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| India-Pakistan |
| Bajaur tribals announce support for Lal Masjid mullah |
| 2007-07-10 |
| Tribal elders and local Taliban leaders on Monday pledged their support to Lal Masjid deputy chief cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and urged him to prefer martyrdom to surrendering himself to the government. The leaders condemned the Lal Masjid operation at a large public gathering held on the call of local Siddiqabad Taliban in the Bajaur Agency. Thousands of tribesmen and around 400 armed local Taliban attended the gathering. Addressing the participants, Maulana Inayatur Rehman, Salar Malik Abdul Aziz Mehsud, Farooq Abdullah, Maulana Said Muhammad and local Taliban commander Faqir Muhammad said President General Pervez Musharraf had ordered the Lal Masjid operation to appease the Americans and prolong his rule. They said innocent children had been killed in the Lal Masjid operation, adding that law and order in Pakistan was deteriorating because of President Musharraf’s flawed policies. The tribal elders also defended the Lal Masjid administration’s policies and assured them their full support. The speakers said it was obligatory upon all Muslims to wage jihad, adding that it would continue in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Iraq. They urged the government to change its policies before the situation spiralled further out of control. Maulana Faqir Muhammad said the Taliban and tribal elders would honour the agreement with the government and the peace accord would stay intact. He said the Bajaur mujahideen had defeated the former Soviet Union and would also defeat America. Outraged tribesmen also burnt an effigy of President Musharraf and shouted slogans against him. AFP adds: The gathered tribesmen, numbering around 20,000, vowed to take revenge on President Musharraf for the siege on Lal Masjid. “We beg Allah to destroy Musharraf and we will seek revenge for the atrocities committed at Lal Masjid,” Maulvi Faqir Mohammed said. Mujahideen commander Inayatur Rehman said, “You [tribesmen] must all be trained for jihad because it is binding on every Muslim, just like prayers and fasting.” The gathering also passed resolutions in which Friday was declared a weekly holiday instead of Sunday, and demanded the closure of all music shops in the tribal district. |
| Posted by:Fred |