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Afghanistan

Pakistani Taliban confirm Hakimullah Mahsud titzup

2010-02-09

The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that their leader, Hakimullah Mahsud, died from injuries suffered in a U.S. drone missile strike last month, an attack that forces the insurgency to find a new leader for the second time in six months. The death of Mahsud, engineer of a devastating series of suicide attacks and raids on markets, mosques and security installations across Pakistan in the latter half of 2009, gives the U.S. another major victory in its ongoing campaign of drone missile strikes against top Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders. A drone strike last August killed Mahsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mahsud. Missiles fired by drones over Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border have also killed 15 senior Al Qaeda commanders since 2004. However, experts do not expect the loss of Hakimullah Mahsud, 28, to deal a fatal blow to the Taliban as it battles the government in the country's northwest. After Baitullah Mahsud's death last summer, the Taliban was able to regroup and launch some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistanis in years, including the Oct. 10 commando-style raid on army headquarters in Rawalpindi, a sprawling, heavily guarded complex. The raid left 14 military officers and civilian workers dead. "Obviously, it's a great setback for them in terms of morale and organizational problems. There's no doubt about it," said Talat Masood, a security analyst and retired Pakistani general. "It will take time for them to recover, but they will definitely recover because they have support in those tribal areas." Pakistani authorities initially believed that Mahsud had been injured in a Jan. 17 U.S. drone strike that targeted two cars in North Waziristan, a largely Taliban-controlled district in the tribal areas. However, Taliban sources said their leader was wounded in a drone strike Jan. 14 in Shaktoi, a village in South Waziristan near the North Waziristan border. A Taliban militant in the Orakzai district of Pakistan's tribal areas said Mahsud suffered serious injuries to his legs and abdomen in the attack. The sources said militants were trying to move Mahsud to Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, for treatment, but he died near the southern Punjab city of Multan, 460 miles northeast of Karachi. Taliban sources said he died Sunday, though that could not be confirmed. Pakistani security and intelligence sources confirmed Mahsud's death, but denied that he died in Multan and instead said he died somewhere in the tribal region.

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India-Pakistan

TTP gets Afghan Taliban support

2009-10-18

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Pakistani militants based in South Waziristan Agency committed the terrorism acts in the past couple of weeks or so with the help of the Afghan Taliban, The News learnt here on Saturday. "Leaders of various militant groups active in Pakistan under the banner of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have succeeded in winning support of the Afghan Taliban for committing terror acts in Pakistan," a source in the security forces disclosed on condition of anonymity. "They have mounted the deadly attacks in Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi and Lahore with the help of Afghan Taliban," he said. The source said the top leaders of outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have established links with the Afghan Taliban and all its operatives who have been operating in the Punjab have reached South Waziristan or Afghanistan to evade arrests as the law-enforcement agencies have launched a crackdown on such elements in the Punjab province. "Initially, this group was involved in sectarian violence and has been targeting people belonging to a particular religious sect but now it is targeting the security forces," the source said. According to the source, the security forces have, however, launched the operation - codenamed Rah-e-Nijat - in South Waziristan with full determination to eliminate the terrorists from the restive tribal region. He said majority of the troops participating in the operation have an extensive experience of warfare in mountainous terrain and have earlier been fighting terrorists in Swat, Malakand and elsewhere. "As directed by the army chief and other commanders involved in the military operation in South Waziristan, the security forces will exercise utmost care to avoid collateral damage during the operation. The commanders are very optimistic about the completion of the operation well before the end of the stipulated time and its positive outcome," the source said. The Pakistan Army launched operation against the extremists in South Waziristan Agency on the night between Friday and Saturday. According to military sources, 1,000 to 1,500 militants are present in South Waziristan and the operation has been launched after three-month siege of the militants. The political administration of South Waziristan has, however, said that over 4,000 to 5000 terrorists are present in the area with most of them hiding in Mahsuds-inhibited area. South Waziristan is the nerve centre of the TTP and the main source of terrorism across Pakistan. It is from here that TTP renders support to other terrorist groups operating from the nearby Khyber, Bajaur, Orakzai and Mohmand agencies. "The root of the terror is in South Waziristan where this group is present. It is a must to root out this terror and curse," the source said. After the death of Baitullah Mahsud in a drone strike on August 5, TTP is being led by Hakimullah Mahsud with the assistance of Waliur Rehman and Qari Hussain, who runs a suicide training camp in Kotkai area of the region. According to the source, in the last three months, the TTP militants intensified attacks on security forces deployed in South and North Waziristan agencies, including five suicide missions in Razmak area, kidnapping of 15 security personnel, killing three of them, over 300 rocket attacks and 78 improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. "Given all of the recent terrorism acts in various parts of the country, a final showdown against Taliban and their al-Qaeda Uzbek allies in South Waziristan has become an absolute necessity," the source said. The source said no doubt the country's security forces were faced with a far stronger enemy in South Waziristan than one they have confronted and overcame in Swat.

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India-Pakistan

Taliban deny Yuldachev's death in US drone attack

2009-10-03

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Taliban commander Qari Hussain on Friday denied reports that Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) leader Tahir Yuldachev was killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan in August. Talking to reporters from an undisclosed location, he said there was no truth in these reports as Tahir Yuldachev was alive. He didn't elaborate or promise any evidence to back up his claim. Qari Hussain, known as master trainer of suicide bombers, is a cousin of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)'s new head Hakimullah Mahsud, who replaced Baitullah Mahsud following the latter's death in a US missile strike in South Waziristan on August 5. Earlier, Pakistani security agencies officials were quoted as saying by at least two foreign media organizations that Tahir Yuldachev, known as Qari Farooq in Afghanistan and Pakistan, had died in a US drone attack in South Waziristan on August 27. They claimed the information regarding his death was provided to them by sources within the militants. Meanwhile, official and tribal sources in South Waziristan were quoted as saying that Tahir Yuldachev and Pakistani Taliban commander Noor Islam were indeed injured in a US drone attack on August 27 but it wasn't possible to confirm the death of the IMU leader. These sources pointed out that Noor Islam had recovered from his injuries but no kinformation was available about Tahir Yuldachev's death. It may be added that a former bodyguard of Tahir Yuldachev had phoned the Radio Liberty in Prague a few days ago to claim that the IMU leader had died in a US drone attack. Speaking in Uzbeki from somewhere in Pakistan, the man said one Abdur Rahman had been appointed as the new IMU head.

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India-Pakistan

Forces vow not to let militants converge on Mir Ali

2009-10-02

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The disgruntled remnants of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership, who have converged in Mir Ali subdivision of restive North Waziristan Agency, have decided to step up their attacks in the country following the passage of the Kerry-Lugar Bill by the US Congress, The News learnt it reliably here on Thursday. "As the security forces dismantled their network in Malakand, Swat, Dir and other areas, the remnants of the TTP leadership gathered in Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan and restored their contacts with the Taliban Movement of Afghanistan," said a source in security agencies on condition of anonymity. "They [TTP leaders] held a meeting in Mir Ali region late Wednesday night and decided to step up their attacks on the US diplomats and nationals as well as the diplomats of other countries that are supporting the Kerry-Lugar Bill because they think it will have deep impact on their activities," he added. The source said the TTP leaders also resolved in the meeting to accelerate efforts for targeting the top leadership of the PPP and Awami National Party (ANP). He said, according to the TTP leaders, the US and Nato forces were committing heinous crimes in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan. "Some calls of the TTP leaders to the Afghan Taliban have been traced and now the exact location of the callers is being traced to target them," the source said. The source said that after the broadcast of a video clip showing dead body of Baitullah Mahsud, the TTP leaders were extremely disappointed and perturbed. He said that it was due to this desperation that they were now thinking to accelerate their terror campaign in the country. He said it was also because of the frustration of the TTP leaders that the outlawed outfit claimed responsibility for suicide bombing in Bannu on Saturday last but stayed short of accepting responsibility for the bombing in Peshawar the same day whereas it was a fact that the TTP was involved in that attack, too. When approached by The News for comments, a spokesman for the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on condition of anonymity that the security forces were aware of the convergence of the TTP leaders in Mir Ali region of North Waziristan. He said they also knew that the TTP leaders were desperately trying to launch massive attacks against the security forces as well as the general public to terrorise innocent citizens. "The militants will, however, be eliminated from all parts of the country just like they have been driven out from Swat, Malakand and Dir," the ISPR spokesman remarked.

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India-Pakistan

Tahir Yuldachev is dead: bodyguard

2009-09-30

[The News (Pak)] There has been no claim or evidence yet that Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), died in a US drone strike in South Waziristan recently but a man claiming to be his bodyguard phoned the Radio Liberty in Prague on Tuesday to claim that the Uzbek commander was dead. The caller, who spoke Uzbeki language and claimed he was calling from somewhere in Pakistan, maintained that Yuldachev was killed after the death of Baitullah Mahsud in a similar US missile attack. The man who phoned Radio Liberty refused to identify himself. He claimed to have served as bodyguard to Yuldachev, who is also known as Tahir Yuldash, for a year in the past and quit the IMU as he wasn't happy with its policies. The caller disclosed that an Uzbek militant, Abdur Rahman, had taken Yuldachev's place as the new IMU head. He said Yuldachev failed to recover from head and leg injuries sustained by him in the missile attack. There was no way to confirm the claim made by the identified caller. The IMU or its allied Uzbek militant group, Islamic Jehad Union, hasnít commented on this claim yet. They would be expected to deny the claim, though the militant groups in recent times have been arguing that such claims are made at the behest of their enemies to provoke some of the most wanted militants to come forward and show their presence so that they could be tracked down. Yuldachev, stated to be in his late 30s, became the head of the IMU after the death of Juma Namagani in fighting against the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 or early 2002. There have been sightings of Yuldachev in South Waziristan, mostly in Wana area before he and his fellow Uzbeks were expelled by Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen following intensive fighting a couple of years ago. He and his fighters then shifted to parts of South Waziristan controlled by Baitullah Mahsud. Before moving to Waziristan, Yuldachev and his Uzbek militants were living in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and trying to destabilise Uzbekistan by sending fighters there across the Afghan-Uzbek and Afghan-Tajik border. Yuldachev has been producing videotapes to propagate the IMU cause against the government of President Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan. In his messages, he has also been criticising the US for its alleged anti-Muslim policies and praising the al-Qaeda and Taliban for resisting the Western powers.

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India-Pakistan

New TTP kingpin Waliur Rahman studied in Faisalabad Madrassa

2009-08-28

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Maulana Waliur Rahman, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, who has emerged as the pivotal figure in the banned organization following the death of Baitullah Mahsud, is a 35-year old cleric who studied at a madrassa in Faisalabad. Taliban sources said Waliur Rahman graduated from the Jamia Islamia Imdadia, Faisalabad in 1994. He had studied at local madrassas in his native South Waziristan before seeking admission in the seminary in Faisalabad. Subsequently, he taught for about seven years in a madrassa in Karama in South Waziristan. Some years ago he joined the Taliban movement and started enjoying Baitullah Mahsud's trust. In due course of time he was entrusted responsibility to look after the financial matters of the TTP. "Baitullah trusted him in money matters. He became a close aide to the TTP leader even though his designation was that of a deputy to Baitullah in charge of the organization's finances," said a knowledgeable Mahsud political activist, who requested anonymity. According to Taliban sources, Waliur Rahman's brother Qareebur Rahman was killed when the militants stormed the military fort at Saplatoi in South Waziristan sometime back. The paramilitary Frontier Corps resisted the attack and Qareebur Rahman, along with a number of militants and soldiers, was killed in the fighting. Waliur Rahman's father Asmatullah reportedly suffered heart attack and died when he was informed about his son's death.At one stage in his life and before joining the Taliban militants, Waliur Rahman was associated with Maulana Fazlur Rahman's Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and pursued peaceful politics. He attended the Deoband conference organized by the JUI-F at Taru Jabba near Peshawar on the Grand Trunk Road some years ago.Waliur Rahman belongs to the Malkhel clan of the Manzai sub-tribe of the Mahsuds. He isn't a cousin of Baitullah as wrongly reported in a section of the media. In fact, he and Baitullah belonged to different sections of the Mahsud tribe. Baitullah was from the Shabikhel clan of the Mahsud tribe.Following Baitullah's death in the US drone attack on the night of August 5 on his father-in-law Ikramuddin's house in Zangara village in South Waziristan, Waliur Rahman emerged as a key leader in the TTP. He holds the TTP purse and was privy to Baitullah's secrets. Waliur Rahman was one of the main contenders for Baitullah's job as the TTP head. Tribal sources said his appointment as the TTP head for South Waziristan made him the pivotal figure in the organization. South Waziristan is the TTP headquarters and its major stronghold and any Taliban commander heading the chapter there would control all its fighters and resources. Hakimullah Mahsud no doubt was chosen as the TTP's central head but he would need Waliur Rahman's support and blessings to effectively run the organization that has been weakened by Baitullah's death and the loss of certain other key commanders and bases due to military operations by Pakistan's armed forces. It would be an even bigger challenge to keep the TTP intact in the absence of the powerful figure of Baitullah.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan: Al-Qaida has role in Taliban succession

2009-08-10

Pakistan is worried that al-Qaida is trying to install its own "chief terrorist" as the head of Pakistan's Taliban following the apparent killing of the group's leader in a CIA missile strike, a top official said Monday. Meanwhile, one of the militants believed to be a potential successor phoned The Associated Press to dispel reports that he was killed during a clash among those vying to lead the group. The militant, Hakimullah, insisted once again that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was alive and said the insurgent group remained united. And the AP knows it was Hakimullah because ...? Caller ID? Secret password? Interior Minister Rehman Malik told BBC radio that all the "credible information" points to Mehsud having died in the Wednesday missile attack. The Pakistan Taliban appear in disarray, Malik said. "It will take some time for them to regroup," Malik said. "The other thing which is a bit worrying is that al-Qaida is getting grouped in the same place, and now they are trying to find out somebody to install him as the leader, as the chief terrorist, in that area." Malik said Pakistan was taking "all those measures which are necessary" to respond to the scenario. The 30-something Mehsud grew in power largely because of his links to the predominantly Arab terror network, analysts say. Mehsud and his deputies controlled swaths of Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghan border, a region where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is rumored to be hiding. So he was already al-Qaeda's boy, just as the next 'leader' will be ... Al-Qaida is believed to have provided guidance and funding to Mehsud, who in turn could provide suicide bombers and other assets to carry out attacks throughout Pakistan. Malik did not specify which candidate might be al-Qaida's preference, though it is highly unlikely that Pakistan Taliban fighters would agree to an Arab candidate or anyone not of the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates the tribal belt. They'll need a Pashtun flunky who's amenable to taking large amounts of al-Qaeda cash, four wives, and lots of guns and ammo in return for a little direction. Gonna be tough to find someone like that in Wazoo ... American and Pakistani government and intelligence officials, as well as some Taliban commanders and at least one rival militant, have said Mehsud likely died in Wednesday's drone strike on his father-in-law's house in the South Waziristan tribal area. Conflicting reports have also emerged about clashes between rival Taliban factions during a meeting, or shura, to select Mehsud's replacement. Some reports said one or both of the leading contenders -- Hakimullah and Waliur Rehman -- were killed or wounded. Pray for sepsis ... Hakimullah spoke to an AP reporter who was familiar with his voice, and claimed that the reports of infighting were all part of a government propaganda campaign aimed at disturbing the militants. "There is neither any rift in the Taliban ranks nor will they fight against each other," Hakimullah said. "This propaganda cannot divide us. And I will say again Baitullah Mahsud is alive." Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is a loose alliance of tribal groups that often have disputes and power struggles, so removing the man who coordinated the factions could lead to intense rivalry over who would succeed him. It could be in the interests of top commanders to deny their leader was dead until they could agree on who would replace him.

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India-Pakistan

Baitullah Meahsud The end of a Zionist collaborator

2009-08-09

Yesterday, the evil Zionist top mouthpieces media outlets, CNN, BBC, and FoxNews, etc. gloated justifiably that Pakistan's most crazed wanted Taliban leader, Baitullah Pretty Boy Mahsud, has been zapped killed by a US Hellfire missile. It suppose know that could be used an excuse to prove that Pretty Boy Baitullah Mahsud was not a CIA, MOSSAD and RAW asset, as claimed by Mahsud's former lover close but not that close aide, Haji Turkistan Betani on Pakistan TV Geo News another Zionist outlet. Haji also claimed deliriously that Pretty Boy Baitullah Mahsud got Morticia Benazir Bhutto assassinated for his American, Israeli and Indian lovers masters. Qari Zainuddin, an Afghan Taliban thug boy commander, rejected Baitullah Mahsud as a crazed killer Mujahid based on later's pretty boy looks un-Islamic activities and said in the telephone interview from a Reuters safehouse that Afghan Taliban has pledged obedience nothing to do with Baitullah Mahsud and his crazed followers. Qari also made up out of whole cloth claimed that Pretty Boy Baitullah Mahsud had wads of cash delivered by close contacts with Juice Israeli and Hindoooz Indian officials -- and that he was sleeping with misguiding Muslim youth who are so easily swayed after all to target Pakistani camp followers civilians and weapons depots mosques as part of his collaboration with fight against the so-called Pakistan ineffectual government. The full color pictures of some hard boyz terrorists turned into meat killed by Pakistan Army as cover for the ISI in Swat prove that they were infidels non-Muslim terrorists hired by the evil Juice US, Britain and Hindooz India to distablize not that it would be hard and eventually break-up the Land of the Pure Pakistan -- the only Muslim so-called nation with primitive nuclear weapons. The charred bodies of these dead dead dead terrorist show that they're really really dead uncircumcised. Their partial facial features prove that they could be Kashmir Muslim separatists Nepalese Gurkhas from Indian or British Armed forces -- or Uzbek Muslim terrorists recruited by al-Qaeda members of pro-US Northern Alliance Army Mafia trained and armed by the Special Forces US and Juice Israel. After the ineffectual Pakistan Army confirmed that the arms it delivered to captured from terrorists in Swat and FATA -- are nothing but the best American made -- the evil Dick Cheney Washington was quick to gloat cover its smart dirty game against both anti-Israel Pakistanis -- by saying that some of its arms given to our favorite warlord Karzai puppet government in Kabul have been sold on the black market reached in the hands of "Pakistani Taliban" fighing Islamabad. How convenient, yewbetcha eh! Washington has a long history of getting rid of its foreign collaborators, once they served American interests and a smart policy that is -- Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), King Reza Shah (Iran), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Ahmad Chalabi (occupied Iraq), Manuel Noriega (Panama), Gen. Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan), Anwar Sadaat (Egypt), Yasser Arafat (occupied Palestine), Afghan Mujahideen, Taliban (Afghanistan), Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan), Gen. Zia ul-Haq (Pakistan), Zulifqar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan) -- to name a few and don't forget the banana republic caudillos. The kooky diatribe words of wisdom from Pakistan's first of many losing military leader, Field Marshal in his own mind Ayub Khan: "The United States is unable to give assistance to whacked out military leaders people in the developing countries on the basis of mutual respect since we don't ever get any in return. Americans don't know how to be friends with thugs and not masters".

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India-Pakistan

Mulla Nazeer scraps peace deal with govt

2009-07-03

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] After the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants in North Waziristan, another pro-government militant commander, Mulla Nazeer, also scrapped his peace deal with the government in South Waziristan Agency on Thursday. A senior associate of Mulla Nazeer, Saada Janan, called The News from Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and claimed their Shura or council unanimously decided to scrap the peace accord with the government to protest the frequent US drone attacks in their territory. The political administration of South Waziristan, however, claimed that Mulla Nazeer has revived his peace accord with the government by sending 120-member jirga of Ahmadzai Wazir elders to negotiate with senior government officials in Wana. Prominent Ahmadzai elders, including Malik Noor Ali, Malik Ghazi Mohammad and Malik Ajmal Khan led the jirga that called on South Waziristan Political Agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah and Assistant Political Agent Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah in Wana. The elders said Mulla Nazeer had given them authority to hold talks with the government for restoration of peace in the region. Also, the jirga members said Mulla Nazeer allowed them to revive the April 2007 peace agreement with the government and promised not to attack government installations and security forces. After successful talks between the government and Ahmadzai Wazirs, the government later released six tribesmen who were held a few days back. A close associate of Mulla Nazeer, who introduced himself as Sadda Janan, however, called The News and said they have nothing to do with a meeting of tribal jirga and political authorities. He said their Shura or council decided to scrap the peace agreement with the government as according to him the government was fully cooperating with US forces in targeting their leadership in Wana through drone attacks. He said they had already directed their fighters to attack government installations and fight against the security forces. Asked about a similar stance already taken by Taliban commander in North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur over US drone attacks, where drone did not fire missile during the past two months, Saada Janan argued all the three Taliban commanders -- Baitullah Mahsud, Mulla Nazeer and Hafiz Gul Bahadur -- in February last formed Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen or council of holy warriors, in which he claimed, all of them promised to fight alongside if anyone of them was attacked. Mulla Nazeer and his Ahmadzai Wazir militants played decisive role in eviction of Uzbek nationals from Wana, Azam Warsak and Shakai areas when the government launched massive military operation against them in 2007.

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Afghanistan

How the Taliban finances its operations

2009-05-04

Arguably, the Taliban’s current strategy in the Swat region of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is to exploit all resources available to them while the truce agreement with the Pakistan government is in force. Emerald Mining Late in March, reports from the Swat valley emerged that the Taliban militants had taken control of government controlled emerald mines located in the mountains of Mingora. The occupation of the Mingora mine apparently took place sometime in February 2009, following the peace deal between the provincial administration and Sufi Muhammad, leader of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM - Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law). Taliban forces then seized the nearby Shamozai and Gujjar Killi mines and initiated mining and trading processes on their own, employing a large number of local laborers. Locals are eager to work for the Taliban, who take one-third of the profits and distribute the rest to the workers. The Gujjar Killi emerald mine in Shangla district (NWFP) was formerly leased to Luxury International, a US-based firm that abandoned operations when fighting began in the area. Nearly 70 Taliban militants occupied the mine after ousting government-appointed officials and employed local laborers on a profit sharing basis (Daily Times, April 2). Locals said the Taliban had decided to occupy Gujjar Killi when the government failed to take any action after the seizure of the Mingora mine (The News, April 2). Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Swat Taliban, justified the mining by saying that “all these minerals have been created by Allah for the benefit of his creatures” (Sunday Telegraph, April 4). Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the Swat-based Tehrik Taliban Swat (TTS), has been largely responsible for this economic activity in the NWFP. Fazlullah, the son-in-law of TNSM leader Sufi Muhammad, now controls these mining activities in Swat and adjoining places. According to one report, the gemstones are sold quickly at below market prices and smuggled to the Indian city of Jaipur (capital of Rajasthan) and thereafter transported to Bangkok, Switzerland and Israel (Sunday Telegraph, April 4). A BBC report indicated that emerald prices range from $1,000 to more than $100,000 for a cut stone, depending on the size and quality (BBC News, March 24). Emerald mining and the international sale of gemstones through various channels provides much needed capital for the Taliban to capture other natural resources in the region. Most alarming is the possibility that the Taliban, which is largely immune to any offensive for now, could target other precious stone mines in the NWFP. Pink Topaz, Peridot, Aquamarine and Tourmaline are all available in abundance in different parts of the province. There are also reports that archaeological sites in the area are being looted, with the Taliban likely taking a cut of the proceeds, either as protection money or to encourage the continued instability that makes such looting possible (Dawn [Karachi], March 22). It is feared that the Taliban will use the money made from the excavation and sale of gemstones to finance more suicide attacks on NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan and support Taliban expansion in Pakistan. Timber Trade Another lucrative source of income for the Taliban is Swat’s forests. The symbiotic tie between Taliban militants and the Timber mafia in Swat and nearby Dir is no secret. Large-scale illegal cutting of the region’s pine forests began simultaneously with the 2007 Taliban offensive in the area and the flight of most of the people living in the forests (Dawn, March 22). Taliban militants have been involved in the widespread cutting of the thick pine forests and apple orchards of Malam Jaba, Fatehpur, Miandam and Lalko, often in collusion with the mafia elements that cause enormous environmental damage to the region while making immense profits (The News, April 13). The Taliban has long been in control of the timber trade in the NWFP and parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In mid-2008, Environment Minister Hamidullah Jan Afridi pointed towards the militant-criminal nexus in FATA and stated that the “timber mafia” has been responsible for funding militancy in the NWFP and in FATA (Daily Times, July 28, 2008). The enormity of the illegal exploitation of this state-owned natural resource can be determined by the statement of one government official: “The losses suffered by forests in the last year were more than the losses of the last two decades” (The National [Abu Dhabi], April 3). The Jiziya Tax Taliban financing efforts have reached the Orakzai Agency of FATA, situated close to Swat and Bajaur Agency, the site of heavy fighting between the Taliban and government forces in recent months. Taliban militants have demolished houses belonging to the minority Sikh community and confiscated their property in the Ferozkhel area of Orakzai Agency after they failed to pay the negotiated amount of 15 million rupees to the Taliban as jiziya—the poll tax levied on non-Muslim minorities living under Islamic rule as sanctioned by Shari’a. The houses were destroyed at the behest of Taliban commander Hakimullah Mahsud, the Taliban head in the Orakzai Agency and a close aide of TTP chief Baitullah Mahsud (The Nation [Islamabad], April 30). Earlier in April, Taliban militants demanded 50 million rupees a year as jiziya. To enforce their demands they held local Sikh leader Sardar Saiwang Singh captive and occupied a number of Sikh-owned houses (ANI, April 15; Daily Times, April 16). Many Sikhs have decided to flee Swat, followed by members of the Hindu and Christian minorities (SamayLive, April 25). The situation for the Christian minority in Swat following the imposition of a Shari’a-based administration is not good. . . . Pro-Taliban elements have attacked the Christian community in the Karachi neighborhood of Surjani Town. The violence began when pro-Taliban militants tried to prevent local Christians from removing graffiti on their church that demanded Christians convert to Islam or give jiziya, like the Sikhs in Orakzai (Daily Times, April 23; The News, April 23). Conclusion Surprisingly, the Islamabad administration has so far remained silent over the Taliban takeover of mines and the exploitation of forest resources. Pakistan is suffering the loss of 65 billion rupees annually from the illegal timber trade and indiscriminate deforestation alone. The plight of minority communities has been ignored by the government.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan: origin of three-quarters of all terror plots

2009-04-10

At least three in every four terror plots currently under investigation in the UK have their roots in Pakistan, according to the security services. Decisions, decisions: surprise meter? Patience meter? Cynicism meter? Whilst Afghanistan was seen as the training ground of terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks, recent experience has shown that increasing numbers of al-Qaeda extremists are being trained across the border in the tribal areas in the north west of Pakistan. President Obama openly refers to his "Af-Pak" strategy for combating militancy, such is the prevalance of terror suspects who have been radicalised in Pakistan. "have been" radicalized? They've been radicalized from day one. Of the four men who carried out the London suicide bombings in July 2005, three were young British men of Pakistani origin who had travelled to the country to receive religious and military training. Just rounding out their education, much like Brits of old would travel to the continent to learn about wine and which fork to use at dinner ... Mohammed Siddique Khan, the leader of the plot, was raised in Beeston, West Yorkshire, but was understood to have made regular trips to terrorist training camps in southern Punjab, and was captured on video at Karachi airport in November 2004 with his accomplice Shehzad Tanweer, 22, another British national of Pakistan origin. They returned to Britain the following February. The third bomber of Pakistani origin, Hasib Hussain, aged 18, had travelled to Pakistan 12 months before the attack. Meanwhile, the alleged plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester has been linked by MI5 to two al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan - British Pakistani Rashid Rauf, who has been implicated in at least one other alleged terror plot, and Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban movement who has promised attacks on the West in hate-filled pronouncements in recent weeks. So many UK terror suspects have links to Pakistan that thousands of innocent travellers between the two countries every year are now closely monitored for signs of suspicious activity. Which apparently is wrong, or at least suspicious, since the poor dears will be traumatized by having been briefly considered as terrorists ... Latest estimates suggest 4,000 young British Muslims have been trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan, and with 400,000 British citizens visiting Pakistan each year, there are fears that many more will become radicalised. They aren't being radicalized in Pakistan, they are radicalized in Britain by imans in British mosques. They're going to Pakistan to polish their skills. Monitoring of regular visitors has intensified, which has raised the possibility of a change in tactics by terrorists, who may have switched to using Pakistani nationals who may not be so closely monitored when they visit the UK. Shahid Aslam, a British employment solicitor who runs an immigration consultancy in Lahore, said terrorists could easily take advantages of gaps in the British visa application process to enter Britain on a valid visa. He claimed there had been a number of cases where employees of agencies processing visa applications in Pakistan had accepted inducements to speed and guarantee entry visas. So the agencies and their employees need to be screened, tossed and turned to Brit advantage.

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India-Pakistan

And now there is Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan!

2009-03-07

Pakistani Taliban have now surfaced in Balochistan by organising themselves under the banner of Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan. Engineer Asad, claiming to be its spokesman, said in a phone call from an undisclosed location in Balochistan that their organisation had no link with the Baitullah Mahsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It wasn’t possible to verify the claim made by Engineer Asad or to know more about his identity. The man, who spoke Pashto in an accent peculiar to Balochistan, explained that the members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan (TTB) were all Pakistanis. He said the struggle of the TTB was against non-Muslims and Western forces that had attacked and occupied Islamic countries. He said the TTB was opposed to fighting the Pakistani security forces and law-enforcement agencies and turning Pakistan into a battlefield. Instead, he said, the TTB was committed to fighting the enemies of Islam. The TTB spokesman termed suicide bombings un-Islamic. He condemned the suicide attack that targeted and missed the JUI-F provincial head, Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, and other party leaders at a seminary in Pishin district on Monday. The blast killed six people. Engineer Asad said the TTB wasn’t involved in the Pishin suicide bombing. He said it had no dispute with Maulana Sherani or the JUI-F. “We respect the JUI-F and consider it as our ally. This suicide bombing is the work of our enemies,” he argued. Maulana Sherani, it may be recalled, had blamed a group of the Afghan Taliban led by Mulla Dadullah, who was later killed by US forces in Afghanistan, for a previous attack on his life some years ago. His allegation created rift between the JUI-F and Afghan Taliban. It also caused differences in the JUI-F, as one faction of the party didn’t believe that the Afghan Taliban were behind the failed attack on the life of Maulana Sherani. If one were to believe Engineer Asad, then the group of Pakistani Taliban operating in Balochistan is different than those active in the NWFP and its tribal areas. The TTB is the latest among the Taliban groups now functioning in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The TTP members are almost all Pakhtuns but it is possible that the TTB would have some Baloch activists. The militants hailing from Punjab and operating in the NWFP and Fata are often referred to as Punjabi Taliban.

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