Killing Pashtun leaders a Punjabi plot: Gen. Raziq

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): The police chief for southern Kandahar province on Saturday accused the Punjabi Taliban.

Gen. Abdul Raziq told a press conference in Kandahar City, the provincial capital, that the Punjabis wanted to show the world that Pashtuns were terrorists.

He briefed reporters about the operation in Ghorak district, the killing of the deputy governor, Abdul Qayyum Patyal, and the overall security situation in Kandahar.

Raziq said influential Pashtun leaders had been targeted on both sides of the British-mandated Durand Line by the Punjabis who had a great say in the Pakistani establishment.

He said the international community should realise that Pashtuns were a peaceful nation and the war on terror had been imposed on them.

He informed investigation into Patyal’s murder was underway and would take some time until the result was known.

About Kandahar’s security, he said rebels attacked security posts on a daily basis from across the border in Pakistan, where he alleged militants had complete support of the security forces.

He said militants from neighbouring Helmand and Uruzgan provinces had sneaked into Kandahar, attacking security forces in Ghorak district, where the insurgents used civilian homes as their bastions to target security forces.

The police chief said the militants were driven from the district after police and other security forces launched a joint clearing operation against them. So far 30 rebels had been killed in the offensive, he added.

He said he would meet officials in Helmand to discuss a permanent solution to insurgency in the troubled Sangin district.

nh/ma

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