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Mangal Bagh Afridi

Mangal Bagh Afridi

Lashkar Islami

India-Pakistan

20060720

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India-Pakistan

Who is Mangal Bagh?

2010-01-05

Born in 1973, Mangal Bagh is also known as Mangal Bagh Afridi. He is the leader (and according to some reports, founder) of Lashkar-e-Islam, a paramilitary organisation operating in Khyber Agency. Several newspapers have referred to him by title as Haji Amir Mangal Bagh. He is from Bara tehsil, and belongs to the Sipah Afridi tribe. A former bus driver, he is at the forefront of the increasing Talibanisation of the tribal areas of the country's northwest. His forces have mounted increasing attacks on Peshawar and, in broad daylight, abducted residents for high sums of ransom. Recent cases in other major centres around the country indicate that he may be expanding his operations to areas such as Lahore.

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India-Pakistan

Rs 13m reward for Mangal Bagh, 4 other LI commanders

2009-09-27

The government has announced Rs 13 million as head money for five most-wanted Taliban commanders in Khyber Agency, including Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) founder Mangal Bagh Afridi. According to a private TV channel, Rs 5 million was fixed for Mangal Bagh, Rs 2 million each for LI commanders Saifoor and Adnan and Rs 2 million each for commanders Nazeer and Wahid of Darra Adam Khel.

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India-Pakistan

Four wounded in Khyber explosion

2009-09-09

[Dawn] At least four security officials have been injured in a remotely controlled explosion in Khyber agency's Bara tehsil, DawnNews reported on Tuesday. According to official sources the death toll from eight days of fighting in the tribal region has risen to 107 with over 50 injured. Some 110 militants have also been arrested and 60 militant hideouts have been destroyed. The house of Lashkar-i-Islam chief Mangal Bagh Afridi has also been destroyed. A security official was killed while seven others have been injured since the start of the operation in the region's Bara tehsil.

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India-Pakistan

Goodbye, Peshawar?

2008-06-29

By Dr Farrukh Saleem Peshawar -- literally 'High Fort' in Persian -- now stands encircled. Haji Mangal Bagh Afridi controls most of what is west of Peshawar. Dara Adam Khel, a mere 35 kilometres south of Peshawar, is controlled by Baitullah Mehsud's loyalists. Charsadda and Shabqadar, both less than 30 kilometres north of Peshawar, are controlled by Commander Umar Khalid, TTP's (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) leader in Mohmand agency. Two weeks ago, Javed Aziz Khan of The News reported that Sheikhan, Sarband, Regi and Nasir Bagh were under Mangal Bagh's absolute control while Mathra, Michni, Daudzai and Khazana were under Umar Khalid's control. What is the real plan? Is the 'High Fort' being surrounded with the intent of an assault? After all, Pakistan army's XI Corp -- some 60,000 soldiers -- commanded by the brave Lieutenant-General Masood Aslam is headquartered in Peshawar (in 1971, Masood Aslam was wounded fighting in Chumb-Jaurian sector. He has served in Siachen and has been the recipient of Sitara-i-Jurat for his extraordinary service and bravery). Peshawar also has the Bala Hisar Fort, the Frontier Corps' headquarters, where Major-General Mohammad Alam Khattak (Tamgha-i-Basalat) is the commander. Peshawar has the 7th Infantry Division, the Golden Arrow Division, Pakistan's 'oldest and the most battle-hardened division'. Peshawar also has the Central Police Office. Malik Naveed Khan is in command but has neither human capital nor much else. The Sarband Police Station, which is right next to Khyber agency, according to Javed Aziz Khan, has a total of six bullet-proof jackets and not a single armoured personnel carrier (APC). The Matani Police Station has one APC but that is almost always at the workshop. Is Peshawar under siege? Athar Minallah, my dear friend, insists that there are Taliban in Bradford and in Birmingham. Question: What really prevents Bradford from falling into Taliban's hands? It is not the 10the Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment; it is the civilian administrative apparatus. Cripple that civilian administrative machinery and Bradford Taliban will take over the City Hall, Bradford Cathedral and also the National Media Museum. And, in absence of an effective civilian administrative setup, almost all residents of Bradford will rush towards the Taliban for protection as well as for the dispensation of justice. South Waziristan now belongs to Baitullah Mehsud. Hafiz Gul Bahadur is the Taliban supreme commander in North Waziristan. Maulvi Faqir Mohammad controls Bajaur. Mangal Bagh and Haji Namdar reign over Khyber. Commander Umar Khalid is the boss in Mohmand. That's some 20,000 sq-km of physical Pakistan terrain. Is this terrorism or is it an insurgency? Should the state of Pakistan devise a counter-terrorism or a counter-insurgency strategy? To be certain, violence is the common denominator in terrorism and insurgency. But, rarely will terrorists attempt to actually control physical terrain. In essence, what the state of Pakistan faces is not terrorism but an active insurgency. A retired army brigadier, as knowledgeable in FATA as anyone I know, insists that the roots of this insurgency can actually be traced back to 1997. In 1999, this brigadier, with his FATA insurgency fact-file under his arm, had walked up to the DG-ISI but no one was ready to pay much heed. Then came 9/11 and that pushed the Talibanisation of NWFP some two years behind. How do we get out of it? It is obvious that jirgas are meaningless and so are peace agreements. The best suggestion that I have heard so far is as follows: give the militants every sort of indemnity that they ask for. Forgive each and every one of their past crimes. Accept a hundred other conditions put up by the militants. All in exchange for just one. And, that condition is that no one -- absolutely no one -- will be allowed to run a parallel administration. Where is the government going wrong? Well, the government blinks while the Taliban -- the government's ex-proxies -- freely exhibit their muscle (for instance, they enter Peshawar at will and take from Peshawar whatever they want). Remember, tribal loyalties belong to whoever has the muscle. Act now or sayonara Peshawar. Adiós Peshawar. Au revoir Peshawar. Mach's gut Peshawar. Aloha Peshawar. Arrivederci Peshawar. Zai jian Peshawar. Just what language do our decision makers understand?

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan Boosts Military Forces in Peshawar, Khyber Region

2008-06-29

WaPo wakes up a little bit, but they still don't get the idea that the Talibunnies, the local gunnies, and the ISI are just different fingers on the same hand. KABUL, June 28 -- Hundreds of Pakistani military and police forces moved into the northwest city of Peshawar Saturday to head off a possible attack on the city by armed Islamist insurgents. Pakistani paramilitary troops, army soldiers and police began streaming into Peshawar Friday after several contingents of heavily armed Islamist militants were seen amassing near the outskirts of the city. Residents and government officials in Peshawar said there is growing concern that the capital of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province could soon fall under Taliban control. So I guess the Talibunnies advance into Peshawar is off for a week or so ... Maj. Gen. Mohammed Alam Khattak, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said in a televised press conference that he expects the operation in the Peshawar area to last four to five days. Khattak said Pakistani security forces launched the strike against militants in the region at the request of the North-West Frontier government. 'This is an operation with the limited objectives of applying adequate force to increase the prameters of security in Peshawar and establish the government here where it has been challenged,' Khattak said. He has to say that but the fact is the frontier police were outgunned and about to be overrun, and there's no good way for the central government to explain that to the West. Residents in the nearby tribal area known as the Khyber Agency said several army tanks and armored vehicles could be seen patrolling the streets of Bara, one of the tribal area's main towns, as helicopters flew overhead. In recent months, the Khyber Agency has become a hotbed of extremist activity, and clashes involving militants there this year have killed dozens of people. The build-up of security forces in the Khyber Agency and the city of Peshawar, a densely packed urban hub about 30 miles from the border with Afghanistan, signals a major strategic shift in the country's struggle to quell extremist activity. Peshawar officials and local residents say a state of high-anxiety has besieged the city of 3 million. Many in the region fear that a major clash between Pakistani security forces and militants in Peshawar could spark a large-scale conflict that could engulf the entire North-West Frontier in violence. Not that the NWF is all that peaceful right now ... Ret. Brig. Gen. Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, said the developments in Peshawar were 'troubling.' Shah said the Taliban virtually controls the country's entire tribal belt and now it was knocking at the doors of one of the country's most strategically and politically important cities. 'The situation demands action from the government,' Shah said. Peshawar, which is a little more than 100 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, has witnessed periodic clashes with Taliban militants and local warlords within the last year. Until now, however, Pakistani authorities have steered clear of direct or large scale confrontations with the rising number of insurgents in the area. Since partners generally try to work things out between them quietly ... The strategically located Khyber Agency, a relatively prosperous and urbanized tribal agency compared to the rest of the six mountain agencies, is home to the Afridi and Shinwari tribes. Named after the famous Khyber Pass, the tribal area has for centuries been a vital trade route, leading to Central Asia. Today, it is the key passageway for the movement of military supplies to U.S. and NATO forces operating in Afghanistan. Peshawar and the Khyber Agency are also located at the crossroads of a decades long Taliban insurgency that spans the the porous 1,100 mile border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The city has been a hothouse of militant extremism, playing host to numerous Islamic fundamentalist heavyweights, including at one time al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri. But within the past two years it is lesser known Islamic insurgents and local warlords in Pakistan's restive tribal areas who have taken center stage. More than a half dozen top warlords with Taliban links or sympathies operate openly in the seven tribal agencies, including the Khyber Pass agency, Peshawar's nearest neighbor along the so-called tribal belt. In more recent months, militant warlord Mangal Bagh Afridi has presented the biggest threat to security in the region. Leader of the increasingly powerful militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, Bagh, an illiterate former bus driver, rose to power through his activism with local trade unions in the area. And through murder, preaching, murder, gun sex, murder and pillage ... Lashkar-e-Islam has come to be seen by many residents and officials in the province as a terrorizing force bent on imposing a harsh form of Isamic fundamentalism on the region. In March, more than 10 people were killed after dozens of Lashkar-e-Islam militants clashed with local residents at the edge of Peshawar. Residents and officials in the agency say Bagh's fighters control just about all a vast majority of the tribal agency. Lashkar-e-Islam has essentially formed its own shadow government in the tribal agency. Despite an official government ban, Bagh's group operates its own pirate FM radio station as part of its effort to gain the sympathies of the local tribesmen, recruit new fighters and terrorize their opponents. Lashkar-e-Islam members have destroyed dozens of CD shops in the tribal agency under orders from Bagh. Members of rival groups have even accused Lashkar-e-Islam activists of extorting money from truckers moving between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although Bagh has publicly denied any connections with the Pakistani Taliban or al-Qaeda, his efforts to impose strict Muslim codes in Bara mark him as one of the more ardent extremists operating in the region. A senior Pakistani government official in Peshawar said authorities have been aware of Bagh's exploits in the region but have refrained from moving against him. The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that local authorities in Peshawar were ordered by high-ranking military intelligence officials in Islamabad to allow Bagh to continue operating his shadow government. 'Mangal Bagh has been here for quite some time now but it's a fact that we have tolerated him because we've been told to do so,' the senior official said. The government, the agency, the military and the ISI, working hand-in-glove ... On Saturday, Pakistani security forces in the Sipah section of Bara blew up Bagh's house, according to residents and local officials. Officials said Bagh was not living in the house and has fled to the remote Tirah Valley, northwest of Bara. I bet he had enough time to take his accordion with him ... 'It's like an undeclared curfew here now in Bara and other parts of Khyber Agency,' said Ashraf ud-din Pirzada, a resident of Bara. 'It is a very confusing situation for the local people. On the one hand, they don't like bloodshed. On the other hand they want to get rid of this situation created by Mangal Bagh and his Lashkar-e-Islam.' Paramilitary troops also destroyed Lashkar-e-Islam's headquarters in the town of Shalobar near Bara. Shoaib Afridi, a Lashkar-e-Islam commander, was injured and another of the group's fighters was killed during the assault on the headquarters, according to local media reports.

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India-Pakistan

Lashkar-e-Islam volunteers demolish houses of kidnappers

2008-03-20

Hundreds of Lashkar-e-Islam volunteers on Wednesday demolished the houses of three criminals in Khyber Agency for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a child from the Punjab. The Shura of the organisation, led by its chief Mangal Bagh Afridi, met here to decide the fate of four people accused of kidnapping the minor for ransom and ruled in favour of demolition of their houses. The group managed to arrest three of the kidnappers, including Sayyal Muhammad, who is said to be heading an inter-provincial gang of kidnappers. Immediately after the Shura decision, hundreds of volunteers moved to carry out the directive and demolished the houses of three of the accused while the fourth was expected to be demolished on Thursday. The volunteers also razed the Hujra of Sayyal Muhammad despite an appeal made by his family members not to do so. Mangal Bagh rejected the plea that the Hujra belonged to the entire family. He said the place was used for planning criminal activities. "If the entire family could not restrict him from anti-social activities, then they should suffer as well," he argued. The group on Tuesday raided the compound of an alleged gang of kidnappers and recovered a two-year-old-boy kidnapped near Chakwal Interchange on Motorway on February 26. The boy was later shifted to Bara in Khyber Agency and its abductors demanded a huge ransom for his release. An FIR was lodged with the Chakwal police and a kidnapper, Shehzad, was arrested. He disclosed to the police that the child was shifted to Khyber Agency. The family of the kidnapped child then contacted Mangal Bagh, who succeeded in tracing out the culprits. A chain of arrests made during the process led the organisation to recover the child from one Razbat of Qambar Khel on information provided by Sayyal, the ringleader of the kidnappers from the area. Mangal Bagh on Tuesday morning produced the kid before the media and said the parents of the child had been contacted.

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India-Pakistan

Religious militancy will enflame Pakistan if not contained: BB

2007-04-25

Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto warned the government on Tuesday of the emergence of extremist militant groups that could threaten the entire country. In a statement, she said the emergence of the Al Badar and Al Shams groups on the political horizon in 1971 had lead to the country’s break-up. “Groups like Lashkar-e-Islami (LI), Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are now playing havoc with the country,” she said, adding, “The PPP is alarmed that even now in Islamabad, Lal Masjid’s prayer leader calls upon Madaris to provide militants.” She warned that if the fire ignited by the religious militants was not extinguished, it would “enflame” the whole country. She urged the government to wake up to its responsibility and restore law and order. “The regime has failed in its responsibility to contain militants and extremists,” she said. Recalling the latest sectarian riots and killings in the Khyber Agency, she said, “Armed men of a private militia of the Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) set on fire five security check posts in Bara on Sunday and plundered several shops. Earlier, the private militia’s head Mangal Bagh Afridi had warned security forces in an announcement on FM radio that his troops would attack if the LI centres were not vacated by early morning on Sunday.” She said that as the deadline ended, the group rampaged. She said it appeared the government had abandoned its responsibility and yielded before extremists not only in tribal areas, but also in the country’s developed areas. “It appears that extremists have regrouped and grown in strength following the rigging of the 2002 general elections,” she said, adding, “If elections are rigged again to keep the PPP and its allies out, the forces that regrouped the Taliban in tribal areas and allowed extremists to spread as far as Islamabad would be strengthened to the detriment of the Quaid’s vision of Pakistan as a federal, democratic and moderate state and threaten our people’s way of life and our nation’s destiny.”

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India-Pakistan

10 tribesmen killed in Khyber Agency festivities

2006-10-12

BARA: At least 10 more tribesmen have been killed and four others injured in clashes between Lashkar-e-Islami and Ansarul-Islam activists in Tirah valley, Khyber Agency. AI activists attacked an LI bunker late on Tuesday night, killing three LI activists and injuring four others. In the ensuing gunbattle, seven attackers were killed, and the rest fled, according to unconfirmed reports. Violence erupted in the area when political authorities established the AI to counter the LI, headed by Mangal Bagh Afridi. Maulana Khalilur Rehman, a JUI-F MNA, reportedly ‘tailored’ the AI when Mangal Bagh threatened him for “not doing enough against the political administration’s alleged atrocities”. Supporters of cleric Saifur Rehman have now joined the AI and it is now feared that they will settle personal scores with LI activists who succeeded cleric Mufti Munir Shakir. Armed conflicts between Rehman and Munir killed 36 people over a two-month period, and both of them were ousted from the agency. Several tribal jirgas have failed to broker a peace deal between the groups, allegedly because of interference by political authorities.

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India-Pakistan

Lashkar Islami accuses PA, MNA of supporting outlaws

2006-08-16

PESHAWAR: Mangal Bagh Afridi, head of the Lashkar Islami, on Tuesday accused the political agent of the Khyber Agency and National Assembly Member (MNA) Maulana Khalilur Rehman of providing weapons to his opponents, the Ansarul Islam, another religious group, and appealed to the federal government to restrain such activities. Afridi warned that such steps by the administration and the MNA would instigate clashes between different tribes of the agency and others could also attempt to acquire heavy weapons for their defence. Talking to Daily Times, he accused Rehman and Dr Tashfeen, political agent of the Khyber Agency, of disturbing law and order in the agency and asked the federal government and the NWFP governor to investigate. “If the allegations are proved, they should be given exemplary punishments,” Afridi said, adding that Waziristan had been ruined by such people. He said Lashkar Islami had never opted for conflict with the security forces in the Agency and expected the same from the administration. He said his organisation was engaged in clashes with a “group of criminals” and that the group had used mortar shells available to the government security agencies. He said his organisation had ample proof in this regard. The Lashkar had observed Independence Day as a black day, Afridi said, adding that it was not because of a lack of love for the country but because of the “high headedness of the political administration”, which was refusing to release their apprehended men on Independence Day.

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India-Pakistan

Afridi threatens violence ‘beyond borders’

2006-07-20

Lashkar Islami chief Mangal Bagh Afridi, late on Tuesday threatened to incite violent protests, possibly even seeking the help of Afghanistan, unless the Khyber Agency political administration dropped demands for his surrender. Afridi broadcast the comments on his FM radio station, saying: “It has now become difficult for us to remain peaceful.” He was responding to Monday’s demands by Khyber Agency Political Agent Dr Tashfeen that the Zakhakhel tribe handover Afridi within one week, or else face punitive measures, including the suspension of government incentives. Dr Tashfeen had also warned that Bara bazaar would again face closure unless the activities of Lashkar Islami were curtailed. Afridi, however, remained defiant, saying: “I assure you that unlike Waziristan, our armed struggle would go beyond the frontiers of the tribal territory.” He also warned that the agency’s elected parliamentarians would be the first to pay the price for not standing up to the ‘excesses’ of the authorities. “If you cannot make a government servant (political agent) abide by the constitution and (yet) have accepted him as the ruler of the agency, then you (parliamentarians) have no right to represent us in the assembly.” Political authorities were swift to respond to Afridi’s warning, dispatching paramilitary forces on Wednesday to guard the residence of Maulana Khalil Rehman, the Khyber Agency’s representative in the National Assembly. Rehman said that Lashkar Islami’s drift towards violence would do nothing to resolve the situation. He noted that the group wanted him to pursue their agenda, something he said was not feasible since he represented the entire area. “My moderate attitudes towards the conflict (has) made them hostile to me,” he claimed. He also advised the authorities not to enforce the closure of places of business, since this would punish ordinary tribesmen, not Afridi.

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India-Pakistan

Bara tribals to protest in Islamabad today

2006-06-20

The Khidmat-e-Khalaq Committee Bara (KKCB) has announced to hold a protest rally in front of the Parliament House on Tuesday (today) against the continued curfew in Bara that entered its ninth day on Monday. Jan Wali Afridi, the KKCB president, while announcing the rally at the committee’s central office at Spin Qabar, requested the committee members and “all peace loving Afridis” to participate in the rally on Tuesday. A large number of political activists, tribal elders, students and members of the KKCB attended the meeting. Afridi said that all efforts to resolve the issue through peaceful means had failed to yield positive results. “We have had enough of press conferences and rallies in the agency and in Peshawar,” he said, adding that their protest in Islamabad would bring the matter to the notice of parliamentarians and the president. The Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) Act has made all tribesmen slaves to a single person (political agent),” he said, adding that they had no other forum to seek justice from after the political agent. He said that the prolonged curfew had hurt the businessmen of the area. Demanding compensation for the business plaza razed to punish Sepah, a tribe of the Lashkar-e-Islami head Haji Mangal Bagh Afridi, he urged the authorities to end the “demolition drive” in the agency, saying innocent people were paying for crimes they had not committed.

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