Pubdate: 29 Nov 1998 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited. Author: Tahir Ikram, Mohmand Agency PAKISTAN ARMY RAZES TRIBAL POPPY FIELDS Pakistan's army is taking on a unique and deadly new enemy in the remote wilderness of its rugged tribal areas -- drugs. The Frontier Corps, entrusted with maintaining law and order in the tribal belt of Pakistan that borders war-ravaged Afghanistan, has been ordered to destroy the new target. One such mission, assigned in April, was to eliminate hundreds of acres of opium-yielding poppy fields in the valleys and deep gorges of Mohmand Agency, a tribal area outside the jurisdiction of most Pakistani law. The political administration first pleaded with and then threatened sturdy Panthan tribesmen to destroy their poppy fields. When they refused to burn the prized cash crop, used to make heroin, the government decided to turn to military means. Military Operation Destroys Poppy "It was the biggest anti-poppy operation by the Frontier Corps," Zahid Naveed, commanding brigadier, told reporters recently in Mohmand Agency, 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Heavily armed tribesmen took positions on the parched hill tops of Shantimena valley as word of an imminent military strike spread. "The whole area was littered with poppy crop," Naveed said. "Our troops, once they started the advance, were fired upon from the heights. They (tribesmen) said nothing doing, we will not let you go in." Instructions had been given not to hurt the tribesmen, he said. "We fired artillery, not exactly on to them but little on their left and little on their right, just to give them a feel that we mean business," he said. Neither side suffered casualties and the tribesmen withdrew, he added. More than 1,482 acres (600 hectares) of poppy fields were destroyed by soldiers and workers of the civil administration in the two weeks that followed, he said. U.N. Programme Not A Solution Under a U.N. programme, Pakistan has pledged to eliminate poppy growth by the year 2000. More than 4,500 acres (1,820 hectares) of poppy crop were destroyed in tribal areas in 1998 and another 2,000 (800) were razed by tribesmen voluntarily. The military has helped the administration destroy poppy crop since 1987 but the April operation was the Frontier Corps' biggest, and some villagers remain bitter. Tribesmen, who have little other visible source of income, say that traders will pay 6,000 rupees ($110) per kg for poppy compared with a few rupees for the same amount of wheat or onions. "I sold a kilo of afeem (poppy) for 6,000 rupees. Now they tell me to grow wheat or tomatoes. What can I get for that?" one villager said. "We have no jobs, we have no water, no schools, no roads and no hospitals. Why should we stop growing what we have been growing for the last 50 years?" he said. "If the government wants us to stop growing poppy, than let them build roads, hospitals and give us jobs." Less than an hour by helicopter from bustling Islamabad but a full day away by road, armed tribesmen adhere to strict tribal code rather than Pakistani law. Poppy fields dominate the area's rugged terrain where small villages nestle in deep, rocky valleys. The West Must Do More "These are very poor people indeed," a local governor told visiting reporters. Arif Bangash, governor of the North West Frontier Province, showed reporters tribal areas that ordinary Pakistanis were seldom allowed to visit. Bangash said the United States and the United Nations had given $12 million under a 10-year programme to develop the area so that people would stop producing poppies. His own development budget for the tribal area is a billion rupees. "Only $12 million for development in the last 10 years is peanuts, it is even smaller than a peanut," Bangash complained. "The first thing to make here is roads. That will open them up. Than we need schools so that there is basic education, and there should be hospitals and water availability." Western countries waging war against narcotics should play a more active role in helping the people, Bangash said. "The basic thing is that other countries cooperate with us. We finish poppy, they should help us, provide us with money. We need money for sustained gradual development work. Our failure would be a very sad thing." ($154 rupees) - --- Checked-by: derek rea