Taliban Losses Are No Sure Gain for Pakistani's

By:JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH

For the past month and a half the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach toward the heartland of the country.Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week the low rise buildings of Mingora the largest city in Swat now deserted and under a 24 hour curfew appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.

All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without a major fight possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere military analysts say. About two million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.The reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from the United States which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.

But the Taliban’s decision to scatter leaves the future of Swat and Pakistan’s overall stability under continued threat military analysts and some politicians say.The tentative results in Swat also do not bode well for the military’s new push in the far more treacherous terrain of South Waziristan another insurgent stronghold where officials have vowed to take on the leader of the Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud who remains Pakistan’s most wanted man.

Signs abound that the military’s campaign in Swat is less than decisive. The military extended its deadline for ending the campaign. Even in the areas where progress has been made the military controls little more than urban centers and roads say those who have fled the areas. The military has also failed to kill or capture even one top Taliban commander.

It was “very disappointing ” said Aftab Ahmed Sherpao a senior politician from the region that none of the commanders had been eliminated. It turned out he said that early reports of the capture of Ibn Amin a particularly brutal commander from Matta were incorrect.

Many Taliban fighters have infiltrated the camps set up for those displaced by the fighting and are likely to return with them to Swat said Himayatullah Mayar the mayor of Mardan the city where many of the refugees are staying. “Most of the Taliban shaved their beards and they are living here with their families ” he said.As of two weeks ago the police had arrested 150 people in the camps suspected of being members of the Taliban Mr. Mayar said. This figure did not include suspects arrested by the Intelligence Bureau Pakistan’s domestic intelligence outfit and the Directorate forInter Services Intelligence the country’s main spy agency he said.

Meanwhile the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari has yet to announce a full plan for how it will provide services like courts policing and health care that will allow the refugees to return home and the government to fully assert control.Those plans appear to be mired in conflict and mutual suspicion between the military and the civilian government raising serious questions about whether the authorities can secure Swat and other areas and keep them from being taken back by the Taliban military experts said.

“I’ve told the president and the prime minister and the chief of the army this is the time to act. Just take basic things and implement them ” said Gen. Nadeem Ahmad the commander of the Special Support Group an arm of the Pakistani military that is providing temporary buildings and some food for the displaced. “This is not talking rocket science.”On a notepad General Ahmad had drawn a chart of the four elements of what he called “lasting peace.” They were good government improved delivery of services including rebuilt schools speedy justice (something the Taliban had provided) and social equity.

He appeared to be skeptical that those aspects could be delivered within what he called an essential one year time frame. He said he had warned the leaders “If you don’t deliver it will be trouble. You will come back and do the operation again.”Having witnessed past episodes of deal making with the Taliban the people of Swat say they want tangible proof that the military is serious this time and that they will be safe if they return home.

From the start a rallying cry has been a demand that the army kill or capture Taliban leaders a ruthless group of highly trained fighters some with links to Al Qaeda. But the army has not been able to show any evidence that it killed any of the Taliban leaders.The daily newspaper The News said in a recent editorial that unless Maulana Fazlullah the Taliban’s main commander in Swat and Mr. Mehsud the country’s top enemy were captured “the Taliban are going to live to fight another day.”

Indeed most of the damage from the recent fighting appears confined to small agricultural hamlets outside Mingora according to interviews with displaced people. Some said they had heard from recent arrivals to the camps that areas 500 yards off the roads remained in control of the militants.

The “outlook was bleak” in Swat because the civilian government did not have the money or the skills to rebuild said Shuja Nawaz the author of a history of the Pakistani military and now the director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington.Most of the two million displaced people are still living in tent camps and cramped quarters with relatives and even strangers in cities as far flung as the southern port of Karachi.

Many displaced people were fed up with the cruelties inflicted under Taliban rule and have backed the military campaign. But as the fighting drags on in places the mood among them grows increasingly despondent.Some displaced people said that they were angry at the army for indiscriminate shelling in civilian areas. Others said they were confused about why the military operation was even necessary.

“We had no problem with the Taliban ” Umar Ali a poultry trader from Qambar in Swat said as he sat on the veranda of a home in Swabi a town filled with displaced people. “We’re here because of the military shelling. I’m a trader and the thing that affects my life is the curfew.”

Earlier Pakistani campaigns against the Taliban do not offer an encouraging precedent. In Bajaur a part of the tribal areas two main economic centers the market towns of Loe Sam and Inayat Kalay remain in ruins nearly eight months after the army smashed them in pursuit of the Taliban and claimed victory.

Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated

analysts claim enemy of slain tribal leader is protected, funded by CIA

A whistleblower who defected from the Pakistani Taliban has been assassinated just days after he claimed that the group was working with US intelligence to destabilize the country.

Qari Zainuddin, a tribal leader of the South Waziristan region in Pakistan was shot dead on Tuesday by a gunman said to be loyal to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Analysts said that Mr Zainuddin’s murder was a serious blow to the military campaign against the militants, as support of his faction was considered crucial, reports the London Times. “[It] is a warning to other pro government tribal commanders,” said Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier who had served as top official in the tribal region.

Zainuddin had rejected Mehsud’s Taliban tribe, and shifted his allegiance to the Pakistani government, following a string of suicide bombings targeting mosques and civilians.

The Pakistani government also claims that Mehsud was responsible for the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

One of Qari Zainuddin’s aides, who was also injured in the attack that killed the tribal leader, told the media that a lone gunman was able to enter Zainuddin’s office and open fire, before escaping uninjured.

“It was definitely Baitullah’s man who infiltrated our ranks, and he has done his job,” Baz Mohammad told the Associated Press news agency.

Zainuddin had recently hit out at Mehsud in an interview with the AP.

“Whatever Baitullah Mehsud and his associates are doing in the name of Islam is not a jihad, and in fact it is rioting and terrorism,” Zainuddin said.

Though the BBC and other mainstream sources highlighted this interview with Zainuddin, they neglected to cover the fact that Zainuddin also reportedly denounced Mehsud as “an American agent”.

Both Iranian and Pakistani media independently covered his remarks, adding that Zainuddin also described Baitullah Mehsud as having strong links with both Indian and Israeli intelligence.

In an interview with local media the defector said that Mehsud had established strong links with Israeli intelligence services, which were destabilizing the nuclear armed country, reports the Iranian news service Press TV.

“These people (Mehsud and his men) are working against Islam.” the report quotes Zainuddin as having said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s largest daily newspaper, The News, carried a report last Sunday that highlighted the remarks:

“In interviews to various media organisations on Thursday, Qari Zainuddin and his deputy Haji Turkistan had alleged that Baitullah was an American and Indian agent, he had killed Benazir Bhutto and that the real Jihad was going on in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan.” the report stated.

“Many diplomats contacted Foreign Office and Interior Ministry officials as well as media persons, seeking answers to their questions. Some Western diplomats were particularly confused over the claim that Baitullah was an American agent and that he had killed Benazir Bhutto. These diplomats were asking a question that if Baitullah was involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, does that mean that the American authorities were also involved in the conspiracy.” the report continued.

Of course, whether you put faith in the Iranian and Pakistani media on these reports, is another question, however, there have been suspicions for some time amongst some Pakistanis that Baitullah Mehsud is on the CIA payroll and is being protected by the intelligence apparatus.

According to retired brigadier and former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Shaukat Qadir, the Pakistani military has requested US help to kill Baitullah Mehsud on several occasions and provided the US with accurate information of his location. Despite this, he claims, Mehsud was never targeted.

Other analysts hold suspicions that Indian and US intelligence are funneling weapons, financial aid and even fighters to the Pakistani Taliban.

The history of the Taliban in Afghanistan, as we have previously reported, is replete with connections to western controlled intelligence agencies.

These facts were also recently highlighted by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who admitted that the CIA and his country’s ISI together created the Taliban.

The Taliban’s spread into Pakistan has also been connected to intelligence driven plots to Balkanize the middle East.

Baitullah Mehsud exposed and denounced by Afghan Taliban!

“Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud, we are Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan and we have nothing to do with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan” – says Qari Zainuddin, representative of Afghan Taliban in an interview to a local news channel today.

PKKH has been writing that Baitullah Mehsud is a foreign asset with assigned responsibility to create chaos in FATA for destabilizing Pakistan. In earlier days of conflict, PKKH presented full coverage on Baitullah Mehsud in “Who is Baitullah Mehsud?“, then on April 5, 2009 PKKH wrote “Agent Mehsud on a mission to prove his worth” and the most latest report presented is during on-going successful operation rah-e-rast “Saving Agent Mehsud“.

During interview, Qari Zainuddin said:

“The agreement with the government is still intact. Islam does not allow carrying out activities within Pakistan and this is the main cause that led to the difference with Baitullah Mehsud.

Scholars like Maulana Hasan Jan declared suicide attacks as un-Islamic. The declaration led to the killing of Maulan Hasan. Islam cannot spread with the use of force but with invitation. Why the people who train suicide attackers not sacrifice their loved ones for the purpose. Baitullah Mehsud is ‘zalim’ (cruel) and responsible for all the destruction.

Qari Zain said security forces actions will be only against Baituallah Mehsud and not the common people as they have nothing to do with it. Whatever is done by Baitullah is supported by Indian intelligence agencies.”

Responding to a question, Qari Zainuddin, categorically rejected TTP saying, “We are Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan and we have nothing to do with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan”

Source: Geo News

Statement from Qari Zainuddin should clear that who are marginalized friends and who are disguised enemies eliminating all room for doubts in everyone’s minds. It is time that we support our troops unconditionally who are in fact fighting against foreign sponsored terrorism, help our displaced brothers and sisters and stand united against enemies of Pakistan and Islam alike.

US, Israel and India backing Baitullah Mehsud: reveals close aide

June 18, 2009

Haji Turkistan Betani, a former close aide of Baitullah Mahsud, has claimed that assassination of Benazir Bhutto was plotted by Baitullah Mehsud.

Talking to Sana Bucha in Crisis Cell programme of Geo News, Haji Turkistan said that he was with Baitullah, who had stated that he had sent two persons to Rawalpindi for assassinating Benazir Bhutto. He also revealed that Baitullah is an American agent and this is the reason he has not been targeted by the US drones.

Haji Turkistan said that Baitullah is misguiding innocent youths on the instigation by Israel and India to destroy mosques and educational institutions and martyr religious scholars inside Pakistan.

This comes after Qari Zainuddin, a rival commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Chief Baitullah Mehsud, on Wednesday disclosed that the TTP has links with India and Israel. He said that Baitullah Mehsud has acted against Islam as well as the country and if not eliminated now, militancy would surge and problems for the government would grow.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, Zainuddin Mehsud said though Baitullah was wearing the cap of Mujahideen but all his actions were against Islam and the country, adding they would support military action against him. See (Baitullah Mehsud exposed and denounced by Afghan Taliban)

Qari Zainuddin recalled that his group and Baitullah Mehsud’s were together with Abdullah Mehsud prior to his killing. After his death, Baitullah Mehsud founded the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan leading to differences between his group and Baitullah’s. The split came over Baitullah Mehsud’s activities inside Pakistan, that Islam did not permit.

Zainuddin said after their split, they moved to Shakai.

Qari said when Maulana Hasan Jan declared suicide attacks “Haram” (forbidden) under Islam, he was martyred within three days. “These people (Baitullah) are working against Islam. When Baitullah accepts responsibilities for all such actions there is no doubt about his hand in the same,” Commander Zainuddin Mehsud said. About Baitullah’s links with al-Qaeda, the Qari said he did not know about any such thing.

On the other hand, a Taliban commander from Orakzai Hafiz Saeed rejected the claims of Qari Zainuddin. He told Geo News that Zain was playing into the hands of the government to defame the TTP. He said the Qari is neither the successor of Baitullah nor has any affiliation with the TTP.

Qari Zainuddin also conceded differences between his group and Baitullah’s when late Abdullah Mehsud took over the movement. They separated over suicide attacks and actions inside Pakistan. Actually, the Taliban movement had been formed to fight against the foreign forces in Afghanistan but Baitullah turned against Pakistan.

Zainuddin said they would have no objection if the Army launches action against Baitullah, adding if the Taliban moved into their area they would fight against them. “We would stand by the Ulema and elders of the area,” he said. He said they would welcome any action against Baitullah either by the military or by the local people. However, they would give preference to the action against Baitullah by the Mehsuds themselves adding this way casualties would be minimised. He said that his peace accord with the government is intact

Qari Zain said that Mulla Nazir in South Waziristan and Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan were their allies. They are part of Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan and their alliance is against infidels and foreign troops in the neighbouring country. Foreign militants including Uzbeks were evicted from the Wazir areas by peace loving Taliban. However, in the Mehsud-inhabited areas there were around 450 to 1,500 Uzbeks. He denied having heard about the presence of Arabs in the area.

Qari Zainuddin said the whole of Fata and areas around the Durand Line including Paktika and Paktia are inhabited by the same tribesmen. People move on either side of the border whether it was peace then or strife now.

To a question about Pakistan’s alliance with the United States, he said it was for the state to adopt a policy. He said if people and Ulema support action against Baitullah Mehsud, he would be eliminated otherwise he would create more problems for the country. “It is time to eliminate Baitullah now, otherwise no such opportunity would come in future and he would further increase headache for the government,” Zain warned.