Sand Model FATA
- Waziristan is located in the northwest of Pakistan and borders Afghanistan. It’s one of the seven agencies comprising FATA.
- S. Waziristan, one of the two administrative divisions of Waziristan, is the stronghold of Al Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorist groups, now under the TTP banner
- TTP now led by Hakimullah Mehsud
- Under US pressure, the Pakistan army has launched Operation Rah-e-Nijat (salvation) in South Waziristan
- 30,000 soldiers and the air force are taking part in what is described as “the mother of all battles”
- Military commanders say the action could take 8-12 weeks
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Journalist Syed Shoaib Hasan still breaks out in a cold sweat at the memory of his meeting with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the autumn of 2007. Hasan was among four journalists TTP fighters had taken to their stronghold of South Waziristan, one of the seven tribal agencies comprising what is called the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It was there that they were introduced to Hakimullah, who offered to take the visitors for a drive in the mountainous terrain. He pressed the accelerator hard and sped away, bouncing the vehicle over bumps, negotiating sharp bends at incredible speed and then, suddenly, screeching to a halt inches away from a precipice. Beyond it was a plunge of hundreds of metres into certain death.
Richard Quest 
Return To Palm Springs 
