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March 29, 2006
Pakistan: Islamic Radio Feud Leads To 24 Deaths
Reports yesterday from Dawn, from CNN and Associated Press via Seattle Pi relate that a feud between Islamic clerics, which has been played out for several months on illegal FM radio stations, has led to a battle in which 24 people have been killed in the Khyber Agency in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, on the border with Afghanistan.
The two clerics are Pir Saifur Rahman, of the Barelvi sect of Islam, and Mufti Munir Shakir. The two clerics fell out with each other when they used their broadcasts, which are transmitted from private addresses in the firecely tribal Pashtun region, to denigrate each other's religious beliefs.
A jirga or tribal council was held in February, which officially banned the clerics from making broadcasts, and told them to leave the Khyber Agency. Muni Shakir ignored the request and continued his illicit broadcasts from Nala village.
Shakir's supporters have been encouraging listeners to join a private army called the Laskar-i-Islam (Army of Islam) or Lashkar-i-Islam. This is touted as the means to ensure peace in the border region, which saw five people killed in a clash last month.
The recent fighting began on Monday evening in the village of Bara in Sur Dand area of Khyber Agency. It was provoked when members of the Laskar-i-Islami arrived at the house of one of cleric Pir Saifur Rahman's ardent supporters, Bacha Jee. The militia ordered him to surrender, but he refused.
The gun battle which ensued lasted for eight hours, in which seven militiamen were killed and 25 other people were injured.
The regional authorities, with the aid of a jirga, negotiated a truce between the two factions, but early yesterday morning the Laskar-i-Islam decided to violate this truce. They launched a pre-dawn raid again upon Bacha Jee's house, in which they killed 18 men, and took women and children hostage. They set the house ablaze, and then demolished the building (pictured).
Mangal Bagh, the leader of Laskar-i-Islam said that Pir Rehman's supporters gave support to terrorists and justified the attack by saying his men were carrying out a "clean-up" operation. "We have no ill-will toward the government," he said.
The whereabouts of the two trouble-making radio stars, Pir Rehman and Mufti Shakir, are now unknown by the authorities.
It has been suggested that the fighting happened because, despite orders from Governor Khalilur Rehman to clamp down on law-breakers, the Frontier Corps had taken no action when it would have been appropriate.
Negotiations were taking place to have the captured women and children released, and a one kilometer cordon has been set up around Bara. Only two suspects have been arrested, and more were being hunted.
In separate news, in the troubled region of South Waziristan Agency in the same province, where Islamic clerics allied to the Taliban and al-Qaeda have recently established Sharia Law, three members of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist group more commonly associated with fighting in Kashmir, have been arrested.
The men were taken in the town of Tank, and were found to be carrying explosives and ammunition, stated Reuters AlertNet. The three were from Karachi and had been staying with a comrade in Wana. Spokespeople from Hizbul Mujahideen have denied claims that the three were from their operations.
One, Saleem Hashmi said "No Kashmiri, especially anyone belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen, has been arrested in the tribal areas. Kashmiris are carrying out an indigenous struggle inside Indian-held Kahsmir, and have nothing to do with al Qaeda and the like."
A press release was published by separatist group Greater Kashmir.com, which again quoted Hasmi: "We've nothing to do with Al-Qaida or Taliban and neither we are present in Waziristan. We are just fighting state terrorism unleashed in Kashmir by Indian army."
The three individuals who were arrested were in a four-wheel drive vehicle leaving South Waziristan when they were stopped at a police checkpoint in Tank town, stated Dar Ali Khattak, Senior Superintendent of Police in the area. Along with explosives, arms and ammunition, the three were also found to have bomb-making manuals.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 29, 2006 4:04 PM
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