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| India-Pakistan |
| Lashkar-e-Islam flags fly over Bara |
| 2008-06-30 |
| Blacks flags emblazoned with swords could be seen flying over many of the mud-houses in the town of Bara on Sunday, in a show of support for a militant who government forces are trying to capture. The flags were those of the Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) in Khyber Agency, a wedge of tan-coloured mountains speckled with small trees sandwiched between the city of Peshawar and the Afghan border. Security forces launched an offensive on Saturday to push members of the militant group, led by commander Mangal Bagh, from the approaches of Peshawar after Bagh’s men began making sojourns into Peshawar to impose their Taliban-style teachings. Unfair accusations: Though many in Peshawar fear the LI, the commander is well regarded in Bara town. “He’s a nice man. He’s being painted as a bad man because he talks about Islam,” said resident Fazale Mehboob, standing by the debris of Bagh’s house that security forces blew up on Saturday. Khyber is one of seven ethnic Pashtun-majority regions in northwest Pakistan that have never come under the full control of any government. A former bus driver with little education, Bagh, who is in his mid-40s, appears to have won support the same way the Afghan Taliban did when they emerged in the early 1990s and sorted out warlords and criminals preying on the people. “He brought peace and got rid of the criminals in our area. He’s good for us,” Mehboob said. Bara was peaceful on Sunday with a surprisingly light security presence. Despite a curfew, some people were out in its main market although most stalls were shut. There was no evidence of any militants and no one was seen carrying a gun in a region where most men own a rifle. Some soldiers drove around in double-cabin pick-up trucks and a few armoured personnel carriers patrolled the dusty streets but security forces made no effort to stop curious residents going out to see the ruins of Bagh’s office and a four-room mud house, both near the market, that soldiers blew up on Saturday. A senior government official said there had been no violence in the area since Saturday evening and a Reuters reporter heard no gunshots or explosions in Bara or along the lightly guarded road from Peshawar. Angry sibling: Among those out on the streets was Bagh’s older brother, Soocha Gul, who is in his early 50s. “It’s a shame, barbaric,” an angry Gul said of the destruction of his brother’s buildings. “They came suddenly, asked us to vacate the house immediately and then blew it up. What crime did our women and children commit?” he asked. Bagh’s militants are not allied with the local Taliban and they have not been known to head off to Afghanistan to fight Western troops there. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 could be seen flying over many of the mud-houses in the town of Bara BAM! |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-06-30 15:08 |