Residents seethe as Pakistan army destroys homes

[Alamuti Lotus]

Source: AP

SULTANWAS, Pakistan – When Pakistan's army drove the Taliban back from this small northwestern village, it also destroyed much of everything else here.

F-16 fighter jets, military helicopters, tanks and artillery reduced houses, mosques and shops to rubble, strewn with children's shoes, shattered TV sets and perfume bottles.

Commanders say the force was necessary in an operation they claim killed 80 militants. But returning residents do not believe this: Although a burned-out army tank at the entrance to Sultanwas indicates the Taliban fought back, villagers say most fighters fled into the mountains.

Beyond any doubt is their fury at authorities for wrecking their homes — the sort of backlash the army doesn't want as it tries to win the support of the people for its month-old offensive against the Taliban in Pakistan's northwest frontier region near the border with Afghanistan.

"The Taliban never hurt the poor people, but the government has destroyed everything," Sher Wali Khan told the first reporting team to reach the village of about 1,000 homes.

"They are treating us like the enemy," he said as he collected shredded copies of a Quran from the ruins of a mosque, one of three that were damaged, possibly beyond repair.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090528/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_bombed_village

[Alamuti Lotus]

1. Your tax dollars at work! Let the warboners now appear and celebrate.

[MisterP]

2. but this is a democratic, tolerant, peaceable, rational, enlightened, sage, compassionate, calm

action by the forces of democracy and freedom