SOS: Who will save the anti-Taliban Salarzai tribes from the wrath of the ISI and the Taliban?

The Mullah-Military Alliance seems to be very much alive and thriving in Pakistan.

The Taliban and Salarzais

Sunday, September 27, 2009 (The News) Farhat Taj I was in Pakistan in August and had the opportunity to meet the leaders of the anti-Taliban lashkar (volunteer army) of Bajaur’s Salarzai tribe. I am honoured that upon my request they travelled from Bajaur to meet me in Nowshehra and shared with me information about their anti-Taliban struggle. I am not mentioning their names for reasons of their security. The area of the Salarzai tribe is on the border with Afghanistan. The tribe have collectively decided that there won’t be any Taliban on their soil. The Taliban have been driven out of the Salarzai area. The Salarzai lashkar, mostly made up of labourers and peasants, has successfully kept the Salazai area free of the Taliban. Tens of Salarzail lashkar leaders have been target-killed. The Salarzai leaders informed me they hold the ISI responsible for the targeted killings. “The Taliban are just a façade. The real force is the ISI punishing us for our anti-Taliban struggle,” said one of the leaders. The leaders said that Mamond Taliban headquarters used to be in Damadola, which is a few kilometres from the FC fort in Bajaur. The Mamond Taliban used to bomb Salarzai villages. The Salarzai tribal elders requested the Political Agent, the authorities of the FC and the Pakistani army to stop the Mamond Taliban. None of these offered any help. Finally the Salarzai lashkar took positions on the mountains and for two hours heavily bombarded the surrounding villages of the Mamond Taliban. At that point the political agent and a colonel of the army asked the Salarzai lashkar to stop the bombing. They gave the same old logic: who will fight the NATO forces from across the Afghan border if you eliminate the Taliban? Following such encounters with the state authorities, the Salarzais decided to fire at any forces entering their area: be it the Taliban, Al Qaida, the army or the US or NATO. The Salarzais have taken up positions all over the area and are always on guard. The tribesmen take turns to defend those positions. Unlike the bombed out schools in the Taliban-controlled areas, all schools in the Salarzai region are functioning. The tribesmen are performing security duties in both girls’ and boys’ schools in the area. The leaders informed me that there is a set pattern of target-killing of anti-Taliban Salarzai leader. Before each targeted killing all telephone links with the far-flung Salarzai area are cut off. The targeted killing takes place in 24 to 48 hours later. The telephone links are restored a couple of days after the assassinated leader has been buried. A day or so later a news item of a few lines appears in the newspapers about the killing. “No one in Pakistan seems to be bothered about the state-sponsored targeted killing of anti-Taliban Salarzai leaders. Our area is too far from the rest of Pakistan and our agony means nothing to fellow-Pakistanis. The Pakistani media never ever tries to probe into the targeted killings,” said one of the Salarzai leaders. All telephone lines to the Salarzia area were dead the day I was meeting with the leaders. They said they were deeply worried whose turn it might be to be targeted for killing. Two days later the telephone links were restored. The same day they informed me on telephone that Malik Munasib Khan, the spokesman of the Salarzai lashkar, had been killed. They held the ISI responsible for his killing. The Salarzai leaders also informed me that last year the army deliberately fired at those villages in Bajaur that were known to be staunchly anti-Taliban. They said one of their colleagues called Maj Gen Alam Khattak to ask him to stop the bombing of his village. “Major General Sahib! I will start a vendetta with you if you did not halt the bombing of my village immediately. I will make sure to kill you and your family at the first available opportunity,” they quoted one of their colleagues as saying. The major general asked him to meet Col Sajjad who was bombing the anti-Taliban villages from his base in Timergara. That colleague saw a big Bajaur map affixed on the wall in the office of Col Sajjad. The map had several encircled villages. Col Sajjad informed him that the map had been handed over to him by his commanders with the order to bomb all the encircled villages. “Our colleague’s blood boiled with anger: none of the villages had Taliban in them,” said the Salarzai leaders. The villages included Butmali, Danqul, Attkay, Matasha, Baro, Raghjan and Nazkai. On the other hand, those Salarzai villages that had Taliban were not marked on the map or bombed by the army. Such villages are Pashat, Banda, Malasyed, Darra and Gundai. Now the Salarzai lashkar has cleared these villages from Taliban control, without any state support. The leaders also made the accusation that the Salarzais are discriminated against by the state in allocation of developmental funds due to their hostility to the Taliban. The FATA Rural Development Project (FRDP) is working in Bajaur Agency but entire Salarzai area of the agency has been deliberately excluded by from the project. “A wilful under-development has been imposed on us as punishment for our anti-Taliban stance. The Salazai area would be included in FRDP if we allowed the Taliban to take control of our area. Without this, we Salarzais can beg as much as we can for development, but the state will never budge,” said the Salarzai tribal leaders. The reason I write this piece is not to defame the institution of the Pakistani army, which I hold in high esteem. I just wish to request the President of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the DG of the ISI to pay attention to the complaints of the Salarzais and resolve their problems to the satisfaction of the tribe. The Salarzai leaders categorically told me they are loyal Pakistanis, but they are not ready to let the peace of their area be destroyed for the power games of the intelligence agencies. All they want from the state is peaceful and development. I would request fellow-Pakistanis all over the country to support the Salarzais. I wonder why the civil society of Pakistan is so silent over the heroic anti-Taliban struggle of the Salarzais. Salarzais are the natural allies of all those who are against the Taliban and civil society should forcefully support them. I would request the Pakistani media to keep a close watch on the Salarzai area to discourage targeted killings there. The Taliban are anti-civilisation. The Salarzais are the embodiment of civilisation because they are so oppose to the Taliban. I would request all civilised people in the world to morally support the Salarzais in the name of human civilisation. The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. Email: bergen34@yahoo.com ..... Tailpiece: The Quetta Shura: Pakistan's ISI continues to harbour and support the Taliban. The New York Times Report. Quetta shura top issue in US talks with Pakistan * American officials blame shura for recent violence in Afghanistan * Say they believe Taliban still get support from parts of ISI Daily Times Monitor LAHORE: The so-called Quetta shura issue is now at the top of the US’ agenda in its meetings with Pakistani officials, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Citing senior American officials, the paper said Taliban leaders were using sanctuaries in Pakistan to stoke a widening campaign in Afghanistan. The expansion comes as the US government struggles to settle on a new military strategy for Kabul. American military and intelligence officials told the paper the Quetta shura was directly responsible for the recent wave of violence in northern and western Afghanistan. The assessment echoes a recent report by Gen Stanley McChrystal portraying the Taliban as an increasingly sophisticated shadow government that sees itself on the cusp of victory. The report said Mullah Omar has appointed shadow governors in most provinces, levies taxes, establishes courts there and conducts a formal review of the military campaign every winter. Support: American officials said they believed the Taliban leadership still gets support from parts of the Inter-Services Intelligence as some of its officials see Mullah Omar as a valuable asset. The paper pointed out that the more the US government wrestles publicly with how substantial and lasting a military commitment to make to Afghanistan, the more the ISI is likely to retain and strengthen its bonds with the Taliban as Pakistan hedges its bets. American officials have long complained that Taliban leaders operating from Quetta provide money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan, where most of the American forces were deployed. Recently, however, the Taliban have surprised American commanders by stepping up attacks against allied troops elsewhere in the country. A senior Pakistani official said the US had asked Pakistan to round up 10 Taliban leaders in Quetta. Of those, six had been killed or captured by Pakistan, two are believed to be in Afghanistan and two have presented no threat. In his message on Eid, Mullah Omar taunted his American adversaries for ignoring the lessons of past military failures in Afghanistan, and claimed that the Taliban had emerged as a nationalist movement that “is approaching the edge of victory”. “The Quetta shura – you can’t knock on their clubhouse door,” a Western diplomat said. “It’s much more of an amorphous group that as best we can tell moves around. They go to Karachi, they go to Quetta, they go across the border.” (Daily Times)

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Bodies pile up in Swat Valley as tribesmen (and military) turn tables on Taleban tormentors

At least 18 bullet-riddled bodies discovered in Swat

Sunday, 16 Aug, 2009

Atifur Rehman, administrative chief of Swat district, confirmed that 18 bodies had been found but he had no further details. — Photo by Reuters

PESHAWAR: The bullet-riddled bodies of 18 Taliban militants apparently killed by furious residents seeking revenge were discovered Sunday in Pakistan's northwest Swat valley, officials said.

The military claims to have cleared Swat of militants in an offensive launched earlier this year after militants extended their grip into the valley, terrorising residents with public beheadings and other violence.

‘Eighteen dead bodies of militants were found in Barikot, Shamozai, Kabal and Kanju,’ a local military spokesman told AFP.

‘They had been apparently shot dead by residents who fear that the Taliban might return. These militants were not killed in any military operation...the heads of some of the bodies had been smashed with hammers.’

Atifur Rehman, administrative chief of Swat district, confirmed that 18 bodies had been found but he had no further details.

Swat slipped out of government control after Mullah Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign in which his followers beheaded opponents, burnt schools and fought government troops to enforce sharia law.

The army launched an offensive in late April to dislodge Taliban guerrillas from the districts of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat after militants flouted a peace deal and marched further south towards Islamabad.

Pakistan says more than 1,800 militants and over 166 security personnel have been killed in the offensive since late April, but the death tolls are impossible to verify independently. (Dawn).

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Bodies pile up in Swat Valley as tribesmen turn tables on Taleban tormentors

Zahid Hussain Mingora

His hands tied behind his back, the body of a young bearded man lay in a pool of blood on a busy market road. Two bullets had pierced his skull, indicating that he was shot from close range.

Residents recognised him as Gul Khatab, a notorious Taleban commander. “People remember him for his brutality,” Mohammed Nasir, a trader, said.

Since the body was discovered in the main town of Pakistan’s Swat Valley, other corpses have appeared on the streets. All were killed in the same manner as the security forces cleared the area of Taleban fighters.

The people of Mingora have long been used to the sight of bullet-riddled bodies dumped on the streets. They used to be those of government officials, policemen or women killed by the Taleban who virtually controlled the Swat Valley. This summer the militants were driven out by the army after a month-long battle.

Now the pattern of death has been reversed. The Taleban are being hunted down by the security forces and families of the victims of their atrocities.

There have been reports of militants’ bodies being slung from electricity poles and bridges in other towns of Swat. Last week tribesmen killed two Taleban fighters in a village near Kalam and left their bodies hanging from an electricity pole for several days. Similar incidents were reported in Malakand, Batkhela and Thana. district of Swat Valley.In many cases notes were left on the bodies warning that this would be the fate of all enemies of the state and Swat.

Some of the notes urged people not to remove the bodies, borrowing from Taleban dictats at the height of their power. “It is like repaying the militants in the same coin,” Rahimullah Yousufzai, a local senior journalist said.

Senior army officials deny that troops were involved in the killings but analysts said that it could not happen without the army’s blessing. “There is an element of revenge for the soldiers who were brutally murdered and beheaded by Taleban,” an official said.

The militants used to make videos of the beheadings and distribute them to the media. One of the most brutal incidents happened a week before the army offensive in the valley, when militants captured and beheaded four officers of a commando unit.

Such actions by the insurgents enraged the troops. An officer confirmed that they would not take prisoners. Some officials argue that there was no choice but to eliminate the hardened militants as the judicial system was so weak that suspects often went free. Judges were often too terrified to convict.

Life is fast returning to normal in the valley after the two-month army operation that left 2,000 militants and more than 160 soldiers dead. Schools are open again and civilian administrators are back at work in most areas. Militants are holding on in some remote mountainous districts where their top leaders are believed to be hiding.

People in Mingora appear much more relaxed and optimistic about the future. “There is much more peace here now,” Mohammed Ishaq, a clothing merchant, said. “We hope Taleban would never come back.”

Residents have started co-operating with security agencies in tracking down militants, making it more difficult for them to blend in with the population.

“The security forces are tipped off immediately about the presence of militants in the neighbourhood,” Saeed Iqbal, a local journalist, said. Dozens of militants have been picked up by security agents in Mingora in recent weeks. Some would not return alive.

Security forces are blowing up the houses and properties of Taleban fighters and their leaders who have not been captured or killed. The authorities are arming tribal militias to fight the remaining Taleban. They are mostly led by influential landlords whose properties were taken over by the Taleban. They believe they could not live in peace if the Taleban were not completely eliminated.

In many cases the extended families have also suffered because of destruction of joint properties. In some cases the actions have forced militants to surrender. But some analysts contend that such actions close the door on militants to repent or surrender.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

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Taliban, being crushed by the Pakistan Army, tribal lashkars, and the USA drone attacks: Attacking the jirgas is a sign of weakness in the Taliban

Bajaur: attacking the jirgas

The Salarzai tribe that had begun to oppose the Taliban in Bajaur has been attacked near the town of Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur tribal agency. Their jirga was attacked by a suicide bomber who rushed into the gathering of elders and exploded himself on Wednesday. In all 22 elders were killed, including the leaders and commanders of the lashkar (militia) that they had put together to fight and expel the Taliban and their affiliated “foreigners” from the area. Forty-five members of the 300-strong council of elders were wounded.

An organisation of obscure origin has claimed the deed. This is a pattern and tells us how the Taliban and their patron Al Qaeda have come under pressure lately from the jirgas and reacted. In March, they had to massacre a jirga in Darra Adam Khel and last month they repeated the deed on a jirga in Orakzai agency, killing over a hundred elders. This is stage two of the strategy employed by the terrorists. They began by killing the maliks and single individuals of influence in the Tribal Areas to replace the traditional system of self-governance. Stage two is now upon us and is more problematic.

The jirga remains the apex of the system of authority among the tribes. When the maliks were being killed, the jirgas remained silent, linking the killings to “injustice” in Afghanistan. But as the Taliban began to impose their rule over them with punishments serving as instruments of fear, public reaction to them began to change. The problem was that the state at that time was not around to reassure them that they would be supported if they defied the terrorist regime. But now in Bajaur, for the first time, the Taliban and their “foreigners” are getting hurt in their confrontation with the Pakistan army, as is apparent from the suing for peace by Baitullah Mehsud, their “caliph” in South Waziristan. So now the tribes and jirgas are beginning to reassert themselves.

The Salarzai showed patience when their economy was being demolished and their schools were being pulled down by the Taliban. But after the army began operations in Bajaur, the Salarzai began to express their true response to the Taliban, something that has not happened elsewhere in the Tribal Areas, either because the military operations there have been fitful or have not succeeded. Therefore the attack on the Salarzai jirga clearly shows a new trend in the adventure story of the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine: they are becoming unpopular among the tribesmen and trying to cow them down by attacking their jirgas.

But the jirga killings are simply going to damage the Taliban’s cause further. Nowhere was the popular reaction against the “foreign” terrorists more intense than in the Malakand division (Swat, Dir, etc). But the people there were “softened” in favour of the Taliban by the MMA government in Peshawar which ruled in the area, just as it did not encourage the people of FATA to rise against the terrorists. Thus when the elections rolled around, the Swatis clearly indicted the MMA government for not looking after them. They also began to condemn the government when the military operations inflicted a lot of damage on them without eliminating the terrorists. So the fear factor came in and their message was: leave us to the mercies of the Taliban.

Fortunately, things changed after the exit of President Pervez Musharraf from the scene and his policy of mollifying the MMA because it helped him stay in power through the 17th Amendment. With the PPP in power in Islamabad and an apolitical army chief in the person of General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani heading the army, the scene has changed for the better and the pressure on the Taliban has started to build up. This must be kept up and, more importantly, other tribal agencies should be brought under military operations.

South Waziristan, where the last military operation in May this year discovered the “suicide academy” where suicide-bombers were trained for the whole of Pakistan, is back in the hands of Baitullah Mehsud whose second marriage was celebrated by subservient tribesmen on the occasion of last Eid to show that he was still the “caliph”.

Kurram Agency is also a place gradually going out of the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan. Since Peshawar failed to re-establish the traffic on the road going to Parachinar, the agency’s economy has become connected to Afghanistan. If you want to send food and medicines to Parachinar, you have to first smuggle them to Afghanistan. Since the Pakistani state could not come to the help of the besieged tribes there, their co-tribals from Afghanistan are coming in to defend them. This is not a situation which Islamabad can take for very long.

Attacking the jirgas is a sign of weakness in the Taliban “movement”. More and more tribesmen are going to turn against them as their elders are exterminated. More citizens’ militias will be formed against the Taliban; but the terrorists will be rolled back only if the Pakistan army goes in and helps its own people to defend themselves. This is the war that Pakistan has to fight, and from it hangs the prospect of what will happen in the region in the coming weeks and months. (Daily Times)
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The FATA challenge — Imtiaz Ali

Local people have taken up arms and it’s high time to isolate terrorists through winning the hearts and minds of common Pashtuns. That’s the only way to undermine Al Qaeda and ensure security for Pakistan, as well as its neighbours, and ultimately for the US and her allies

Gul Mohmmand Jan, a middle-aged man from Bajaur Agency in Pakistan’s tribal region, works odd jobs as a day labourer to support his six children. The tribal belt’s economy is based primarily on agriculture, but with effectively no private sector, work is scarce and compensation low. Jan sent two older sons to a local public school — a room in a mosque — but as Jan’s health failed, his sons were forced to leave school and work to cover the family’s cost of living.

Both boys started as day labourers like their father, but employment was inconsistent. They soon found the only regular work was as paid fighters with the Pakistani Taliban. It’s now two years since they joined the militia, a path all too common in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

Once dormant in Pakistan’s tribal areas, militants are stronger than ever, largely due to economic desperation and a failure of both Pakistan’s government and the international community to provide viable alternatives.

One of the groups currently absorbing legions of young Pashtun tribesman is the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Pakistani Taliban Movement), an umbrella organisation of Pakistani militants with ties to Al Qaeda, operating in Pakistan’s tribal belt — the treacherous stretch of 1,800 miles that President Bush recently described as a potential place for planning of 9/11-type attacks.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas saw an influx of foreign militants, mostly Tajiks, Chechens and Arabs, who slipped across the Pakistani border to escape the US invasion of the Taliban regime in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001. For a generation raised on legends of Afghan resistance against the Soviets and the mythologised Afghan-Arab Mujahideen, many in the region saw the foreign fighters as noble, and their struggle resonating with the stories of their upbringing. When combined with the hospitality prescribed by Pashtunwali, the traditional code of conduct, this proved impetus enough to take the foreign fighters in, and in some cases, join them.

Suddenly Pakistan had Taliban of its own spreading throughout the tribal belt. With local fighters like Jan’s two sons in their ranks, Al Qaeda fighters felt more secure in a foreign environment, sabotaging government installations and staging daring cross-border attacks on the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Emboldened by swelling numbers and repeated successes, they no longer relied solely on the “hit-and-run” guerrilla warfare of the past, but began “capture-and-stay” operations. Today, the Pakistani Taliban, led by commander Baitullah Mehsud, for the first time ventures out of the tribal areas, eyeing cities like Lahore and Karachi, the cultural and financial hubs of the country, respectively.

If this trend is not checked immediately, Talibanisation in Pakistan will pose an immutable threat to the country’s long-term stability. An unstable Pakistan would spill over into Afghanistan, compounding security challenges there and drawing more resources from the forces of the US, NATO and Afghan National Army. A nuclear country controlled by the Taliban with ties to Al Qaeda is, of course, a nightmare scenario.

The paramount question is why the Talibanisation of Pakistan has not been tamed despite the deployment of close to 100,000 troops and dozens of military operations, aided by US forces just across the border in Afghanistan. The answer’s simple: The Taliban knows the people and the terrain; both provide cover.

Meanwhile, a closer look into Pakistan’s counterinsurgency strategy since the launch of operations in 2003 reveals a policy focused entirely on a military approach, wholly ignoring the prospect of winning hearts and minds of local Pashtun tribesmen. For that reason more than any other, the seven-year-long counterinsurgency strategy pushed single-handedly by former President Pervez Musharraf has proved ineffective, if not downright disastrous.

To end FATA’s role as a breeding ground for terrorists, Pakistan must first isolate militants — local as well as foreign — from native tribesmen, by rebuilding the traditional Pashtun society in a region where it’s been exploited. Only the Pashtun themselves can counter the march of Taliban.

The leadership of the Al Qaeda network has been on the run since late 2001, after escaping the US invasion of Afghanistan and taking refuge in Pakistan’s tribal region. However, they successfully exploited two phenomena after settling on the Pakistani side of the border: the faith of the people and economic disparity.

Home to about 5 million people, the tribal belt is one of the most impoverished parts of Pakistan. About 60 percent of people have limited or no access to basic necessities like clean drinking water; infant and child mortality rates are higher than in the rest of the country; education facilities are deficient in most villages, practically non-existent for girls; health facilities are substandard at best.

Between 800 and 1000 madrassas have sprung up to fill the gap created by the state’s failure to accommodate educational needs. They provide free education, food and clothing to students. Many madrassas are affiliated with the hard-line Deobandi sect of Islam, which provides the ideological base to the Taliban. With hardly any competition from government schools, the madrassas provide ideological priming for radicalisation; even moderate families are compelled to send children to madrassas because it’s the only way to feed and shelter them.

Conspicuously absent from the counterinsurgency strategy is a concerted effort to isolate Taliban militants from the local tribesmen by turning the tide of opinion against them.

Of the $10.8 billion in US aid sent to Pakistan since 9/11, 80 percent has gone to the military — a blank cheque with no conditionality. The US also earmarked $750 million in development funds for FATA. However, money is not getting to the people in the remote areas. During meetings and interviews in the region, hundreds of tribesmen asked me the same question: “Where is the money we have been hearing of? Where are the development projects?”

Most tribesmen are suspicious of lofty rhetoric put forth by US officials in the region. The US must be more discerning in where its money goes and how it’s spent, not merely channel it towards a nebulous concept of a war on terror.

One option worth exploring: The new civilian set-up of the Pakistan’s People Party provides opportunity to negotiate with the tribesmen to bring them into mainstream Pakistan, either by merging FATA with the NWFP or making it a separate province. That would allow judicial systems and political parties to function in the region, making it easier to build schools and offer jobs to compete with madrassas and militias. Aside from providing alternative to the indoctrination, trade and interface with the rest of the world breaks the Taliban’s monopoly on ideas.

The overwhelming majority of Pashtuns realised that Talibanisation has tarnished their liberal and progressive image, posing a threat to their identity. Recent formation of indigenous tribal lashkars against Taliban militants throughout the tribal areas and the NWFP is one sign of this realisation.

Local people have taken up arms and it’s high time to isolate terrorists through winning the hearts and minds of common Pashtuns. That’s the only way to undermine Al Qaeda and ensure security for Pakistan, as well as its neighbours, and ultimately for the US and her allies. (Daily Times)

Imtiaz Ali is a Pakistani journalist reporting on Al Qaeda, Taliban and militancy in the country’s lawless Tribal areas along Afghanistan’s border and North West Frontier Province. He is working as a special correspondent for the Washington Post and also contributes to other international publications. Currently, he is a World Fellow at Yale University.
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New Pak effort against terrorism encouraging: US, Canadian dailies

WASHINGTON: A US and a Canadian daily found Pakistan’s new efforts against terrorism ‘encouraging’ and said US should respond accordingly. An editorial in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin noted that the anti-Taliban lashkars are poorly armed with aging rifles, while Taliban fighters are equipped with rocket launchers and heavy guns. “However, newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari this month arranged for the purchase of assault rifles and other small arms from China to better arm the lashkars.” The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, said that besides encouraging volunteer militias against Taliban, The Pakistani military has also accepted nearly three dozen US special forces trainers to help improve the effectiveness of their own counterterrorism forces. “Both, admittedly, are but small first steps. But at least they are steps in the right direction,” the Post stresses. The Canadian daily alleges: “Our troops have occasionally witnessed Pakistani agents and border guards loading Taliban trucks or cheering them on as they drive over the Pakistan border and into Afghanistan.” “Since General Musharraf resigned earlier this year, the situation in the tribal regions has worsened, and there have emerged hints that the mood in Islamabad has changed,” the editorial states. khalid hasan (Daily Times)

New Pakistani effort against terrorists encouraging: US daily

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Recent actions taken by the new democratic leadership of Pakistan give encouraging signs of a new effort against the terrorists, and the US should respond accordingly, says an editorial in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Noting that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban have found a haven in the northwestern territories of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, the newspaper recalled that last month President Bush had authorised strikes by US troops into Pakistan from Afghanistan and Sen Barack Obama had called for such action more than a year ago, with or without Pakistan's approval, in cases of "actionable intelligence" about terrorist targets in the region. The newspaper argued that ideally, Pakistani forces would carry out the offensives, but anti-Taliban militias or lashkars are poorly armed with aging rifles, while Taliban fighters are equipped with rocket launchers and heavy guns. “However, newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari this month arranged for the purchase of assault rifles and other small arms from China to better arm the lashkars,” the editorial noted.

While pointing out that the US has spent more than $10 billion in counterterrorism assistance to Pakistan's military since 2001, the newspaper admitted that Americans are widely distrusted by Pakistanis. Changes in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, which has been “aiding terrorists,” are encouraging, said the editorial, while taking note of the fact that the new government had replaced the head of that agency with a new chief (now in Washington for meetings with CIA director Michael V Hayden). Recalling that Gen David H Petraeus this week becomes head of the US Central Command, in charge of US forces in the Middle East and South and Central Asia, the Honolulu daily suggested that he should regard coordination of military objectives with Pakistan's non-military needs as essential for a new approach to be successful. (Daily Times)
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Ordinary people in Swat battle Taliban

Swat lashkar battles Taliban

* Tribesmen kill 20 Taliban after botched attempt to abduct an elder
* Taliban behead one tribesman, kill 6 others
* 62 tribesmen ‘abducted’
* 3 civilians killed as Taliban target barbershop
* 11 Taliban killed in Bajaur Agency

MINGORA: Tribesmen killed 20 Taliban in clashes that followed a botched attempt to abduct an elder in Swat on Sunday. Taliban meanwhile beheaded a tribesman and abducted dozens of others.

Police said a group of pro-Mullah Fazlullah Taliban were trying to hustle Pir Samiullah – chief of a lashkar (tribal militia fighting Taliban) – from his home in the Mandaldag area of Matta tehsil to a getaway car when dozens of local tribesmen confronted them and snatched him back.

Dilawar Bangash, the Swat police chief, said hundreds of Taliban later returned, seized three members of the militia and beheaded one of them on a road before a large crowd.

“This is a lesson for anyone who tries to oppose us,” they told the people according to accounts gathered later by police.

Meanwhile, the lashkar was gathering men from the surrounding area who engaged the Taliban in an hours-long gunbattle. Bangash said 20 Taliban, six militiamen and four bystanders were killed in the shooting and another police official said several tribesmen were reported missing.

Among the killed Taliban were four commanders including Shamsher, a bomb making expert, and two close aides of Fazlullah. Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman contacted by telephone, confirmed a clash but said only three Taliban died. He claimed that 12 tribesmen were killed and another 62 abducted.

Barbershop: Three civilians were killed as Taliban targeted a barbershop in Sambat area of Swat. In Totani Bandai, Taliban attacked a military checkpost injuring a soldier. Fifty suspected Taliban were arrested in Kooza Bandai.

Bajaur: In the nearby Bajaur Agency, Taliban attacked a security post on the outskirts of agency headquarters Khar. Troops retaliated, killing six Taliban. Five more fighters were killed when troops attacked a suspected Taliban base in Charmang district, another security official said. staff report/agencies (Daily Times)
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ISI is using tribal Shias as cannon-fodder to fight the Taliban menace

ISI is playing a dangerous game by forcing Shias of tribal areas to rise against Taliban. On 10 October, Army forced Shia tribe Alizai to form a lashkar in Orakzai agency while providing little protection and logistic support to the Alizai tribe. As a result, the Alizai jirga was attacked by Taliban and more than 100 people killed. The pro-Jihadi and pro-Sipah Sahaba elements of ISI must be extremely happy on this latest "achievement".

Taliban-tribes row preceded bombing

By Abdul Sami Paracha

KOHAT, Oct 11: The death toll of Friday’s suicide attack at a jirga in Orakzai Agency rose to 60.

Officials told Dawn on Saturday that evidence gathered so far from the blast site pointed to the Taliban of the Darra Adamkhel who had entered the tribal region last month.

An official report said that a 20-year-old clean-shaven youth drove his explosive-laden white truck into the jirga and detonated it. The jirga was about to send a tribal lashkar led by 25 elders to destroy the Taliban headquarters in the area.

The sources said that on Sept 28, the Taliban had asked the Alikhel tribe, the biggest and the most influential in the area, and its sub-clans – Hasratkhel, Mirwaskhel, Sokari, Zamkakhel and Baba Almasay – to leave the area because they belonged to Shia community. The tribesmen had left the area.

The political agent had summoned a grand jirga of all the 18 tribes of the Orakzai Agency in Hangu on Sept 30 and got the area cleared of the Taliban employing a lashkar on Oct 6.

The next day the Alikhel tribe returned to their homes and held a jirga on Oct 7 to take collective action against the Taliban along with the representatives of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat. On Oct 10, the tribesmen gathered at Khadizai to destroy the Taliban headquarters and houses of people sheltering them.

According to the official report, the administration knew that Taliban would attack the Alikhel jirga but no action was taken to avert it. Officials said that the report was not final and many aspects of the attack remained to be investigated.

The administration had sent several teams to nearby villages to gather information about the missing people to ascertain the exact death toll, officials said.

The intensity of the blast indicated that about 250 to 300 kilogrammes of explosives made from urea, petrol and RDX were used, said Bomb Disposal Squad Chief Akbar Khan.

Political Agent Kamran Zeb said that tribesmen had found a clue but were waiting for burial before pointing finger at anybody or take action against the suspected perpetrators. (Dawn)

SOME COMMENTS:

Utmankhel1:

Dont worry …………… the more the criticism the more pakhtoon should be backing Asfandyar Wali khan as the enemies on the other side of attock will only starting crying when they find Asfandyar Wali is doing something good for his people.

Just look at .... and get a clue of whats happening with Pakhtoons and Balochs in Pakistan. The majority Brethren (Brethren lols …….) will create so much noise as to make the true voices of these peole unaudible. This will continue till Pakhtoons recognise their enemies. Hopefully the spectacular success of ANP in these elections have shown that Pakhtoons can now distinguish between their Leaders and their Enemies.

They are so shameless people that none of them would talk of the 113 dead and more than hundered injured just two days ago.

They are shamelessly abusing their leaders and instead of sympathising with Pakhtoons they are sprinkling salt over their wounds ……………..they are pushing the Pakhtoons to the wall. I dont know how much can the Pakhtoons tolerate untill and when will they strike back ………………………. just like the Balochs are doing now ……………………………..
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Taliban are under pressue; no need to negotiate with them now.

Taliban are clearly under pressure from both sides of the border. Particularly on the Pakistani side of the border, there are clear signs that Taliban are fast losing the support of ordinary citizens including Pashtuns in the tribal area. Despite some unproductive steps by rogue elements in ISI, Pakistan military operation has been quite successful at least in the last few months. Clearly, it is not the right time to negotiate with Taliban. It is time to chase, hunt and eliminate them. Thus, first there is a need to eliminate the hard-core sub-human leadership of Taliban (including Mullah Omar), and once that target has been achieved, some political dialogue may be established with the not so radical elements within Taliban.

Taliban under pressure?


THE devastating attack on a tribal peace jirga on Friday betrays one obvious truth about the Taliban: they are clearly under pressure. The security forces have been half-heartedly battling them for years but with little success. However, the military operation that began in November seems to have hit them hard. In Swat the situation may be uncertain but in Bajaur the army appears to be gaining the upper hand. But what obviously has rattled the Taliban most is the reaction among some of the neutral tribesmen. Moved by the devastation caused by the war — hundreds of their kinsmen killed and wounded, homes and orchards destroyed, and their means of livelihood crippled — many tribesmen have obviously decided not to sit idle. The lashkars they have organised and the revenge they have exacted on the Taliban by burning their homes and punishing their collaborators through other means are eroding the freedom the militants have enjoyed for a long time. The attack on the jirga near Khadezai in Kurram Agency, killing 50 people, appears to be part of the reaction of the militants.

The Taliban are unlikely to let their home ground slip from their control. They will fight back and perhaps be even more ruthless — on Friday they beheaded four ‘pro-government’ tribal elders. This could result in ferocious battles. At the same time, there is a possibility that the tribesmen may waver if they feel the situation is getting too tough to handle. That is where the government has to realise its duty: it has to do all it can to help the tribesmen continue their fight against the Taliban till the latter are tired out and made to see the futility of their enterprise.

Once again we plead that the rebellion in Fata and Swat cannot be quelled through military means alone. Peace moves are already afoot in Washington, London and Riyadh. Pakistan has to be part of the peace process and make it clear to all parties that Islamabad has never abjured negotiations as a peace strategy. This should also be made clear to the domestic opposition, for some of the MPs attending the in-camera briefing by the military have serious reservations about the government’s strategy. Parliament is of course the place for evolving a national consensus on all key issues, and the current session will not have been in vain if progress is made in that direction. But all politicians ought to know that such a thing as war cannot be viewed through the prism of domestic politics. Today’s opposition could be in power tomorrow. For that reason all parliamentarians must have an open mind on the issue, the ultimate aim being to have peace in Fata and rid Pakistan of the menace of terrorism. (Dawn)
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Crackdown on militants by tribal volunteers in Tribal Areas

By Anwarullah Khan

KHAR, Oct 5: Hundreds of tribal volunteers marched in Mamond and Wara tehsils, strongholds of militants in Bajaur Agency, on Sunday and warned pro-Taliban elements to either surrender or leave the area.

The armed tribesmen did not encounter any resistance.

Elders leading the lashkar visited mosques and hujras in villages and urged tribesmen to rise up against militants.

Malik Sultan Zeb, who is commanding the lashkar, said that his 20,000 volunteers would launch a crackdown on militants from Monday.

He said they would destroy houses of Taliban ‘commanders’, including the residence of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Omar.

“People are fed up. They will not spare anyone who is in league with them,” said Malik Zeb, adding that his people were determined to go after the militants and needed no government help. He also said that the Taliban ‘commanders’ and their supporters had vanished from the area.

“The Taliban fighters and commanders are of humble backgrounds and not in a position to challenge the lashkar. They will be eliminated in a few days,” he remarked.

Security forces delayed action in Mamond at the request of the elders, who sought to defer action for three days and promised to raise a lashkar to crackdown against the militants.

In other areas of Bajuar, security forces backed by helicopters and artillery shelled some places and claimed killing seven militants.

Troops also opened the road between Khar and Inayet Killey which has remained closed since Aug 6. The agency’s main town of Khar and its adjacent areas remained peaceful and the situation is returning to normal.

Also on Sunday, seven people were wounded in an explosion in the Pasht area in Salarzai.

The explosion took place immediately after a meeting held at the residence of former MNA Shahabuddin Khan. According to local people, explosives was left on the kerb of a road and detonated with a remote control.

Meanwhile, Afghan nationals continued to leave for Afghanistan via the Ghakhi checkpost.

Sources said that the administration was likely to extend the three-day deadline, which expired on Sunday, by two or three days.

The authorities have set up a registration centre at Ghakhi Ser to monitor their movement.

It is learnt that influential refugee leaders were planning to shift to Peshawar and Dir districts.

An official said that about 90 Afghan families had registered themselves and moved to adjacent districts via Toorghundai checkpost.

APP adds: Tribesmen in Charmang will also launch a crackdown on militants in Nawagai tehsil.

Assistant Political Agent Jamil Khan said that the Mamond laskhar had burnt down houses of militant leaders named Rehmatullah Khan and Syed Bacha.

Members of the Charmang jirga have vowed to take action against people sheltering militants and said that their houses would be set on fire.

Meanwhile, security forces attacked militant hideouts in Rasakari and Tang Khata areas between late Saturday night and early Sunday. (Dawn)
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Local action against Taliban: ‘Outsiders’ banned in Orakzai

* Jirga decides to shoot locals harbouring ‘outsiders’, bans bearing of arms, men hiding faces, forms lashkar against Taliban

LAHORE/KHAR: A tribal jirga in Orakzai Agency has decided that ‘outsiders’ will not be allowed to enter the area, and anyone found providing shelter to ‘outsiders’ will be shot dead and his house set on fire, Express News reported on Sunday.

According to the channel, the Ali Khel jirga has also banned the ‘brandishing of arms’. It also instructed men to stop hiding their faces behind large cloths. The jirga also constituted a committee to destroy the Taliban training camp in the area, the channel said, adding that the Ali Khel and Feroze Khel tribes had formed a tribal lashkar to combat Taliban.

Taliban had started leaving the area. The local Taliban said they were leaving the area so that peace could be maintained and it should not be taken as their weakness, the channel added.

It said 14 Taliban, including local commander Abdusalam Ali Khel, had been released from Dabori area of Orakzai. Taliban had vacated a high school building and the Tali Fort in Ali Khel, while also clearing the road to Chapri Feroze Khel.

Meanwhile, thousands of tribal elders and ulema belonging to the Mandal, Charmang and Mamond tribes in Bajaur Agency announced their full support to the government in restoring peace in the area. The tribes made the announcement during grand jirgas held in their respective areas on Sunday. The jirgas also decided to form local lashkars to combat Taliban.

Meanwhile, only 15, 000 of an estimated 80,000 Afghans had left Bajaur despite a three-day ultimatum expiring Sunday, AP reported. daily times monitor/staff report
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Silent majority stirs - People in FATA rise agains Taliban

FATA’s silent majority now seems to be stirring. It has for years watched in agony the destruction of its environs. Its once peaceful valleys and ravines are now a theatre of war, with homes, fields and shops destroyed, the tribesmen’s means of livelihood disrupted, and hundreds of thousands of men, women and children turned into internal refugees. Even though seething with anger, the tribesmen had failed to act, overawed as they were by the ubiquitous Taliban’s ruthlessness and presumed invincibility. However, things seem to be changing. A report by our correspondent in Landi Kotal informs us that a tribal lashkar in Khyber Agency captured on Thursday nine militants and freed a prayer leader whom the Taliban had kidnapped. Those taking the lead in challenging the Taliban and rescuing the cleric belonged to the Malagori tribe. This is not an isolated example. In the Bara tehsil, the Kalakhel tribe has raised a lashkar and warned those giving shelter to the Taliban that they would be fined Rs5m and their homes demolished. In Bajaur, the main battle theatre, the Othmankhel and Salarzai tribes have openly come out against the militants and are taking vigorous actions permitted by tribal traditions to get rid of the terrorists. Similar trends are emerging in Dir, Buner and Shabqadar.

In 2003, too, some tribal elders had attempted to mobilise their tribesmen against the militants, but the campaign failed because it was government-inspired. This time, however, it is the tribesmen’s own effort, because they have seen havoc being wreaked on their traditional way of life by local and foreign Taliban. The government has to build on this positive development and secure the active cooperation of those among the anti-militant tribesmen who are willing to take on the Taliban and restore peace to their area. One major reason for the change in the tribesmen’s attitude is the losses the Taliban have suffered in the ongoing military operation. The operation must be carried on relentlessly, and the enemy given no respite.

During Ramazan the Taliban have blown up gas and water pipelines and destroyed electric installations to cause hardship to the people in order to arouse anti-government feelings. The authorities must, therefore, ensure the security of vital installations by enlisting the community’s cooperation. Also, to ensure against collateral damage, the people should be warned in advance of a crackdown so that the non-combatants are evacuated well in advance. (Dawn)
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