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May 1, 2006

Pakistan: Islamic Cleric Murdered For Collaboration In Waziristan

We reported on April 17 that two local Pashtun tribesmen were killed for being "US spies" in the agency of North Waziristan, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. Waziristan lies alongside the border with Afghanistan, and has recently seen the emerging phenomenon of Talibanisation. The two individuals had been decapitated. One of these had been a Muslim cleric.

Today, Reuters and the Sydney Morning Herald, Deutsche Presse-Agentur via the Khaleej Times and Pravda report that another Muslim cleric has been found killed near Mir Ali town, 16 miles east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan.

80 year old Maulana Janaat Mir had been kidnapped by militants last week. An intelligence official said: "Maulana (Mir) was also head of his tribe and his name was on a militants' hit list circulated to people of the area five months ago."

This list bore the names of 28 tribesmen who are accused of either being informers or spies for the Pakistan or US. When the ageing cleric's body has found near Zeraki village outside the market town of Mir Ali, his head had been removed. He is the fifth alleged collaborator to have been beheaded in recent weeks. The cleric, according to Pravda, had been shot in the chest. According to Khaleej Times, the imam had been strangled and dumped near a graveyard.

All sources state that the cleric had been actively involved in mediation between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants. Pravda, which states the cleric was aged 55, not 80, quotes an intelligence official who said that he had survived a bomb attack near his home in January, and had received warning letters from militants, ordering him not to cooperate with the authorities.

Since January this year, 51 soldiers and 317 militants have been killed in the region.

On Saturday, the Pakistan press carried a rather optimistic assessment of the Waziristan situation, from Shaukat Sultan, of ISPR - an inter-agency government intelligence group. Sultan claimed that the Pakistan army had complete control of Waziristan. He said that since July 2005, 39 offensives against extremists had been launched against terrorists, and claimed a senior Al Qaeda leader, Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, had been killed but his body had not been recovered.

Sultan said 31,000 regular military were in North Waziristan, and 14,000 paramilitary personnel to keep the peace. He claimed that 80% of the local population were not siding with the militants, but admitted that "foreign" militants were still trying to enter the zone.

The Daily Times of Pakistan today noted that on Thursday President Musharraf had said that Talibanisation was creeping into other regions. The Daily Times editorial noted that 150 tribal leaders who supported the government have been murdered by the militants. Because journalists are not allowed into the region, hard factual information is not available. Those who have entered the zone have brought back nasty tales, not to mention nasty DVDs, which are openly on sale, depicting decapitations and other atrocities committed by the "Pakistan Taliban".

Senior Al Qaeda leaders have been killed in the region - on December 1, Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Rabia, al-Qaeda's third in command, was killed near Miranshah, and on January 13, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar or Abu Khabab was killed in a US strike near the Afghan border in the village of Damadola.

Al Qaeda and Taliban militants have been hiding in the region for some time, but North and South Waziristan have seen creeping Talibanisation. In South Waziristan in early March, after being threatened by militants, local clergy set up sharia law. The sharia court executed its first victim on March 26.

Last week, Haji Omar (pictured) stated from South Waziristan that the "Pakistan Taliban" in the region would mount a continuous holy war against US and British troops in Afghanistan. Haji Omar claims to have established peace in South Waziristan by winning the hearts and minds of the local people. In a telephone statement to Reuters, Haji Omar claimed: "There is no Al Qaeda here. There is only local Taliban, the Taliban of Waziristan."

In 2004, Haji Omar signed a peace deal with the Pakistan government, and therefore is not on any "wanted" lists, despite his saying that he is recruiting fighters and sending them into Afghanistan. Currently, the US is planning to reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan from over 19,000 to 16,500.

Omar is 45, and a veteran of the anti-Soviet fighting which was perpetrated by mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s. He claims to have met Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of Afghanistan's Taliban leadership. The Taliban assumed power in 1996, after castrating, beating and hanging Afghanistan's legitimate ruler, Mohammed Najibullah, on September 27 in Kabul. After the US ousted the Taliban at the end of 2001, many of its luminaries and Al Qaeda affiliates fled to the borderland regions of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 1, 2006 8:03 AM

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