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Mohmand Agency Talibs say no one can expel them from 'house of God'
The local Taliban on Tuesday rejected the Mohmand tribe jirgas demand to give the Haji Sahib Turangzai mosque back its original name and hand over the shrine of the famous Pashtoon freedom fighter to the previous administration.
The previously unheard of local Taliban renamed the mosque Lal Masjid on Sunday and seized the shrine to make it their jihadi headquarters in the region. The mosque and madrassa is the house of God and nobody can expel us, Taliban leader Umar Khalid told reporters after an eight-member Saafi tribe jirga tried to negotiate with the Taliban to resolve the issue peacefully. | I'd settle for bricking it up entirely, if that's how Umar wants it. |
How about the Haji Sahib Memorial parking lot?| Sure! It's got a nice beat and I can dance to it. |
| Drop in a mirror ball and you're in business. |
However, the talks remained inconclusive on Tuesday and the two sides agreed to resume dialogue on Friday. Jirga member Malik Zarin Saafi said the jirga requested the Taliban to give the mosque back its original name and hand over the shrine to the previous administration. I am sure the talks will succeed and we will find a peaceful solution, the tribal elder told Daily Times after the talks.
| "Because if we don't we'll kill them all," Saafi added softly. |
Earlier, an all-tribes jirga in Ghalanai said they would support the local Saafi tribe if it called for help, but insisted that the Saafi tribe should handle the Taliban takeover of the mosque and shrine itself. It is a local issue and the tribe should tackle it itself. If it wants our help we are ready, tribal elders told the jirga organised by the political administration. The jirga decided that the other tribes would intervene only if the Saafi jirga failed to resolve the issue.
Mohmand Agency political agent Dr Kazim Niaz said the issue would be addressed through local customs and traditions.
| An eight-century solution, eh? We can only guess. |
Posted by: Fred 2007-08-01 |
