Pakistan:Taliban
Back In
Business In Border Areas
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
02 October, 2006
Inter Press
Service
PESHAWAR, Sep 30
(IPS) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's controversial peace
deal with Pakistan-based Taliban has already resulted in a new assertiveness
by the 'Islamic Scholars' in the Waziristan agency which borders Afghanistan.
On Thursday, an Afghan national
identified as Malang Khan was shot dead by Taliban vigilantes for allegedly
spying for the United States army. "Malang had been spying on the
Taliban in the North and South Waziristan agencies for Americans. A
satellite phone set has also been recovered from him," said a note
pinned to his body.
Khan's bullet-riddled body
was discovered in Khadi village on the road that leads to Mirali town
from Miramshah, capital of North Waziristan agency. The note warned
that all spies would meet the same fate.
On Monday, the Taliban reopened
its office in Miramshah and distributed pamphlets in the town asking
the local people for cooperation in ‘dealing with crime and criminal
elements' and also asked for contributions.
After fighting the Taliban
in Pakistan's rugged border areas as part of support for the U.S. -led
‘war-on-terror' in Afghanistan, Musharraf signed a truce with
the ‘scholars' in June and followed it up this month with a comprehensive
pact under which the Taliban would stop launching attacks across the
border on U.S. and allied troops.
''The opening of the Taliban
office and the continued execution of suspected spies is a clear indication
that the agreement has started to fall apart," said Afrasiab Khattak,
a Peshawar-based commentator, who spent ten years in exile in Afghanistan.
Khattak said since members
of the Taliban have local roots in Pashtun-dominated Waziristan, it
was impossible for the government to control them without the support
of local population. It was in 2004 that the Pakistan army launched
a major military offensive against the Taliban and members of the al-Qaeda,
but ended up with a bloody nose. In all, Pakistan is believed to have
lost close to 500 of its soldiers fighting the fierce Pashtun tribesmen.
With the new peace deal,
Musharraf has effectively put an end to the two-year-old military campaign
to track down remnants of the Taliban which had sought shelter in Waziristan
and other border areas after being ousted as the rulers of Afghanistan
by the U.S. army in late 2001.
The Taliban are now showing
every intention of taking over administrative control of the Pashtun-dominated
semi-autonomous North and South Waziristan. One pamphlet distributed
on Wednesday said: "There is complete lawlessness in the area and
crimes have increased. So after the peace accord, Taliban has set up
an office to serve residents of the area and restore peace."
The office, complete with
telephone facilities, has been set up within the premises of the main
bus stand in Miramshah. And the local Taliban Shura (council) has constituted
a committee to jointly run the office.
That the Taliban have the
blessing of the Pakistan government has become clear with military authorities
returning automatic rifles and other material seized from a madrassa
(seminary) run by the Afghan Jehadi commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqani
here on Wednesday morning.
Security forces had raided
the seminary few months ago and seized the weapons. The return of the
weapons is in keeping with the peace deal under which government forces
and the militants are expected to return each other weapons and other
equipment seized during clashes.
Authorities have also set
free several people lodged in the Miramshah jail. Three of these were
identified as Yousaf, Noor Hassan and Labir Khan, all of whom were arrested
a few days ago near the Pakistan-Afghan border in the Kurram Agency.
On Monday, the bodies of
five Pakistan nationals who died fighting in Afghanistan were brought
to the South Waziristan agency and although there was no official comment,
all five were said to belong to the Charsadda town, 30 km north of here.
Interestingly, Musharraf's
peace deal with the Taliban is known to have been endorsed by Mullah
Omar, the erstwhile supreme religious leader of Afghanistan, but now
known to be living in exile in Pakistan.
Omar is wanted by the U.S.
army for playing host to Osama bin Laden and refusing to hand over his
famous guest and other top members of the al-Qaeda through a massive
bombing campaign over Afghanistan that preceded the NATO-supported U.S.
invasion of the country.
However, on Monday, Pakistan
officially denied that Mullah Omar had anything to do with the peace
deal. "It is baseless, it is totally baseless," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at a press briefing in Islamabad.
But Afghanistan President
Hamid Karzai, who accuses the Pakistan government of not doing enough
to contain the Taliban, has been quoted in the media as having told
Musharraf in Washington that he not only had Omar's location but also
his telephone number in Pakistan.
The two leaders met U.S.
President George W. Bush for dinner on Wednesday after which the White
House spokesman was quoted saying at a briefing that both Musharraf
and Karzai had a "very candid exchange about their concerns with
regard to policies on the two countries" and that Bush was "happy
because there were constructive efforts made -- which I'm really not
going to go into detail about --to work together to fight the war on
terror."
The extent of support that
the Taliban has in Pakistan's border areas can be gauged from the fact
that the ruling political parties in the North West Frontier Province
(NWFP) have announced the closure of all entertainment during the holy
month of Ramadan.. The ban covers cinemas and businesses dealing with
audio and video cassettes and indoor games such as billiards.
It is generally accepted
that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties
including the Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulemai Islam, came to power
in the NWFP due its connections with the Taliban. Earlier, the MMA banned
all hoardings displaying images of women as well as musical activities.
Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter
Press Service
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