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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Interesting editorial on the South Waziristan "peace" deal |
| 2005-02-09 |
| The government reached on Monday a "peace deal" with Baitullah Mehsud — a militant described by the national press as a "Taliban commander" — in an effort to placate the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan. But the most wanted Mehsud terrorist, Abdullah Mehsud, is still at large and the only pledge the government could extract from the "pardoned" commander was that he would not "protect" him. The "peace deal" was mediated by the JUI of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The ceremony predictably ended with shouts of "Death to America". It sounded very much like the "peace" ceremony last year with Nek Muhammad, the Wazir "Taliban commander" with Al Qaeda connections; only on that occasion high-ranking Pakistani military officers were present and there were speeches against America's "invasion" of Afghanistan to appease the Wazir jirga. This time the domination of the ceremony by JUI was obvious. A tribal representative found occasion to appeal to China to "forgive" the murder by Abdullah Mehsud and his terrorists of a Chinese engineer working at the Gomal Zam Dam kidnapped by them and held for blackmail. The "appeal" to China has been published in the national press. Backed by the MMA, it will be accepted as a ridiculous application of the law of tribal "honour" on a foreign country. China is thus supposed to redeem its honour by forgiving a terrorist who has been an inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison, providing justification to a dubious judicial enterprise by America. But where is the honour of the government of Pakistan and how has it redeemed it in the long drawn out "war with Al Qaeda" in the Tribal Areas? The "deal" with Nek Muhammad fell through before the ink was dry on it and the man had finally to be killed with a missile, but not before he became a 'hero' of sorts despite his not so honourable personal profile in the area where he operated. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |