Islamabad: Fundamentalists in Pakistan have threatened that civil war could erupt across the country if the Army does not immediately halt its operations in the Mohmand Agency area, currently under the control of Islamic tribal groups.

It maybe recalled that the Pakistani government had recently ordered deployment of armed forces in the region bordering Afghanistan, better known as Mohmand Agency, in order to establish federal control there. Official sources said it was also aimed at preventing attacks on the US-led forces in Afghanistan by the Taleban, who often used the area to take refuge.

According to a 'Washington Post' report, the Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of six radical Islamic parties that lead the Opposition in the country, on June 26 declared that if the Pakistani government continued its military operations in the region it would trigger a civil war across the country.

The report quoted a senior MMA leader Hafiz Hussain as saying, "When the Pakistani Army or police will go there and besiege and surround their houses and violate their women's right to purdah, definitely they will have the right to self-defense."

According to the report, the fundamentalists' call is being seen as a fresh challenge to Musharraf as it may cause a major hurdle in Musharraf's way of reining in the Islamic fundamentalists so as to appease the US and other foreign powers. The President, who took power in a military coup in 1999, has been hesitant to confront fundamentalist groups, given the pressure they exert on India to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

Analysts quoted by the report say Musharraf expected the fundamentalist leaders to fall in line once comfortably ensconced in Parliament, but the past few months have demonstrated otherwise. "You get all kinds of distortions when you manipulate the political system," said Samina Ahmed, director of the Islamabad office of the International Crisis Group, a pro-Democracy organisation based in Brussels. "That is the problem the military is facing now," he added.

Another piece of evidence that radical forces were turning against Musharraf is that the MMA continuously disrupted Parliamentary proceedings as a mark of protest against Musharraf rule. It may be recalled that Musharraf had tried to rein in the fundamentalist forces by bringing them into the limelight in a bid to keep popular political parties at bay, the report added.

Meanwhile, official sources while denying reports that the operation was being carried out at the behest of the US, claim that deployment of forces in Mohmand Agency would only complete the process of establishing federal control in the lawless border region and will help prevent attacks on US-led forces by the Taleban there.

ANI