Pakistan declares Afghan border region militant-free

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s security forces have managed to get more than 85 percent of the country’s troubled Orakzai agency cleared from the militants to enable return of displaced people, authorities said.

Orakzai is one of the seven agencies in the federally administered tribal area of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, where the security forces launched a crackdown against the militants over a year ago.

Addressing the local tribal elders in Orakzai Sunday, the Inspector General of Frontier Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Maj. Gen. Nadir Zeb, said the security situation in the upper and lower region of the agency has improved after five years and the route has been opened.

“The displaced people have started returning in phases to areas under control,” he said.

“The local elders and security forces have a consensus on clearing this area from militants, who will be flushed out from the remaining 15 percent area as well,” he vowed.