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