MQM extends its wings to tribal areas

MQM extends its wings to tribal areas

Mumtaz Alvi
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) self-exiled chief, Altaf Hussain, will address the party's first-ever public meeting in Parachinar, the headquarters of the Kurram Agency, shortly in a bid to expand the party's presence to the tribal belt as well.

"Altaf Bhai will address the people in Kurram Agency in the first week of May. The date is being fixed and programme is being given final touches. "Similar events are being planned in other tribal areas as well," said Rana Wiladat Ali, who is MQM chief organiser in the tribal belt, while talking to The News from Parachinar on telephone.

Wiladat said he and some other party activists were working hard to make the MQM's presence felt in this hitherto overlooked region and the people's response had been more than encouraging.

The militancy factor, he noted, had been a stumbling block in the way of the MQM's spread in the tribal areas. "However, with the military successes in recent times, the party looked forward to establishing its offices in other agencies in due course of time," he added. "The MQM strongly feels that its appeal to the downtrodden and neglected segments of the society will definitely get a very good response in six other tribal agencies."

Wiladat, a homoeopathic doctor working in Parachinar, belongs to Sialkot. He moved to the agency several years ago and was impressed by MQM policies. He claims his party would not remain confined to Sindh.

Blaming the government for the long-continuing siege of Kurram Agency by the militants, he said if these elements could be pushed out of Malakand Division, why not from the agency.

source:http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=42471&Cat=2&dt=4/19/2011

Sectarian strife: Kurram Agency peace deal on shaky ground

Sectarian strife: Kurram Agency peace deal on shaky ground

By Zia Khan

Published: April 16, 2011

Malik says tribesmen responsible for securing roads. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: 

A fragile peace deal between the Sunnis and Shias from Kurram Agency is under threat barely two months after an agreement between the warring tribes helped reopen the Tal-Parachinar road after more than four years.

Lawmakers from tribal areas, most of whom brokered the deal, in the National Assembly on Friday urged the government to secure the road.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that under the agreement, it was the tribesmen who were responsible for securing the road and not the government.

Speaking in the House, tribal MPs recalled the attack in the Bagan area of lower Kurram Agency some fortnight ago where 10 Shia tribesmen were killed and 40 were allegedly kidnapped by the Taliban groups based in Orakzai.

Kurram is the only tribal district with a Shia majority and has been caught in the grip of sectarian violence for the past four years.

Tal-Parachinar is the only road that links Kurram with the outside world and its closure over the past few years has reportedly made life for locals miserable.

Earlier this year, in February, the road was reopened after the tribal elders, along with parliamentarians, brokered a peace deal hoping to put an end to the age-old dispute.

However, the improvised explosive device (IED) allegedly planted by the Taliban on the roadside that killed 10 Shia tribesmen and led to the kidnapping of 40 others, put an end to any peace deal that may have been in the works.

Malik claimed the government would do whatever was possible to secure the deal and added that aerial surveillance of the route was also an option.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th,  2011.

 

SOURCE: 

http://tribune.com.pk/story/150369/sectarian-strife-kurram-agency-peace-deal-on-shaky-ground/

Measures to be taken for safe travelling on Thall-Parachinar Road: Malik assures National Assembly  RECORDER REPORT ISLAMABAD  (April 16, 2011) : Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday assured National Assembly that all efforts would be taken to ensure safe travelling on Thall-Parachinar Road, as lawmakers expressed concerns over the repeated terror incidents as well as killing and kidnapping of tribesmen by the militants. The minister was responding to a call attention notice moved by MNAs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Sajid Hussain Turi, Zafar Beg Bhittani and others pertaining to rising attacks on passengers' vehicles in Parachinar, Kurram Agency by terrorists and killing of innocent people. Malik said that the issue of Parachinar was very serious and the government was well aware of the problems being faced by the locals. He said that after the unprecedented efforts by parliamentarians and elders of the various tribes, a truce was brokered as per the aspirations of local communities, which was unfortunately sabotaged by the Taliban. He said that under the agreement the main Thall-Parachinar road was re-opened for the passengers' vehicles after about three years despite the fact the security forces opposed it due to fear of terror attacks. The Interior Minister, however, assured the House that all measures would be taken including the security forces' escort to the passengers to avoid terror incidents. To a question, he said that the government had asked Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to make arrangements to expend the local airport in Parachinar for the landing of big planes so that an alternate travel facility could be provided to the local people. Referring to the March 26 incident of killing and kidnapping of tribesmen by the terrorists, Malik said that he had asked the FC high ups in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to investigate the matter, besides urging them to provide adequate security to the passengers travelling on the Thall-Parachinar road. To another question, he said that Taliban were behind the attack on the passengers, who were targeting people of a particular tribe. Speaking on the call attention notice, Farah Asfahani of the PPP was of the opinion that the incidents taken place in Parachinar were different to that being happened in rest of the country. She said that the local community was trapped in the area for the last three to four years and they were compelled to travel to Afghanistan for purchase daily use items. She further said that the government should come up with concrete long-term measures to stop the day to day terror incidents. Earlier, Qadri expressed grave concern over the repeated terror incidents on the road and asked the government to undertake necessary measures to provide security to the passengers' vehicles to halt the attacks. Zafar Beg Bhittani was of the view that it was the responsibility of the government to provide security to the people of the country, adding that closing the road due to fear of terror incidents was not the way out to the issue rather steps should be taken to implement the government's writ.

 

SOURCE: 

http://www.brecorder.com/component/news/single/599:news.html?id=1178590

FATA forced to pull out of football event

Published: April 15, 2011

Players unable to reach the venue in Peshawar due to law-and-order situation.

KARACHI: 

The deteriorating law-and-order situation in Peshawar has affected the fourth National Women's Club Championship that started yesterday as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Football Club was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to their players being unable to travel to the venue.

Fata failed to show up on the opening day of the championship, handing Peshawar Football Club a walkover with three points and three goals in their group D match.

According to the Fata Women's Football Federation President Faisal Jamil Shah, the team pulled out of the championship because six of their players, who belong to Kurram Agency, could not get the clearance to travel to Peshawar due to the ongoing tussle between the Taliban and Shia groups in the region.

"It's a cruel and disappointing that our players couldn't make it to the venue," Shah told The Express Tribune. "Our team was incomplete and we couldn't wait for them.

"The female footballers in Fata usually come from Kurram and South Waziristan Agency. The girls from these areas are strong and spirited but this has left them with no other option but to pull out of the biggest national tournament for female footballers in the country."

Meanwhile, Frontier College started their campaign in style as they defeated Striker FC 7-1.

Ayesha Mohammad struck a hat-trick to ensure the win, scoring in the 17th, 24th and 34th minutes of the match. Sidra Rauf added a brace as Striker FC could only reply with Mehrunnisa's goal in the 41st minute.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th,  2011.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/150070/fata-forced-to-pull-out-of-football-event/

All efforts to be taken to ensure safe travelling on Parachinar road: Malik

All efforts to be taken to ensure safe travelling on Parachinar road: Malik

ISLAMABAD - 15th April 2011 (3 hours ago)

By APP

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday assured the National Assembly that all efforts would be taken to ensure safe traveling on Parachinar Road which was recently opened after two years under an agreement between two local tribes. Replying to a Calling Attention Notice raised by Noor ul Haq Qadri, Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, Zafar Beg Bhittani and others regarding attack on passenger vehicles on Parachinar Road by terrorists, the minister said the road remained closed for travelling for the last two years and it was opened under agreement between two tribes of the areas. He said the agreement is a good omen for facilitating the people of the area. However, he said that terrorists always used terror as a weapon. He said that he has ordered FC General to conduct inquiry and ensure security in the area. The minister said that he would also hold meeting with FATA parliamentarians and local elders to prepare a comprehensive strategy to ensure security to the people travelling on the road. He said the security and patrolling of the road would also be enhanced and aerial surveillance would be carried if needed. Malik said that currently Parachinar airport is not functional and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would be requested to make arrangement for landing of large aircraft as only small plane could land there. He said the government had started helicopter service from Peshawar to Parachinar to facilitate the people. Noor-ul Qadri said that it is a very complicated issue and around 500 people have lost their lives and 6000 sustained injuries so far. Farah Naz Ispfahani and Zafar Beg said that permanent solution of the issue should be sorted out as people of the area are facing immense hardship and they have to use Afghanistan route to come to Peshawar. Earlier,speaking on a point of order, Nawab Yusuf Talpur said that District Coordination Officer Umerkot implicated his son Taimoor Talpur in a fake case for his alleged murder attempt on him. He said an inquiry should be conducted through a high court judge into the matter.He said it is serious allegation against his son who is also a member of Sindh Assembly. "If action is not taken against such bureaucrats then it will be very embarrassing situation for parliamentarians," he added. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he would submit inquiry report into the matter in the House on Monday. Deputy Speaker Fasial Karim Kundi said,"let come the report into the House. If the honorable member is not satisfied with the report then the matter will be referred to the committee." Meanwhile, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar informed the House that water is at dead level in Tarbela Dam due to low inflow in the rivers and delay in melting of snow.

 

SOURCE: 

http://www.aaj.tv/2011/04/all-efforts-to-be-taken-to-ensure-safe-travelling-on-parachinar-road-malik/

Convoy leaves Kurram for Peshawar under FC escort

Convoy leaves Kurram for Peshawar under FC escort

 Our correspondent

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

PARACHINAR: A convoy comprising 350 passengers started its journey to Peshawar on Tuesday under escort by the security forces (Frontier Corps), official and tribal sources said. 

The sources said the passengers comprising women, children, students, servicemen and ailing individuals belonging to Kurram Agency left for Peshawar under the security escort in the wake of attacks on passenger vehicles on Thall-Parachinar Road.

Three people were killed and 40 others sustained injuries when unidentified militants opened fire on passenger vehicles on way to Parachinar in Baggan area of lower parts of Kurram Agency on March 25. Militants kidnapped over three dozens travellers including women and children. Since the incident of killing and abduction, the road remained closed for 18 days. 

The Parachinar Road was recently reopened when the Islamabad peace agreement was signed between the two warring sects after three years of violence. The incident generated strong resentment among the residents of upper tehsil in Kurram Agency who termed the killing and abduction of passengers as violation of the peace agreement and against the Pakhtun tribal norms. They held regular protests against the incident asking the government and military to protect life and property of the area people who were constantly targeted by militants having sanctuaries in lower parts of Kurram Agency.

Meanwhile, owing to the complaints of the tribesmen, the government barred a Lahore-based air travel company, Hybrid Aviation, from operating light commercial planes to Parachinar. They had been charging Rs18,000-20,000 for one-way flight over the last few years
.

 

SOURCE: 

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=41349&Cat=7&dt=4/13/2011

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Responding to Farhat Taj — I

By Ejaz Haider

Published: April 10, 2011

The writer was a Ford Scholar at the Programme in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at UIUC (1997) and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy Studies Programme

Farhat Taj, a PhD Research Fellow at the University of Oslo, haswritten an article in Daily Times which takes up issue with what Iwrote in this space on March 13. Although she has chosen to cast aspersions on me by saying that I have "been providing misleading information about the Pakhtuns", which implies that I might be doing so at someone's behest, a calumnious and libellous statement, I will stick to the issues she has raised and avoid the low cut and thrust.

There are two sets of observations she makes. One set relates to the more abstract question of whether Pakhtun tribal society has undergone some changes, the second to a few specific incidents from the Orakzai and Kurram Agencies. There is a third set also, allegations against the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, which are easy to make but difficult to prove. They are generally made partially because we can rightly trace many of our current troubles to the military's policies, the original sin, and partly because army bashing, instead of offering issue-based criticism, is now the vogue and finds many buyers on all sides.

I intend, in this space, to pick up a few of her concrete observations and leave the rest to subsequent articles.

Firstly, Ms Taj is wrong in conflating my article with Brigadier Asad Munir's piece because I specifically took up issue with some observations made by the brigadier. Just because I concur with the brigadier on one point does not mean I endorse what he wrote by penning a sequel to his piece.

Ms Taj says I made some observations on the basis of my visit to Hangu 12 years ago. I quoted that visit because some things on that visit struck me as odd; it does not mean that I have stayed away from that area or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas since then. Heavily invested in the region over many years, I have made several trips there. But I was not filling out a form listing the number of visits I have made to that area; I was making a point and mentioned that visit to do so.

Now to the issue of the Alikhel, Ferozekhel and Stoorykhel tribes in Orakzai, starting with the Alikhel. The tribe has five tappas or branches, out of which the panjam is half Shia and half Sunni. The Shia branch is called Babanamasi. Contrary to what Ms Taj says about the Alikhel Sunnis and Shias fighting the Taliban together, the Shia branch left the area before the conflict with the Taliban began in the Agency. This fact can be corroborated from the IDP camps in Kohat. Some of them returned to their homes after the political agent held a jirga and issued a warning to the Taliban through the Alikhel lashkar led by a former JCO, Subedar Momin Khan.

The other four tappas allied to resist the Taliban. The army was stretched, military operations were not popular, this being before the public buy-in came and resulted in Operation Rah-e-Raast in Malakand and Frontier Corps' Operation Black Thunder in Lower Dir and Buner. The operations that had been conducted in South and North Waziristan were weak in the higher direction of this war and generally consisted of extraction operations and snap actions.

(NB: Trouble had been brewing in the agency for quite sometime, the provincial governor from May 2006-January 2008 was Lt-Gen Ali Jan Orakzai (retd). He belonged to the area, and became known for opposing military operations against the Taliban, a stand generally popular with both the right and the left wings.)

Alikhel resisted until their jirga was attacked by a suicide bomber. The attack killed Momin Khan along with more than 100 others, while over 300 tribesmen were injured. Interestingly, not one Shia was killed in this attack, which would not have been possible if the Shia branch were part of the anti-Taliban lashkar. This was the Taliban warning to the Sunni Alikhel for raising a lashkar against them, a campaign which was duly supported by the then political administration of the Agency.

Momin Khan was awarded Sitara-e-Shujaat posthumously. The dead were given Rs300,000 in compensation while the injured got Rs100,000.

The story of the Ferozkhel tribe is even more interesting. They raised a lashkar and their initial campaigns against the Taliban were very successful. Ms Taj mentions that the Ferozkhel captured six Taliban who were handed over to the political administration, which released them after a week. This is amazing disinformation. The Ferozkhel, in fact, captured 14 Taliban (I can give to Ms Taj the names, domiciles and other information on these people) from the Gwin checkpoint in central Orakzai. After this, the lashkar also cleared the Chhapri Ferozkhel area bordering Bara in Khyber Agency. The pressure got the Taliban to start negotiating with the Ferozkhel. They gave the Ferozkhel guarantees that they would not operate in the area and, as a goodwill gesture, the Ferozkhel should release the captured men.

Four Maliks of Ferozkhel, Adil Khan Ferozkhel, Sardar Ferozkhel, Abdur Raheem and Bismillah Ferozkhel allowed the release of these men. Three of these four have since been killed. Bismillah was killed on Oblan Road that goes from Hangu to Kohat; Adil Khan killed in Meerobak; and Abdur Raheem recently killed in Peshawar.

But before this, and after the release of their men, the Taliban attacked and killed seven Ferozkhel Maliks in an ambush, sending a warning to the tribe to stay clear of them and not interfere with their campaign against the government.

The Stoorikhel also raised a lashkar. The tribe has one branch which is Sunni and one that is Shia. The government supporting the effort asked the Shia branch to leave the area to avoid the Taliban painting this in sectarian terms. The Sunni Stoorikhel gathered under the banner of Malik Waris Khan and fought the Taliban for 10 days or so before being defeated. Waris Khan was killed, as were personnel of Levies. Sepoy Qismat Khan was awarded the Sitara-e-Shujaat and Rs800,000 posthumously, while Waris Khan was given the Tamgha-e Imtiaz.

The compensations and awards would not have come if the tribes were fighting the Taliban against the wishes of the government and the security forces. What I have narrated here is a bird's-eye view of complex details. There is a sectarian dimension in the area that goes back into deep past and to which is now added the Taliban factor. There's more to it which I shall try and touch upon in the follow up to this.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2011.

source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/146898/responding-to-farhat-taj--i/

Responding to Farhat Taj — II

Responding to Farhat Taj — II

By Ejaz Haider

Published: April 11, 2011

The writer was a Ford Scholar at the Programme in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at UIUC (1997) and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy Studies Programme

In a March 13 article in this newspaper, I wrote that Pakhtun society has been undergoing changes. Intertribal support along sectarian lines, as well as the activities of Punjabi extremists in Pakhtun heartland, bear testimony to that. Ms Taj says the mullah does not enjoy primacy in the tribal hierarchy. That is only partially true; Maulvi Abdullah in Orakzai, who died last year, was the leading sectarian troublemaker in collusion with Javed Ibrahim Piracha.

But more than the mullah, it is the young self-styled Taliban commanders who have done much to change the norms of Pakhtun society. For strategic and operational reasons they have indulged in acts that, despite feuds among Pakhtuns, were revered. Attacks on jirgas, funerals and shrines are a manifestation of this change. Indeed, because Ms Taj is writing a book, I strongly recommend that she read Patrick Porter's Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes to understand the significance of this phenomenon.

The same phenomenon is at work in Kurram, which I just visited and where I spoke not only with the Commandant of Kurram Militia (it is not Kurram Scouts, as Ms Taj mentions in her despatch) Colonel Tauseef Akhtar, but also former Senator Syed Sajjad Hussain and Sunni leader from Sadda, Haji Saleem. Far from acting against Shia interests, as alleged by Ms Taj, Colonel Akhtar, in trying to clear the area and the road, as part of Operation Khwakh Bade Sham, got shot himself (his right leg will never fully recover). The Frontier Corps (FC) and army have lost 80 personnel, including 10 officers, which is a very high officer-to-jawan casualty ratio.

Sajjad Hussain and many other common people who I met and talked to in Parachinar explained that trouble began from Mira Jan Colony after Sunnis supported by sectarian elements held rallies and made provocative speeches. A few Sunni villages were attacked and properties looted and burnt. These people had to leave the area. This sparked trouble down south in Sadda. Sunnis were also supported by Taliban elements, a fact accepted by Haji Saleem, though he said that this is more out of fear than conviction. The Sunnis closed down the road.

Colonel Akhtar has held three peace jirgas. When I pointedly asked him why he had invited Javed Ibrahim Piracha, he said that it was an effort to get everyone on board but that after the first meeting when some Shia leaders objected to Piracha's presence, he was not invited to the other two meetings. To corroborate this, he gave me videotapes of the jirgas held. I then independently asked Haji Saleem and he confirmed this fact. I still have to speak with MNA Munir Orakzai on this issue.

I have raced through this narrative again for reasons of space and eschewed many details. But it should be an amazing fact that Colonel Akhtar, supposed to be supporting Sunnis against Shias, as also his officers and men, should get injured and die in battles against Sunnis!

Equally absurd is the contention that ISI is playing a game which is not only getting civilians killed but also, empirically speaking, army and FC officers and men. The current Corps Commander Peshawar served in the ISI as DG of one of the wings. Going by Ms Taj's argument, then major-general, now Lt-General Asif Yasin Malik, pursued policies while in the ISI which got men in the field killed but now, having become the Corps Commander, would be interested that the operations succeed because he is no more in the ISI!

The Murree Accord had several points, most important being the return of Sunnis and Shias to their respective villages. In the March 2011, meeting of leaders from the area with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, the order of the points was reversed, making road opening a priority. Sunnis say they want agreement on other points before the road can be opened. MNA Orakzai has got a Rs1.7 billion package from the prime minister for rehabilitation and development. People in the area told me they think disbursements should begin shortly. My own sense is that while this money is important, it would also be necessary to clear central Kurram of Taliban elements through another operation. It is important for security forces to control the physical space to keep the road secure and open.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2011.

source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/147569/responding-to-farhat-taj--ii/