pakistan has been resisting, saying it will itself decide when to carry out any operation in the area.

Maulana Fazlur warned the conflict in Afghanistan is spreading into Pakistan and could soon engulf the country, unless steps are taken to halt the spread of violence through a negotiated settlement.

He welcomed the Afghan government’s acceptance of the Taliban as a player in the country’s polity and decision to begin talks with the rebels, terming it the beginning of steps to peace.