TEHRAN – The United States is seeking to ignite civil war in Pakistan, Seyyed Ayaz Badshah, a senior editor of Urdu daily Mashriq, has said.

“The Pakistani army is currently engaged in military operation in South Waziristan and the U.S is pressuring Islamabad to extend the fight to the northern areas of the country,” Badshah, who lives in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, told the Mehr News Agency.
The political analyst pointed out that the army has been fighting against the Taliban insurgents in South Waziristan for six years and has rejected the U.S demands for attacking the northern areas.
The stated objective of the Pakistani army is to wipe out the Taliban militants from every corner of the country, Badshah said, adding if the mission is not accomplished in South Waziristan, any military offensive in the north could benefit the Taliban militants.
Badshah went on to say that “people are weary of constant bombings and terrorist incidents and they don’t know who to turn to.”
Millions of people have been displaced from their homes due to the army’s operation in the area, Badshah noted.
He said conditions in the Swat valley and Malakand region are deplorable. The valley is now under Pakistan army’s control but soon will be handed over to the regional administration.
Photo: A Pakistani army soldier mans a post at a relief center in Dera Islamial Khan, Pakistan, where thousands of displaced people who fled the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan along the Afghanistan border due to fighting between security forces and militants, wait for relief supplies on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. (AP photo)