Defence minister says no question of military operation in KP's Tirah

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday ruled out any military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tirah Valley.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad alongside Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and the prime minister’s special assistant on information and KP affairs, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, he said that there was “no question” of a military operation in Tirah.

Asif explained that members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan are present in the area along with their families and said their number was estimated to be between 400 and 500.

“The armed forces deployed in that area have nothing to do with it,” he declared, adding that the arrangement was made between the jirga and the provincial authorities. He also displayed a notification, which he said had been issued by the KP government.

Asif noted that a full-scale military operation had been conducted in the area years ago, after which a strategic decision was taken to rely on intelligence-based operations (IBOs) instead. He said such operations were more effective and caused less collateral damage, and that large-scale operations had been halted long ago.

He added that migration in Tirah Valley was not unusual and had been a routine practice for many years.