 [An Nahar] The Pak Taliban urged the Mohammedan world to unite in a video message released Sunday as they condemned the French military intervention in Mali as an "ideological war".
French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
visited Mali on Saturday and vowed his troops would stay as long as necessary to continue the fight against Salafist tough guys who had taken control of the country's north for 10 months.
An offensive led by French troops has driven rebels from all but one of Mali's major towns, but there are fears the Islamists will now wage a guerrilla campaign from the sparsely populated north.
In a video message handed out to journalists in northwest Pakistain, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man Ehsanullah Ehsan condemned the French intervention, which has had logistical support from other Western countries.
"The French government has attacked mujahedeen in Mali and America has also agreed to support La Belle France. I ask the whole Mohammedan world to unite because it is an ideological war," Ehsan said.
He said the forces of "non-believers" were united and urged Mohammedans to come together.
"If America is supporting La Belle France on an ideological basis then in same way all Mohammedans should unite and support one another."
The TTP has waged a bloody campaign against the Pak state in recent years and the last two months have seen a notable increase in attacks on military posts and personnel.
The group grabbed credit for a suicide kaboom on Saturday that killed at least 24 people at a military checkpost near Pakistain's semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt where Death Eaters have carved out strongholds.
In December TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. government bounty on his head, said the group was open to peace talks but poured scorn on the idea of his men giving up their weapons.
Ehsan repeated the conditional offer of negotiations with Islamabad.
But he said they could only go ahead if certain politicians, including  Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, who leads leader of the main opposition party, the PML-N, acted as guarantors.
"We do not trust the Pakistain army, it has always broken past agreements, even agreements we made with politicians," Ehsan said in the seven-and-a-half minute video, in which he appeared flanked by armed masked men.
"We need solid guarantors who can assure us about the army, because the army is the real power in Pakistain."
He said the TTP needed assurances from Nawaz and the leaders of the two largest religious parties -- Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
Fazl, led by Pro-Taliban holy man Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society , founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer . The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, headed by Munawar Hassan.
|
Wazoo tribal district on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pak Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud where the faction runs several camps.
Orakzai Agency
[Dawn] Seven militants have been killed in a US drone strike in the Babar Ghar area on the border of North and South Waziristan Agency, intelligence sources said.