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| India-Pakistan |
| Militant leader claims he rejected offers to explode bombs in Pakistan |
| 2010-02-23 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] A known Taliban commander, Qari Ziaur Rehman, who has been engaged in fighting against security forces in Bajaur, claimed on Sunday that he had rejected lucrative offers and financial support offered to him by Afghanistan's Northern Alliance for fighting against the Pakistani military and carrying out bomb blasts in the country. He also claimed that the militants in Bajaur had deposed regional Taliban chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad for his alleged secret links to the government and for refusing to resist security forces in their recent advancement on the militant strongholds in Mamond area. "I received lucrative offers from the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan," claimed Ziaur Rehman. Talking to The News by phone from an undisclosed location, he said he and his fighters had been fighting under certain compulsions in Pakistan. The government had declared him an Afghan national, hailing from the Kunar province bordering the Bajaur tribal region, and announced Rs 5 million as head money for him for having association with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and organising attacks on troops in Bajaur. He, however, denied his Afghan nationality, arguing that if so, why the Pakistani government issued him a computerised national identity card (CNIC). "You may know the tribesmen live and have properties on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. My forefathers were born and died in Bajaur and I am a Pakistani by birth," argued the militant commander, who was described by the Pakistani military authorities as one of the most ruthless commanders operating in Bajaur. He said some of his relatives had migrated to Kunar in Afghanistan from the Mamond area of Bajaur where they are still known as "Bajauri Mamond." Ziaur Rahman claimed that he had been made the commander for both Bajaur and Marawara area in the Kunar province. He admitted that security forces had captured most areas of Bajaur, particularly Mamond, which had been a stronghold of Maulana Faqir Muhammad-led militants. Ziaur Rahman said Faqir Muhammad had been replaced by Commander Jamaluddin Dadullah, as the former had struck an underhand deal with the government and refused to fight the advancing security forces in Mamond. He said the militants had vacated their positions under a strategy and would launch guerrilla attacks against the troops once they entered their areas of control. |
| Posted by:Fred |