Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

India-Pakistan

TTP ex spokeshole dies in Aghanistan

2016-09-26

PESHAWAR: The former spokesperson for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Azam Tariq, has been reportedly killed in Afghanistan’s Paktika province in air strikes carried out by Afghan and Nato forces. Three other TTP leaders have also been reportedly killed by the joint Afghan and Nato airstrikes in the Laman area of Paktika provice, said Pakistani security sources. Raess Khan, who used the nom de guerre Azam Tariq, was killed in air strikes late on Saturday. An advisor of TTP's Khan Saeed Sajna group, Zeeshan Haider Mehsud, confirmed the death of Tariq and his son while fighting Afghan security forces. The TTP advisor added that 10 other militants were killed in the fighting which erupted in Paktika province. Khan Saeed Sajna, who had broken away from the TTP along with Tariq was reported killed earlier this year in an American drone strike which targeted the group in Afghanistan. In 2014, Irfan Mehsud, a son of Azam Tariq, was killed in an exchange of fire with Pakistan Army troops in Bober. Split from TTP In May 2014, the outlawed TTP split into two factions after a major group based in South Waziristan quit the TTP and accused its leadership of having fallen into invisible hands and turning the TTP into an organisation providing safety to criminals. “We announce separation from the TTP leadership which has deviated from its path”, Azam Tariq, spokesman for commander Khan Saeed Sajna had stated at the time of the split. The new group was led by Sajna who changed his operational name to Khalid Mahsud. It had accused the TTP leadership led by Mulla Fazlullah, the fugitive commander from Swat believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, of indulging in a baseless propaganda campaign against Afghan Taliban. It had also accused the TTP leadership of killing religious scholars, extorting huge amounts of money from madressahs, carrying out bombings at public places on payment of money “from outside” and accepting responsibility for the bombings under assumed names and creating discord among different militant groups.

Link

India-Pakistan

Swat awaits anti-polio drive despite peace

2009-03-19

Despite a peace accord with TNSM and opening of qazi courts in Swat, NWFP government is still unable to start anti-polio drive in Swat district, where about 376,000 kids were awaiting polio drops. National Immunisation Drive (NID) officials told Daily Times that the NWFP government had cancelled anti-polio drive (March 16-18) in the district because of negative propaganda by some elements and unrest in the district. They said kids would get polio drops after complete peace was restored to the district. Dr Iftikhar said NID had included district Swat in a plan for immunisation against polio. The NWFP government on May 21, 2008, signed an agreement with Swat Taliban in which the Taliban had agreed that the government could resume drives against contagious diseases including polio but the government had yet to be able to resume anti-polio drive. TTP Swat Chief Mulla Fazlullah had been airing propaganda through his illegal FM radio station that polio drive was a Jewish/American conspiracy to 'sterilise' Muslims and told people not to give their kids polio drops. Dr Iftikhar said about 50 percent areas of Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies were being covered during in the recent polio drive. Dr Khalid, senior surveillance officer of WHO, said the recent surge in polio cases was due to law and order situation which made all immunisation drives harder. He said about 700,000 children missed polio drops in every such campaign. He said most of the cases were of P-3 type and its linkage could be found in cross-border movement with Afghanistan. He said the WHO had allocated Rs 22 million to each vaccination campaign.

Link

India-Pakistan

Sufi meets Fazlullah, asks Taliban to lay down arms

2009-03-06

Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad and Swat Taliban chief Mulla Fazlullah met at an undisclosed location on Thursday to discuss the implementation of a Swat peace deal with the government, according to sources. The sources said that Sufi had firmly told Fazlullah to stop armed Taliban from patrolling Mingora and other parts of Swat and lay down weapons immediately. Sufi said talks with the provincial government had been satisfactory and the Taliban's demands would be met soon, while Fazlullah's response had also been positive, they said. Meanwhile, TNSM spokesman Izzat Khan told Daily Times after a meeting between a TNSM jirga and the Malakand commissioner that the government had accepted only one demand for the withdrawal of the army from Imamdheri Markaz. He said that Takhtaband-Angrodheri Road was still closed, "and this is making us suspicious ... the government should take steps to overcome my group's mistrust". The government and the Swat Taliban recently reached a deal -- brokered by TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad -- on the implementation of sharia in Malakand division, which includes the scenic Swat valley. Analysts, however, fear the benefits of the agreement would be short-lived for the government.

Link

India-Pakistan

'Mehsud has severed contacts with Fazlullah'

2009-02-14

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud has severed contacts with Swat Taliban chief Mulla Fazlullah for "unknown reasons", a 17-year-old boy who has left the ranks of the Taliban revealed on Friday, a private TV channel reported. The boy, seeking anonymity, told the channel that he had met Fazlullah three times and had quit the Taliban at his father's insistence. He disclosed that about 12,000 Taliban, including 2,000 aged between 11 and 15 years, were being trained at a facility run by the Taliban in the mountains of Swat. He said most of the recruits belonged to poor families and had volunteered to fight for the Taliban. The boy claimed that the Taliban in Swat were 'receiving' weapons from Dir, Bajaur Agency and Afghanistan.

Link

India-Pakistan

Swat Taliban to resist security operation

2008-07-25

Swat-based Taliban would retaliate if security forces continued operation in the region, a satellite channel reported on Thursday. According to Aaj News, the decision was made at the end of a two-day meeting of a Taliban Shura (council) held under Mulla Fazlullah at an undisclosed location in the Swat valley. The participants decided that Taliban should react in case the security forces did not halt attacking their pockets in the tribal and settled areas of the NWFP. The Swat peace deal was also discussed in the meeting, the channel reported. It was decided in the meeting that any decision to revoke or maintain the Swat peace deal would be taken after the assent of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The decision taken by the Taliban leader would be binding, the participants decided. Meanwhile, Swat-based Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that army troops were being amassed in the Malakand district. The NWFP government released two key Taliban militants close to Fazlullah from Taimergara Prison, official sources and locals said. One of them is Mulla Esa Khan, a founder of Sharifabad FM Radio, the locals added.

Link

India-Pakistan

Swat village still militant den

2008-06-01

Key militant leaders remain in Piochar, a small remote village surrounded by mountains in Swat valley, notwithstanding the May 21 peace deal between the NWFP government and militants, sources told Daily Times on Saturday. The sources said prominent leaders among those believed to be in Piochar included Hussain Ali alias Tor Mulla, Lal Din alias Baray Mian, Ibne Amin son of Bahadur, and Umar Rehman alias Dawood. “All of these are key militant commanders who were actively involved in the 14-month-long militancy in the Swat valley,” source added. The militants belong to Jaish-e-Muhammad and are not controlled by Mulla Fazlullah, the sources said. The sources said that Tehreek-e-Taliban leader in Bajaur Agency Maulvi Faqir Muhammad recently visited Piochar to meet with the leaders and their followers to discuss organisational matters. Taliban release: A high-level meeting will be held in a few days to discuss the issue regarding the release of Taliban militants, arrested during the operations the valley, another source told Daily Times. It will be the first high-level meeting since the signing of the May 21 peace deal. Taliban representatives told Daily Times that the government has committed to releasing all the militants within two weeks of the deal. The government demanded local Taliban leaders to provide a list of Taliban prisoners so that officials could review their status before the meeting, the source said. It added that 1,375 people had been taken into government custody since the launch of military operation in Swat and the security officials had released 1,113 so far.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-6 More