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| India-Pakistan | |
| Pakistan: Taliban attack signals change of tactic | |
| 2009-06-30 | |
[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Pakistani Taliban leader Gul Bahadur, once an arch rival of Baitullah Mehsud, apparently shelved a ceasefire agreement with security forces when he and his militants attacked a military convoy killing two officers and 12 soldiers at the weekend.
"There was no reason for the attack. The military was not conducting any operation so there was no reason for such an attack," said Major General Athar Abbas, spokesperson for the Pakistan Army at a media conference late on Monday in Islamabad. Pakistani minister information Qamaruzaman Kaira was also present and explained the government policies. He denied that there was a military operation in either North or South Waziristan to rival what the military was doing in the northwestern Swat valley. "The military operation called Raye Rasat in South Waziristan is only aimed to establish the writ of the government it is not against any commander, tribe or the area," Athar Abbas maintained. "It should be borne in mind that the operation in South Waziristan was only aimed against the people who are a source of terrorism in the entire country and they are brutally killing the people of security forces," federal minister Kaira added. However, the Sunday attack showed that this is not what the militants believe. Pakistani security forces had tried to take the anti-Baitullah Mehsud warlords into their confidence. Two little known commanders, Qari Zainuddin and Haji Turkestan, vowed to support the government. But Qari Zainuddin, who could barely muster a few dozen fighters to combat Baitullah Mehsud, was assassinated last week. He could not get even get a burial plot in his home town and Haji Turkestan's whereabout are unknown since Zainuddin's assassination. Gul Bahadur, the chief of Taliban in North Waziristan, and warlord Mullah Nazir, the chief of the Taliban in Wana, South Waziristan, were arch rivals of Mehsud even though they were sceptical of government moves against him. The prevalent idea was that an operation against Mehsud could turn against all the Taliban groups. So Mullah Nazir was the first who refused to give passage to the army and warned that he would not tolerate the military presence in or around his area. Although Bahadur had expressed similar views to Naziran, an attack launched by Bahadur's militants aginst the army convoy on Sunday showed that ideological connections overrode tribal differences. The attack also indicates that all the Taliban commanders are united against the military. Well-placed sources in the military establishment believe that Sunday's attack could have a far-reaching effect and could threaten the military operation's success. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The military was not conducting any operation so there was no reason for such an attack Therein lies the problem - have the military conduct aggressive and competent operations and there won't be such attacks anymore. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-06-30 07:41 |