Peshawar: The training being imparted by US military instructors to around 50 personnel belonging to the Frontier Corps is being described here as a simple, one-month course in the use of new weapons that the paramilitary force is likely to receive in future.
Military sources said it wasn't counter-terrorism training as portrayed by sections of the media. "It isn't counter-insurgency training in the real sense. Rather, it is a course in the use of some sophisticated small weapons that the Frontier Corps doesn't possess," explained a military official familiar with the training programme.
According to sources, 25 US military instructors started the weapons training last week. They said 40-50 Frontier Corps soldiers, including junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) ranging from subedars to sepoys, were being trained in the use of the new weapons. They said there was no one from the officers' rank among the trainees.
Would-be trainers
"This is a training course for selected would-be trainers. Once trained, the Frontier Corps men would become trainers and impart training in the use of these weapons to other troops," a military source said.
When asked about the place where the training was being imparted, the sources declined to be specific due to security reasons. However, they rejected media reports that the US instructors were training the Frontier Corps soldiers at Tarbela. Warsak near Peshawar was earlier mentioned in reports as a likely training site for the American trainers and their Pakistani trainees.
Tarbela is home to units of the Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army. The reports in section of the media about arrival of a group of American Special Forces in Tarbela and handing over of a piece of land there to them has already been denied by the government. A suicide bomber had recently struck at the base of the SSG at Tarbela and caused heavy loss of life.
The Frontier Corps, which recruits primarily from the Pashtun tribes, operates in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Its officers are drawn from the Pakistan Army.
