Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who has been holding about 300 soldiers hostage in South Waziristan Agency since August 30, has warned the government that he will put “the men in khaki on trial” if 10 of his captured comrades are not freed in exchange for the safe release of the army personnel, a tribal senator told Daily Times on Wednesday.
Senator Saleh Shah said Baitullah had made two demands for the release of the soldiers: withdrawal of security forces from the Mehsud areas in South Waziristan and the release of his 10 men.
| "We want Mehsudistan to be independent and our people to be immune from laws and stuff." |
He said the tribal jirga negotiating the release of the soldiers was informed of these demands and was handed over the names of the militants. “Just as the government has put my people on trial and sentenced them to imprisonment, I will put the soldiers on trial. I have my own courts and they will try the soldiers for violating the agreement,” Shah quoted Baitullah as telling him on Tuesday. Baitullah maintains that the army has violated the Sararogha deal, agreed between the government and tribes in the area on February 2005, by setting up security posts in Mehsud-controlled areas of South Waziristan. |