No permission is required - just open fire on anything that moves," came the order from Maj Gen Tarik Khan, commander of Pakistan's Frontier Corps.We were sheltering in a traditional mud-walled compound in in the tribal area of Bajaur on the border with Afghanistan.His men had seized it from militants the day before, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.Bursts of fire still rang out and shell cases smoked underfoot as I explored the network of tunnels connecting these compounds, some stretching for several kilometres underground.The Taleban and al-Qaeda had dug in here over the years, threatening the local tribes and becoming the effective power in the land.The Pakistani government in the past has been accused of not being committed to the US-led "war on terror" because offensives turned into truces before the job was finished.But now the new civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari - whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was killed by extremists a year ago - has declared that this time it is a fight to the death."If they do not lay down their arms, we will kill them," declared Gen Khan. "There is no other way to bring this to a close."Continued here:
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