News
Monday, February 13, 2012
Pakistani Taliban decry attacks against military* Sirajuddin Haqqani is part of five-member council that orders terrorists not to stage rocket or bomb attacks in North Waziristan
PESHAWAR: Terrorists have called on fighters to honour an agreement not to attack the Pakistani military in the most important sanctuary for the Taliban and al Qaeda along the Afghan border.
Terrorists have long used North Waziristan as a base to strike US-led forces in Afghanistan. American officials have accused Pakistan of supporting some terrorists in the area, especially the feared Haqqani network – allegations Islamabad denies.
The operational chief of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is part of the five-member leadership council that distributed a pamphlet on Saturday ordering terrorists not to stage rocket or bomb attacks in North Waziristan.
“In North Waziristan, we are all in agreement with the Pakistani government, so we are all bound to honour this agreement and nobody is allowed to violate it,” the pamphlet said.
Anyone who violates the agreement “will [be] dealt with as a culprit”, it said. The military did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The military has targeted terrorist bases in other tribal areas along the border, and the pamphlet appeared to be an attempt by the terrorists to preserve North Waziristan as a sanctuary from such an offensive. There have been several rocket and bomb attacks against the military in North Waziristan since the council was formed in January.
Haqqani is the only Afghan terrorist on the council. The others are from Pakistan, including the most senior members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, and two other prominent commanders, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir.
The council was set up with the assistance of al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban to work out differences among the Pakistan-based terrorists, who have long been split over where they should focus their fighting. TTP has concentrated on toppling the government in Islamabad, while the other terrorists on the council have almost exclusively directed their attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan.
The army has launched a series of offensives against TTP in the northwest. But it has resisted US demands to launch an operation in North Waziristan, even though it has approximately 40,000 troops stationed there.
Many Afghan Taliban terrorists are also believed to be based in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan. Analysts have speculated that the group’s chief, Mullah Omar, is based there. Pakistani authorities on Sunday accused Afghan forces of crossing into Balochistan and assassinating two men allegedly providing safe haven to terrorists fighting in Afghanistan.
The Afghans entered Pakistani territory on February 9 and abducted the two men from Thukha village, said the top administrative official in Balochistan, Naseebullah Bazai. Local residents reported that the Afghans took the two across the border and then killed them, he said.
A Pakistani government official has gone to Afghanistan with tribal elders to retrieve the bodies, said Bazai, adding that Pakistan had also registered a protest with Afghan authorities. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the allegations. ap
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk