Monday, May 9, 2011

Rally for resolution of Parachinar problems

The Nation Newspaper Pakistan Monday, May 09, 2011

Rally for resolution of Parachinar problems

LAHORE – A protest demonstration, launched under the aegis of the Youth of Parachinar, entered its 13th day on Sunday. The campaign is seeking early resolution of the problems of the Parachinar residents.
The participants of the protest were carrying placards and banners reading slogans such as "Is Parachinar not a part of Pakistan"? Leader of YoP Hussain Bangish, addressing the participants, said that if the government did not pay any heed towards their demands the YoP would march towards Islamabad.
The participants of the demonstration demanded the Pakistan government to manage the release of 33 hostages of Parachinaar from Taliban.
The government should implement the Murree Accord in a true spirit and violators of the agreement should be punished, he further urged. The protesters demanded the government and the establishment not to back Taliban they have to take the patriotic the Toori and Bangash tribes in their confidence.
The PIA services should be started on emergency basis and also Kurram militia needs to be brought back to Kurram Agency. They also demanded the reopening of Tal-Parachinar road and army check posts should be established, at distance of 1 kilometer each, on the road to ensure safe traveling of people.
"When the Taliban were defeated, they blocked they main Tal-Parachinar Road and started targeting the Shia passengers travelling to Peshawar and other parts of the country. The miscreants killed hundreds of passengers on this road and also made them hostages and brutally killed them after long imprisonments. When these incidents of killing, kidnapping and looting convoys occurred again and again, the people started to go to Peshawar via Afghanistan. But later on, the government sealed the Pak-Afghan border due to security concerns and the people of the Upper Kurram were besieged there," the protest leader said.
He further told the participants that later on an agreement was inked between the tribal elders and the Taliban, with the help of then government, at Murree in 2008. "But the government failed to implement the Murree Accord," he said.
Then the government again called on a grand Jirga comprising some 50 members, including the Taliban. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was also a part of the peace accord, he said. This was also violated by Taliban stationed at Bagan Lower Kurram. Though this peace agreement was warmly welcomed by Shia and Sunni tribes and were considering a hope towards peace and harmony. It was violated at least 13 times by militants but the last violation resulted in a huge loss i.e. dozens of people were killed and 41 were kidnapped, said Bangish.
 
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Two killed over minor dispute

 
 
 
Monday, May 09, 2011
Two killed over minor dispute

By our correspondent

PARACHINAR: Two persons were killed and another sustained injuries when two armed groups exchanged fire over a minor dispute in Balishkhel area of Kurram Agency on Sunday, tribal sources said. The sources said Maqbool Hussain and Muhajir hailing from Malikhel village opened fire on each other after an exchange of harsh words over a minor dispute near Malikhel security checkpoint. The sources said both were killed on the spot while an official of the political administration, Iftikhar Hussain, sustained injuries in the exchange of fire.
 
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Pakistan asks Iranian minister to cancel visit

The Express Tribune 

Pakistan asks Iranian minister to cancel visit

By Qaiser Butt
Published: May 9, 2011
The minister was due to hold discussions on Pakistan’s alleged support to Jundullah.
ISLAMABAD: 
Faced with enormous accusations, domestic anger and harsh criticism as a result of the Osama bin Laden episode, Pakistan has asked the Iran’s interior minister to cancel his trip to Islamabad, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar was due to arrive in Islamabad next week along with an official delegation, including his deputy minister, to discuss Pakistan’s alleged support to Balochistan-based Jundullah. Najar had a lengthy agenda that he was keen to discuss with top Pakistani leaders, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The matter of Pakistan’s alleged support to Jundullah had also come under discussion when Malik met his Iranian counterpart in Tehran last month.
Recently, relations between the two countries soured over a variety of issues ranging from Pakistan’s support for Manama’s Al Khalifa regime and decision to send manpower for Bahranian armed forces and police as one of the core issues.
Pakistan on the other hand is seriously aggrieved by Iran’s interference in Islamabad’s internal affairs, particularly its alleged role in instigating sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency. Iran’s ambassador in Islamabad Masha’allah Shakeri was summoned by the ministry of foreign affairs last month to lodge a protest over Tehran’s unfriendly behaviour with Pakistani diplomats in Iran.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2011.
 
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The Perfect Storm in Af-Pak

The Perfect Storm in Af-Pak

Shuja Nawaz
|
May 9, 2011
With the killing of Osama bin Laden, attention has shifted to the endgame in Afghanistan. But a persistent problem remains inside Pakistan: the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban. This homegrown terrorist organization swore war against the state when the army was sent into the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan. For the past eight years Pakistan has chosen to use its military to fight this insurgency, devoting some 150,000 troops and members of the locally recruited Frontier Corps and other community police to the mission. It has cleared areas in each of the seven agencies that comprise FATA only to find that the Pakistani Taliban resurfaces elsewhere. Even persistent U.S. drone attacks, one of which killed the founding leader of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud, failed to destroy the organization. If the battle against these terrorists does not improve, Pakistan faces a grim future, especially after the United States begins to exit from Afghanistan and funding for the fight for Pakistan declines, either as a result of general cut backs or because of differences with Pakistan over the Pakistani lack of vigor in battling Al Qaeda.
After the October 2009 invasion of the Pakistani Taliban's headquarters in the Mehsud territory of South Waziristan, the leadership, under Baitullah's successor Hakimullah Mehsud, was forced to flee to other parts of the FATA. Reportedly Hakimullah first went to the Orakzai Agency and may have moved elsewhere as military-clearing operations mounted in the region. Dislocation from his tribal base puts Hakimullah Mehsud at a disadvantage in the FATA's Pashtun culture, where he now must rely on the protection of his tribal hosts but he has also become more dangerous, since he has fixed his sights on coalition forces in Afghanistan and may also be liaising with Punjabi Taliban, who are entering the fight inside Afghanistan. Poor intelligence means that Pakistani forces cannot trace and then kill or capture Hakimullah on their own. Are they waiting or the U.S. drones to do their job?
The Pakistani Taliban comprises numerous local leaders, some of whom are new to their role, having usurped traditional tribal elders. Some are mere "tax collectors," living off transit fees or robbery. Others are involved in smuggling and transporting drugs. A few also allegedly operate as freelancers, paid by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. But their loyalties keep shifting. A local saying is "you cannot buy a Pashtun, but you can always rent him!" They have a loose affiliation across the region and even with groups outside the FATA.
The Pakistani military maintains that it has cleared most of the FATA of these terrorists except pockets in the border between the Orakzai and Kurram Agencies, the Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency that extends towards the Afghan border, and a sanctuary on the Kunar side of the Afghan border. Yet the war has not been won, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Absent a broader and deeper involvement of the civilian side and the creation of jobs and opportunities in the FATA, as well as the political, social and economic integration of these tribal areas into Pakistan proper, the problem is likely to persist. A bigger issue may emerge if the Coalition Support Funds that currently sustain the Pakistani effort dry up in the wake of the contretemps following the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Pakistan does not have the budgetary resources or equipment to carry on the fight at the level and pace that it has up until now. Its army still has not created integrated units that would mimic the Provincial Reconstruction Teams or the National Solidarity Program that seem to work in Afghanistan.
Even more dangerous is the potential hookup of the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban, including the Punjabi Sunni extremists. In the latter category are groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Jaish-e-Muhammad, who have participated in sectarian violence against the Shia Turi tribe in the Kurram Agency. Reports have surfaced recently that the Afghan Taliban leader Siraj Haqqani and his forces are moving into Kurram and trying to make peace between these warring sectarian groups. If Haqqani moves into the Parrot's Beak territory of Kurram that protrudes into Afghanistan, he would have a launching pad even closer to Kabul than his current base in North Waziristan.
Until recently, Pakistan's military has made deals with Haqqani and adopted a laissez-faire policy, allowing his forces to use North Waziristan as a sanctuary. In return, Haqqani has not attacked the army directly and has also allowed rations to be supplied to Pakistan's border posts—border posts that are designed to interdict movement across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The irony and contradiction of all this is glaring. What use are the posts if the people whom they are supposed to monitor and stop are the ones that allow the posts to be supplied?
Times may be changing. There are some reports from regimental-level officers in the territory that Haqqani forces or their allies have given sanctuary and support to escapees from South Waziristan, escapees who have attacked and killed army and Frontier Corps soldiers periodically. If true, the army may have good reason to want to push Haqqani back into Afghanistan. Thus far Pakistan has held off from moving against Haqqani for two reasons: first, his perceived usefulness as a bargaining chip in ensuring that there is Pashtun representation in an Afghan government after coalition forces withdraw; second, Pakistan does not have the force needed to effectively mount a cleanup operation. But as Pakistan talks directly with the Afghan authorities and reaches an understanding of what the shape of a Kabul government will be in years to come, it may find Haqqani more of a liability than an asset: he is known for his independence and likely will not follow Pakistani orders. Further, Pakistan is now moving forces from Swat and will have at least one extra division, if not more, to move into North Waziristan to supplement the seven division troops based there. If debate in the Pakistan military high command continues over what to do about Haqqani, it is possible that military action may occur. But the sorry state of U.S.-Pakistani relations may affect the timetable adversely. Among other things, the Pakistanis will be looking for signs of U.S. troop movement into the regional command opposite North Waziristan to indicate U.S. resolve to take on Haqqani in his own territory with more than just Special Forces. U.S. success may embolden the Pakistanis to act against Haqqani. But they will also be watching what happens in the overall allied effort in Afghanistan after this summer's deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Pakistan faces a more serious problem in the hinterland. There is no evidence of a strategy to take on the Sunni militants that are fighting the state nor outward-facing groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. Even if Afghanistan settles down, Pakistan faces a long war for which it is not fully prepared. The result may be continuing instability inside Pakistan and creeping radicalization may become a reality in society at large and perhaps even infect the military over time. In nuclear-armed Pakistan, this may pose a regional and global threat to peace and stability. Pakistan needs to begin this fight at home. If it takes the first steps, the world may be able to help it. The alternative is unimaginable.
 
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Thursday, May 5, 2011

MNA laments govt indifference to plight of people

  
 
Our correspondent
Thursday, May 05, 2011
 
Islamabad

Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions, Sajid Hussain Toori, on Tuesday said he would continue boycott of the National Assembly unless and until the Thal-Parachinar Road, the only link between Taliban-infested Kurram Agency and rest of Pakistan, was made safe.

During a news conference here at the National Press Club, the legislator from Parachinar lamented that the government was totally indifferent to the plight of over 0.5 million people under siege for the last four years and the blockade of the region was a proof of it. He called for the army deployment in the agency.

Toori is the only lawmaker from the parliamentarians belonging to the seven tribal agencies, who has been strongly raising his voice for the militant-infested Parachinar but hardly any other out of 342-member House pressed the government for paying attention to the aggravating human misery.

"The Kurram Agency's population faces shortage of basic needs of daily life and medicines in addition to increasing sense of insecurity. I just wonder, why other parliamentarians, who claim to be public representatives but they have no sympathy for us," the legislator lamented.

He pointed out for about two weeks several people from Parachinar who work or study in Rawalpindi and Islamabad had encamped outside the Press Club but baring an MQM delegation, no minister or MNA visited them to show solidarity with them.

Toori alleged that government did not fulfill its promises regarding resolving problems in Parachinar, most of which had stemmed from the militants' terror activities. The Parachinar legislator said he had met president and prime minister over 40 times separately and was held out assurances but unfortunately no tangible action was ordered so far to improve the increasing worrying situation in the agency.

He warned that the issue could ultimately lead to the downfall of the present set-up, if the rulers continued with their indifference to the plight of people in Kurram Agency. He added with the passage of time more and more people would take to streets against the blockade of the region.

The reason for this, he contended, was the people were living in grip of fear and economic hardships had ruined their routine life and even students could not continue their studies, as majority of the educational institutions were also in tatters due to no uplift or development for the last four years.

He squarely held the government responsible for the long-continuing siege, as apart from other peace initiatives, a landmark Murree accord was signed among the stakeholders in 2008, but the government showed no interest in its implementation and the militants blatantly started violating it.

"Several innocent men, women and children have been killed, many kidnapped and no one knows about their fate, but the state has not intervened in the explosive situation," he regretted.

He recalled that on February 03, 2011 Interior Minister Rehman Malik during a news conference assured to make foolproof security arrangements on and around Thal-Parachinar road. After this the road was reopened and people of Kurram Agency lauded this development.

But unfortunately, people came to know late that despite these assurances, they had been left on their own fate and in the process, Taliban butchered men, women and children, mutilating their bodies and no one dared to challenge them from the security agencies.

Toori called for the release of 33 persons, who were in the clutches of Taliban since March 25 and also set up army check posts on Thal-Parachinar road to make it safe and secure.

He demanded implementation of the Murree Accord and that stern action should be taken against violators. Toori appealed for restoration of PIA service between Peshawar and Parachinar and also launch a C-130 service on emergency basis.

 
SOURCE: 
 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=45168&Cat=6&dt=5/5/2011
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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Kurram Agency: Govt under attack

Kurram Agency: Govt under attack

Published: May 4, 2011
MNA and students lashed out at failure to recover missing persons and end violence.
ISLAMABAD: 
A lawmaker belonging to Parachinar demanded that the government should launch a military operation against the Taliban in Kurram Agency who killed hundreds of innocent.
Addressing a conference at the National Press Club (NPC), MNA, Sajid Hussain Turi claimed that eight people were killed by the Taliban and 41 went missing on March 25 from the agency, but the government has failed to recover them.
Criticizing the government for its non-serious attitude in resolving the issue he said, "I boycotted the National Assembly's session last week and I will continue to protest till our demands are fulfilled".
He asked the government to solve Upper Kurram Agency's and restore the Thal-Parachinar road, which links the region to the rest of the country, and has been closed since four years by militants. This is causing a severe humanitarian crisis for the residents and they are facing an essential shortage of essential edibles. He also put forward the suggestion of starting PIA services from Kurram to Peshawar.
He also demanded the implementation of the 2008 Murree Agreement and take action against the violators of the accord. The accord was signed by Turi, Bangesh and other tribes of Kurram Agency, with its two main objectives being the repatriation of IDPS and putting an end to the Shia-Sunni violence in the area.
The students of Parachinar, who were also present on the occasion, announced a massive protest in front of the Parliament on May 9.They said that they would continue to protest if the government did no take any action to recover the missing persons and establish military check posts on the Thal-Parachinar road.
The students also criticized the Interior Federal Minister, Rehman Malik who despite promising to open the main road had failed to take any practical steps in this regard. They have already had a two week sit-in since two weeks in front of the National Provincial Assembly (NPC).
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2011.
 
SOURCE: http://tribune.com.pk/story/161305/kurram-agency-govt-under-attack/

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Monday, May 2, 2011

Kurram Agency: Haqqani warns Hakimullah not to ‘sabotage’ peace deal

Kurram Agency: Haqqani warns Hakimullah not to 'sabotage' peace deal

By Zia Khan
Published: May 2, 2011
Relations between the two militant groups have been souring rapidly. PHOTO: FILE/AFP
ISLAMABAD: 
The Haqqani network — the most influential group among the Afghan militants — has warned the homegrown Pakistani Taliban against 'sabotaging' a fragile peace deal that it helped broker between the Sunnis and Shias in Kurram Agency.
Associates of both, the Haqqani network and the Hakimullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that tensions between their two groups had been mounting in recent months on various issues, especially on the Kurram peace accord.
"Things have now reached a very awkward point … Haqqani has said some very strong words to Hakimullah: 'Stop it yourself or my men will make you stop it'," said an affiliate of the Afghan commander based in North Waziristan.
Sources in the tribal areas said the rare warning by Haqqani to Hakimullah came after militants from the TTP ignored 'softer' requests earlier and kept attacking the Shias in Kurram in a direct threat to the peace deal.
The relationship between the two groups has been souring rapidly in recent months after Hakimullah Mehsud appeared in a video early this year showing the shooting of a retired Pakistani intelligence official thought to be the Afghan Taliban's godfather.
The TTP killed Ameer Sultan Tarar, alias Colonel Imam, ten months after he was kidnapped, ignoring a call from both the Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani. "That is where the two got in trouble with each other," the source said.
An Associated Press (AP) report recently mentioned the friction between the two groups, saying it could provide an opportunity to the Pakistan military to exploit the falling unity if it wanted to launch a limited offensive in North Waziristan.
The US administration has, for some time now, been pushing Pakistan to send the military to the region bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan's security establishment backed the warring sects of Kurram, to enter into a peace deal early this year after four years of bloodshed that saw 4,000 men dying on both sides.
The militant group led by veteran Afghan jihadi commander, Maulana Sirajuddin Haqqani, was also supporting the accord because the Kurram region provided swift access into areas in Afghanistan called the Khost Bowl.
When the deal was being discussed, there were reports that Pakistan's security establishment wanted a peaceful Kurram for the network to launch more lethal attacks inside Afghanistan, ahead of a proposed withdrawal of US-led international forces.
The Haqqani network, however, is now angry at the TTP because its affiliates are not honouring the deal, according to multiple sources in the region.
TTP commander from Kurram, Fazal Saeed, is now planning attacks on Shias after initially announcing support towards the deal, locals in the Upper Kurram said.
Another Mehsud-appointed commander for Orakzai, Maulvi Noor Jamal alias Mullah Toofan, is also one of the militant leaders behind the recent attacks on Shias who were travelling on a road that links Parachinar with Peshawar.
"All this has annoyed Haqqani," an associate of the Afghan commander, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2011.
 
SOURCE: http://tribune.com.pk/story/160890/kurram-agency-haqqani-warns-hakimullah-not-to-sabotage-peace-deal/

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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Kurram Agency: MQM, PTI express solidarity with tribesmen

Business Recorder

Kurram Agency: MQM, PTI express solidarity with tribesmen


RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD  (April 30, 2011) : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday, expressing solidarity with the protesting tribesmen belonging to restive Kurram Agency, asked the government to take immediate measure to lift the four-year long blockade of Thall-Parachinar Road.

MQM's parliamentary leader in National Assembly, Dr Farooq Sattar and PTI leader Zahid Hussain Kazmi were addressing a large gathering of protesters belonging to Kurram Agency here in front of the Parliament House. The gathering was also addressed by chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Region, MNA Sajid Hussain Turi.

Sattar extended MQM's full support to the people of Kurram Agency in redressing their problems of lawlessness and the four-year long blockade of the region by militants adding that MQM would also raise the issue in the parliament. He asked the government to take action against the elements that were creating law and order situation in Kurram Agency. He said MQM would also submit adjournment motion in the National Assembly regarding lawlessness in Kurram Agency and the problems being faced by the tribesmen due to the blockade of Thall-Parachinar Road.

He criticised the government for not taking measures to rescue over 0.5 million residents from the trenches created by militants who were brutally killing innocent tribesmen. Sattar criticised PTI Chief Imran Khan for not raising voice for the people of Parachinar, who he said were subjected to brutalities of the militants. "We all are opposing and condemning the US drone attacks. But it is deplorable to neglect the 0.5 million population who are at the mercy of the extremist elements," he said.

The MQM leader also expressed solidarity with the people of Parachinar on behalf of the party's Quaid Altaf Hussain, adding that his party would stand side by side with the residents of the Kurram Agency. "We have to remove differences and those elements promoting such rifts among the society if we want to create a real Pakistan in accordance with the dreams of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah," he added.

Sattar was of the view that if the government fails to redress the genuine issues of the people there would soon be a revolution. The gathering was later joined by PTI leader Zahid Hussain Kazmi, who also extended his party's support to the people of Kurram Agency. He demanded of the government to undertake immediate measures to restore peace in the restive region.

Kazmi criticised media for keeping itself mum over the matter of Kurram Agency and for not highlighting the plight of the local tribesmen. He was of the view that the government does not have right to govern if it is not able to establish its writ and wipe out militants who were plying with the lives of innocent people.

The rally was also addressed by vice President Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Mirza Hassan Jehadi, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Allama Fakhar Abbas Rizvi and PPP's former candidate from Kurram Agency Dr Syed Riaz Hussain Shah.

Copyright Business Recorder, 201
source http://www.brecorder.com/component/news/single/599:news.html?id=1183794
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Protesters castigate authorities for their silence

 
Mumtaz Alvi
Saturday, April 30, 2011
 
Islamabad

Hundreds of residents of under-siege Parachinar here on Friday castigated president, prime minister and political parties for what they called their criminal silence over the 0.5 million population's plight at the hands of militants.

They called upon the rulers to either honour their commitments made on several occasions with the Jirga delegates and MNAs belonging to Fata or step down in case they could not make secure the only road link between Kurram Agency and rest of Pakistan.

The protesters, mostly youth, took out a rally and staged a sit-in near the Parliament House. All political parties, barring Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf completely ignored the event.

In their fiery speeches, speakers regretted that PPP, PML-N and so-called NGOs were insensitive to the long-continuing human rights violations in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency. The rally was organised by the Youth of Parachinar, which has encamped outside the Press Club here since last week to press the government for re-establishment of its writ there.

MQM Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Dr. Farooq Sattar expressed solidarity with the protestors and promised to demand lifting of the siege and reopening of the Thal-Parachinar Road on the floor of the lower house. He added MQM leader Altaf Hussain would address the affected of Parachinar if they organised such a programme in the coming days.

They noted Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan had recently staged a dharna in Peshawar in a bid to halt drone attacks. They said they were also against any kind of outside interference in Pakistan's internal matters.

But they decried Imran never issued even a statement against the blockade of Parachinar and in support of their struggle against the militants' barbarism. However, PTI central spokesman of Imran, Zahid Hussain Kazmi on behalf of the party chairman, rushed to the venue and joined the protest. Later, he delivered a brief speech, condemning the siege of the region.

The PTI spokesman expressed solidarity with the protesters and criticised the PPP-led government for its indifference to the seething human misery in Parachinar.

Maulana Asghar Askari cautioned that if the status quo persisted, next time they could stage a sit-in inside the Parliament premises. He noted the president, prime minister and even interior minister had promised to drive Taliban out of the region and secure the road from them but they failed to honour their pledges.

Amid chants of shame, shame and down with Zardari government, he said they were aware as to which hidden forces were behind the diabolical activities of Taliban. "There is uniform behind the rampant terrorism," the participants shouted in response to his statement.

He recalled that Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had very recently rightly said that Pakistan army was the best in the world. "We may dare to ask our army chief why then the Thal-Parachinar Road is not being made secure," he remarked.

The religious scholar complained that the electronic media had not been projecting the crisis, as it should have had been and noted the media often looked for noted political figures for coverage instead of highlighting human misery.

The MNA from Parachinar Sajid Hussain Turi who is also chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on the States and Frontier Regions, in his speech described Parachinar as Pakistani Gaza and said their peaceful agitation would continue unless the road was cleared of militants.

He said due to the road blockade, broiler chicken was being sold in Parachinar at Rs450-500 per kilo, price spiral of the day-to-day commodities such as flour, ghee was unaffordable for the majority.

Similarly, he continued, both ordinary and life-saving drugs were also no more available and in some cases, medicines meant for animals were given to patients.

"Entire convoys of vehicles are taken away along with passengers by the militants: either killed with brutality; their bodies are mutilated and returned only after ransom is paid. These terrorists have martyred over 2000 innocent men, women and even children since 2007," he lamented.

He asserted their struggle would continue until 35 persons abducted a few days back were recovered, the army troops moved in to clear the road; violators of the Murree Agreement punished and at the earliest PIA service resumed from Peshawar to Parachinar.
 
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Misleading information — III —Farhat Taj

ANALYSIS: Misleading information — III —Farhat Taj
Since 9/11 and the US attacks on terrorist positions in Afghanistan, the authority of the political agent has been replaced by the Pakistan Army officers in a de facto manner. The officers are neither capable of nor legally authorised to deal with tribal or sectarian disputes

This is the last part of my comments on Mr Ejaz Haider's article 'Responding to Farhat Taj — II' published in an English daily on April 11, 2011.

Mr Haider recommends Patrick Porter's Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes so that I understand how the Taliban overpowered FATA. The problem is that a great deal of international research and journalistic literature authored on FATA in the context of the war on terror is misleading, at times marred with factual mistakes and tarnished with serious ethical and methodological mistakes. Readers of Daily Times are aware that I have been challenging some of the literature on this forum. My published research papers as well as my forthcoming book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban, question the work of some of the most famous FATA 'experts' around the world. The literature is based on information and assumptions that, at the very best, have only insignificant presence in FATA's ground reality. By producing such blighted knowledge about FATA, the famous FATA experts in the US and Europe have defiled the West's own tradition of scholarship.

I have not read Porter's book and so I am in no position to comment on it. But I will never judge the situation in FATA on the criteria set in this or any other book; I will do things the other way round. Mr Haider's own understanding that, due to internal socio-political changes, the traditional tribal structure led by the tribal leader has been battered leading to the rise of indigenous religious power embodied by the Taliban, is baseless. The tribal leaders have not been outdated through internal changes in society. They have been out-manoeuvred and even killed by the security establishment that engineered, through terrorism and blackmail, the Taliban takeover of tribal society in pursuit of strategic goals.

Kurram is a complicated story, quite different from the rest of FATA. There are also long standing tribal disputes over land, forests and water between Sunni and Shia tribes. Some of the disputes have been pending since colonial times. Some of the disputes are dormant and some have been causing occasional tribal clashes. There are also controversial sectarian disputes. But never before have any tribal clashes in Kurram's history led to so much violence and mass scale human displacement such as those in the deadly cycle of sectarian clashes since 2007.

Traditionally, there have been two authorities that prevented all previous tribal clashes from causing large-scale violence: the jirga led by tribal leaders and the political agent. Since 9/11 and the US attacks on terrorist positions in Afghanistan, the authority of the political agent has been replaced by the Pakistan Army officers in a de facto manner. The officers are neither capable of nor legally authorised to deal with tribal or sectarian disputes. Most of the non-local tribal leaders, who used to play a constructive role in managing disputes in Kurram, have been target killed, like Khandan Mehsud of South Waziristan. The remaining tribal leaders have limited their activities due to security concerns or they toe the establishment's line and are hence irrelevant for the well being of the tribal people. Within Kurram, moderate Shia and Sunni tribal leaders are hostage to armed gangs and occasionally get target killed — the latest example is that of Iqbal Hussain, an important moderate Sunni tribal leader from Parachinar as well as historian of Kurram, who was target killed in January 2011.

With the authority of the tribal leaders removed and the state reluctant to impose its writ, the Shia and Sunni militant groups have been given a free hand to commit as many atrocities as they please. No one in Kurram believes that the state does not have the capacity to rein in the militant groups.

Almost all Sunnis from Parachinar have been displaced by the Shia militant groups. Why did the army stationed in the area not provide security to the Sunni residents of the city by confronting the Shia attackers with full might? The fact that some Sunnis were linked with the Taliban is no justification for the army to remain silent spectators over the carnage and displacement of the Sunnis, most of whom were innocent civilians. There are more people linked with the Taliban in Lahore. Would that be a reason for the army to silently allow a violent eviction of an entire section of the population from the city?

Instead of harshly dealing with the Sunnis linked with the Taliban, the local state agents have been publicly giving them VIP treatment. For example, during the sectarian clashes in 2007, a military helicopter airlifted the injured Eid Nazar Mangal, leader of the anti-Shia Sipah-e-Sahaba in Kurram to a hospital. No other injured Shia or Sunni was given that facility on the occasion. All the government could do for the assaulted innocent Sunnis was to 'facilitate' their forced eviction by providing them transport that dumped them just outside the Shia-dominated area to lick their wounds.

Why did Colonel Tauseef even hold the jirga in which he invited a controversial anti-Shia personality from Kohat? He does not have any legal authority to do so. His move achieved nothing for peace in Kurram but contributed towards a bad tribal perception about his institution. The Sunni tribal leaders now say that Colonel Tauseef's plan to repatriate the Sunnis was the army's plan to trap the Parachinar Shias in violence. Without having appropriate security arrangements in place to protect the repatriated Sunnis from aggression by Shia militant gangs, the returned IDPs would be slaughtered by the Shia armed groups. This would provide a pretext to the military to conduct a fake military operation in the name of elimination of the Shia groups, but would actually result in the carnage of innocent Shia families.

The text of the Murree Agreement clearly identifies three parties to the crisis in Kurram — the local Shia, Sunni populations and the government of Pakistan — and, depending on the case, any of the three will be responsible for any violation of the agreement. It is only the government of Pakistan that has failed to fulfill its responsibility under the agreement. Both Shias and Sunnis from Kurram hold the government responsible for non-implementation of the agreement. Rather than implementing the Murree Agreement, the government is holding media circuses, like the jirga in March 2011 as referred to by Mr Ejaz. The jirga was boycotted by an important stakeholder of the Kuram crisis, the Sunni IDPs from Parachinar. There has been more violence in the area against innocent Shias and Sunnis since that jirga.

Due to space constraints, I will not be able to discuss more about Kurram, but I wish to inform that, together with another author, I am writing a report about Kurram, which will elaborate most of the issues touched upon by Mr Ejaz. Therefore, I would request the readers to wait for the report.

The writer is a PhD Research Fellow with the University of Oslo and currently writing a book, Taliban and Anti-Taliban
 
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