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KHAR, Pakistan: Pakistani security forces have launched a much-awaited “targeted operation” against militants in a restive northwestern district bordering Afghanistan, displacing thousands of residents who have fled to safer areas, officials said Tuesday.

There was no formal government announcement about the launch of the offensive in Bajaur, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but a government administrator, Saeed Ullah, said that it was not a large-scale operation and only insurgent hideouts were being hit to avoid any civilian casualties.

Ullah estimated that about 20,000 families, or more than 50,000 people, have left their homes in recent days over fears about the operation.

Residents reported that security forces, backed by helicopters, struck militant hideouts in the mountainous areas along the Afghan border.

Pakistan carried out a major operation in Bajaur against Pakistani and foreign militants in 2009, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Ullah said many of the newly displaced people are sheltering in government buildings and schools, where authorities are providing food and other essentials.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said officials are still collecting data on those displaced, and that the targeted operation is ongoing.

Many Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and have even been living there openly since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the TTP. 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called for advance alerts for residents of areas vulnerable during the monsoon season, a day after Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported that flash floods triggered mudslides in Gilgit-Baltistan, killing seven people.

One of Pakistan’s most popular tourist destinations, GB is home to some of the world’s tallest peaks, glaciers and fast-running streams.

Despite its strategic location as Pakistan’s only land route to China, the region’s limited infrastructure leaves it vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods, flash floods and landslides, underscoring the need for stronger disaster management measures.

In a meeting with the prime minister, the top NDMA official, Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik, gave a briefing on the progress “toward making the early warning system in Gilgit-Baltistan fully operational and enhancing cooperation with the Ministry of Climate Change in this regard,” according to a statement released by the PM Office after the interaction.

“The NDMA should further strengthen its coordination with the provinces for assistance and rehabilitation of victims of the recent rains and flooding,” Sharif was quoted as saying during the meeting.

“People in vulnerable areas must be given advance alerts in view of weather conditions and possible emergencies,” he added.

During the briefing, the NDMA also updated the prime minister on relief operations for recent rain and flood victims and preparedness for any future emergencies.

According to an NDMA situation report released Monday, seven people were killed and six injured in a mudslide in Gilgit’s Danyore Nullah area over the past 24 hours.

The monsoon season, which began on June 26, has so far claimed 312 lives and injured 740 people nationwide.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department on Monday forecast that the Sutlej River at Ganda Singh Wala could rise to low flood levels in the next three days, warning of possible crop, livestock and property losses downstream.

It added that moderate monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea were expected to bring scattered thunderstorms over the upper catchments of the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers, as well as Islamabad and parts of Punjab including Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions.