By Ashfaq Yusufzai, Inter Press Services (via Asia Times Online,) August 19, 2013

PESHAWAR - Nervousness permeates the very air of Dera Ismail Khan these days. It has been more than a fortnight since militants attacked a high security prison here in a military-like operation and released about 200 inmates, including Taliban commanders.

Dera Ismail Khan is one of the 25 districts of Pakistan's northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is adjacent to the North and South Waziristan provinces of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which have long provided the Taliban a safe bastion.

The fear is that the released Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, Pakistani Taliban) will now resume their activities and seek revenge on those suspected of giving them away to the authorities. "People are afraid after the jailbreak, as hardcore militants have been released. They will now harass the people and further disturb peace in the area," Ahmed Sultan, professor of political science at the Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan, told IPS.

That fear echoes in other areas as well [....]