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Taliban bringing their war to streets of Karachi
Militants from Swat, South Wazoo and Mohmand have organized in Bloody Karachi, threatening and killing ANP leaders and raising funds through extortion and abductions for ransom

Talibs have brought their war to the streets of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
threatening key leaders of the Pashtun-dominated secular-leaning Awami National Party (ANP) and raising funds through extortions, killing those who refuse to pay.

Leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) have recently threatened to kill Pashtuns from the Mehsud tribe living in Bloody Karachi if they do not leave the ANP. The threats came from people linked with Waliur Rehman Mehsud, chief of TTP's South Waziristan chapter, party sources said.

Bloody Karachi is Pakistain's largest city, and about 5 million of its estimated 18 million residents are Pashtuns from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, FATA and Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
. A large number of Pashtuns migrated to the city after unrest and violence in northern Pakistain since the war on terror began in 2001. After the killing of key Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders in drone attacks and military operations, a number of snuffies have also fled to Bloody Karachi in recent years, security experts and police officials say.
 
Although there are several Bloody Karachi-based bad boy outfits associated with Al Qaeda and Taliban consisting mainly of non-Pashtun members, snuffies from FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have recently been found involved in extortion and seeking protection money from Pashtun traders and transporters, and are believed to have killed a number of rival political figures.

"In the beginning, the snuffies from the tribal areas did not get involved in subversive activities. This was in line with a TTP policy to use Bloody Karachi only for fundraising and rest and recuperation," said a tribal elder based in Sohrab Goth. "But now they seem to have changed their strategy."

Taking advantage of the ongoing ethnic violence in the city, snuffies belonging to TTP's 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...
chapter killed dozens of elders and political figures of Swat who were travelling to or living in Bloody Karachi.

On June 18, Sher Ali Khan, head of the Swat Qaumi Ittehad and chairman of the Pakistain Seamen's Union, was killed in the Frontier Colony area. His relatives blamed his death on Swati snuffies hiding in the city. Some of his family members, especially his nephew, former councilor Malik Riaz, were killed by the Taliban when they controlled Swat.

Taking advantage of the ongoing ethnic violence in the city, snuffies loyal to Maulana Fazlullah killed dozens of elders and political figures of Swat in Bloody Karachi
On January 5, Saeed Ahmed Khan, district president of ANP, was killed in an attack on his house in the Metroville area of SITE Town. Belonging to Manja village of Swat's Kabal tehsil, he was an influential political figure in both Swat and Bloody Karachi. One of the attackers rubbed out by a police constable assigned to Saeed Khan's security was identified as Aminullah, a runaway TTP Swat bad boy.

"A number of other Swati political and social figures have also been killed in the streets of Bloody Karachi by snuffies loyal to TTP Swat chief Maulana Fazlullah," said Sher Shah Khan, a parliamentarian elected from Swat.

The bad boy group involved in the killings of pro-government elders of Swat in Bloody Karachi is mainly led by Ibn-e-Aqeel alias Khog, and Sher Muhammad alias Yaseen. Both are among the most wanted people in Swat. The task of these liquidations was assigned to them two and half years ago by TTP commander Ibn-e-Amin, of the lower Shawar area of Swat. Ibn-e-Amin - among the most dangerous bad boy commanders in Swat and linked with Al Qaeda - was killed in a drone attack in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in December 2010.

Another bad boy group active in Bloody Karachi is loyal to TTP South Waziristan chief Waliur Rehman Mehsud, led in the city by Khan Zaman. In the beginning, they were believed to be involved in extortion from Mehsud rustics from South Waziristan who run transport and heavy machinery businesses in Bloody Karachi. The sum they asked for ranged from Rs1 million to Rs5 million.

But recently, they have started threatening the people from the Mehsud tribe to leave the ANP. "Most of the party's offices in Sohrab Goth, Mingopir, Kunwari Colony, Pashtunabad and New Sultanabad have been closed down after the threats, and party members belonging to the Mehsud clan have gone underground," a provincial leader of the ANP said. He requested anonymity for security reasons.

Mehsud rustics living in Bloody Karachi are seen as supporters of the ANP. Two of the party's elected members of Sindh Assembly also belong to the Mehsud tribe. Although the ANP was the main target of terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and had lost scores of party workers and politicians in attacks carried out by TTP because of their opposition to militancy and extremism, their Bloody Karachi leaders have never been threatened by Taliban groups before.

The Mohmand
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
chapter of TTP has also formed a cell in Bloody Karachi for collecting protection money from the people belonging to Mohmand Agency. The network was developed by TTP Mohmand chief Omar Khalid and front man Ikramullah Mohmand to raise funds, said an elder from the Mohmand agency. Qari Shakeel, deputy to Omar Khalid, calls the traders himself, demanding money, he added. The network, led by TTP commander Yousaf Khan Mian in Bloody Karachi, has killed several traders who refused to pay, the elder said. Mohmand rustics based in Bloody Karachi usually sell timber and construction material.

Talibs are also involved in the July 17 attack on a WHO doctor and a July 20 slaying of a local community activist working with Polio eradication campaign in Sohrab Goth area, police say.

Mehsud rustics living in Bloody Karachi are seen as supporters of the ANP. Two of the party's elected members of Sindh Assembly belong to the tribe
Mazshar Mashwani, a bigwig at the Crime Investigation Department (CID), said Talibs hiding in Bloody Karachi had been killing ANP leaders and CID personnel for the last few months. "A group of TTP consisting of 9 or 10 snuffies has become active in the remits of SITE, Pirabad and Mingophir cop shoppes, and killed several ANP and CID men," he said. The bad boys, he said, were also carrying out fundraising through kidnapping for ransom, extortion and other means. Several CID and Rangers personnel involved in a crackdown against Talibs were killed in Pashtun dominated areas of Bloody Karachi in the last few weeks.

Experts and tribal elders say law-enforcement agencies should launch a "selective and surgical" operation in Bloody Karachi against snuffies who are hiding in the city.

A number of Taliban suspects have been tossed in the slammer
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
for murder, extortion and abduction in the last three months, according to news reports. They include Nazeerullah Mehsud (July 25), Faisal Mehsud and Khan Mohammad alias Sajid (July 2), Jahangir Khan Akakhel (June 9) and Muhammad Yaseen Mehsud alias Naib-Commander (May 28).

Police have also killed Omar Khitab, a key TTP leader, in a July 27 encounter. Khitab, belonging to South Waziristan, used to collect forced donations from Pashtun traders in Bloody Karachi, said Chaudhry Bashir, in charge of Mingophir cop shoppe.
Posted by: trailing wife 2012-08-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=349982