The highly volatile Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Prvince that borders Afghanistan has witnessed yet another bomb attack. A suicide bombing at Dargai here has killed 44 military cadets and wounded many more.
Islamic militants have a firm foothold in this region and have trained and despatched suicide bombers to attack the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan across the porous international border.
The militant leaders here have opened a new front in recent weeks by carrying out attacks inside the Pakistani territory itself and killing several people. The militants have threatened to unleash more such attacks.
The attacks are seen as a sign of Taliban’s spreading influence in the province.
The militants aided by Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Peshawar, the capital, and other parts of North West Frontier Province, have banned music and men are told not to shave their beards. English language schools have received threats and school girls have been warned to wear the veil without fail.
The police is rendered ineffective by the Taliban. The police in South Waziristan in the area have suffered so much by the suicide attacks that they are now completely demoralized and have taken off their uniforms, essentially ceding control to the militants, thus allowing them to spread still further.
Militant groups supporting jihad in Kashmir and Afghanistan have taken refuge in Waziristan, turning it into a mini Taliban state.
Pakistan has been trying, though not with much success, to weed out terrorist hide-outs in the area with American help.
