[Dawn] Pakistain said on Monday that Afghan and US-led forces had failed to hunt down a Taliban holy man responsible for a spate of cross-border raids despite repeated requests from Islamabad, a complaint likely to deepen tension between the neighbours.This is the very same Mullah Fazlullah the Paks were unable to catch when he was terrorizing Swat.
| Well, holy men sometimes do miraculous things. You infidels might negate that by your presence. Plus he and his buddies shot at us in Swat. |
"The problem refuses to go away," Mighty Pak Army front man, Major-General Athar Abbas, told Rooters.
Fazlullah was the Pak Taliban leader in Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...Valley, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Islamabad, before a 2009 army offensive forced him to flee.
Also known as FM Mullah for his fiery radio broadcasts, he regrouped in Afghanistan and established strongholds, and poses a threat to Pakistain once again, said Abbas.
The mullah had a portable FM broadcaster. Whenever he felt the urge he would pick up the microphone, turn on the power, and rant. Pakistain's intelligence agencies were somehow incapable of getting a fix on the transmitter. 30 years ago, using less sophisticated equipment than is currently available, that sucker could have been fixed within 200 yards within five minutes of the time he started transmitting.
| You're forgetting the djinns. Terrible source of interference, those djinns. |
He is a prime example of the classic problem faced by Pakistain's military.
To whit, incompetence.
Militant leaders can simply melt away in the rugged mountainous frontier area in the face of army offensives.
... even while transmitting a couple thousand watts of identifying radio signal...
In Kabul, National Directorate of Security front man Lutfullah Mashal said "terrorist groups usually come from the other side of the border and do some attacks".
"One thing for sure I can say that no one is regrouped or settled here in Afghanistan," he added.
"We got problems of our own, with bad guys coming across the border and exploding. If we got bad guys coming across the border minding their own business then we're not interested. If they're attacking in the other direction we'll get around to it when we have time. Right now we ain't got time."
Ties between Kabul and Islamabad, marred by mistrust in the best of times, have been heavily strained in recent months.
First, Afghanistan complained that Pakistain was shelling Afghan border areas in response to beturbanned goon raids.
More recently, Afghan officials accused Pakistain's spy agency of involvement in the suicide kaboom liquidation of the chief Afghan peace envoy with the Taliban.
Pakistain denied the accusation.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"With this new element, friction will increase.
The problem is the issue is highly politicised given the state of affairs in the region, with accusations coming from both sides," said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute of Peace Studies.
"What was simply a border security issue is now politicised, and will impact bilateral relations."
Multiple Threats
Fazlullah, who Swat residents said ordered beheadings, public executions and the bombing of girls' schools, is the last thing Pakistain needs.
It is battling a Taliban insurgency, and has been facing stepped up US pressure to attack Afghan beturbanned goon groups who cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan since US special forces in May killed the late Osama bin Laden
... who now dances with worms...
in a Pak town, where he had apparently been living for years.
"Now Fazlullah and his group are trying to re-enter Swat through Dir," said Abbas, referring to a border region in northwest Pakistain which was relatively stable before the holy man's men recently staged attacks there on security forces.
The United States wants Pakistain to help stabilise the unruly, mountainous border region once described by President Barack
B.O.Obama as the most dangerous place in the world.
Doing so would require Pakistain to break up complicated and powerful networks that include al Qaeda, the Afghan and Pakistain Taliban and Arab fighters.
Critics say Pakistain has created chaos in the area by using bully boyz as proxies in Afghanistan to block the influence of old rival India, allegations it denies.
Pak officials have urged the United States to focus on defeating its enemies in Afghanistan instead of blaming Islamabad for its failures.
Asked about Pakistain's complaint about Fazlullah, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a front man for NATO's
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said:
"We are working with Pakistain to achieve our shared goals of lasting stability and security in Afghanistan and the broader region."
Residents of the Swat Valley, once a tourist destination with cascading rivers and forest-clad slopes, are still haunted by memories of a life of fear under Fazlullah.
The Taliban capitalised on a widely criticised government peace deal with the Taliban to take control of Swat, home to more than a million people. In April 2009, the United States termed the agreement an abdication to the Taliban.
"There is no village in Swat where Fazlullah's men did not murder someone's brother or father or son. There is no place where they did not destroy homes and families. Most people of Swat are against the Taliban," said Nisar Khan, a 40-year-old farmer in Swat. "We are now armed; we have weapon permits from the army. There are many soldiers here."