Pakistan government's move to cut fertiliser supply to North Waziristan angers farmers

The Pakistan government's bid to cut off the flow of fertiliser to militants who use it to make bombs in tribal areas along the Afghan border has angered local farmers, who complain the policy had cut their crop yield in half, News agency AFP reported today,

The move could prove counterproductive as the army takes on terrorists entrenched in the remote, mountainous area, a task that would become more difficult if the government failed to mobilise support from local tribesmen.

Farmers question why the ban was being applied to them when they were not the ones building bombs.

When the ban was first introduced farmers could still buy smuggled fertiliser on the black market, although they had to pay higher prices, the report quoted local sources as saying.

The fertiliser is either ground or boiled to separate the calcium from the nitrate, which is then mixed with fuel oil, packed into a jug or box and then detonated, while urea is dissolved in water and then combined with nitric acid to make explosives for bombs.

Pakistani authorities were well aware of the consequences of limiting the flow of fertiliser to the tribal region but went ahead with the policy because of the grave threat from bombings, AP quoted a government official who worked on the ban as saying.

Pakistan's has largely neglected the poor and underdeveloped tribal region over decades adding to the difficulties in countering Taliban insurgency that flared up there.

The Pakistani military has so far kept away from launching operations in North Waziristan, but now plans to take on the Taliban and their allies in  North Waziristan in the near future, AP quoted Pakistani and U.S. officials as saying.