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| India-Pakistan |
| Shia deal gives militants new Afghan access |
| 2010-11-28 |
| [Dawn] Shia Mohammedan militias in Pakistain's tribal regions are helping some of Natos fiercest enemies evade missile attacks from US drones to cross safely into Afghanistan, a tribal activist told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Shias, who control a key piece of tribal real estate, cut a deal with the deadly Haqqani network to give gunnies a safe, alternative route to Afghanistan through Pakistain's Kurram tribal region, said Munir Bangash, who is familiar with the deal. A second primitive from Kurram confirmed the deal but spoke only on condition of anonymity fearing retribution from the Taliban and from fellow rustics. The deal underlines the problems of shutting down the Haqqani network's access to its bases in Afghanistan from its refuges in Pakistain. The Haqqani network is blamed for many of the deadliest attacks on US troops in Afghanistan. Washington has been pressing Pakistain to launch a military operation against the Haqqani network in North Wazoo but so far the military has held back, saying its 140,000 soldiers deployed across the tribal belt are already stretched too thin. Analysts and Afghan government officials have accused Pakistain of protecting the Haqqani network as allies who could be of use after the Americans and their allies leave Afghanistan. The deal in Kurram was brokered two months ago during the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan. A delegation of Shia elders and Shia Orcs and similar vermin from Kurram met representatives of the Haqqani network and laid the groundwork for the deal, said Bangash, who is the chairman of the Community Rights Program, an independent organization trying to broker peace between Kurram's Shias and Sunnis while bringing development to their areas. Under the agreement, the Shias gave the Haqqani network safe passage through Kurram from its Pakistain strongholds in neighboring North and South Wazoo across the border to its Afghan bases in Khost and Paktia provinces, Bangash said. In return, the Haqqanis intervened with the Sunni Mohammedan gunnies to get them to agree to a truce with the Shias in Kurram. The two sects have been engaged in brutal tit-for-tat killings, although most of the dead have been Shias Mohammedan. Rival Sunni Mohammedans have also blocked the only highway connecting Kurram to Pakistain's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa scenic provincial capital of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar. Bangash said hundreds of Haqqani gunnies as well as Pak Taliban have taken refuge in Kurram to escape attacks by U.S. drones in North Wazoo as well as a Pakistain military offensive in South Wazoo and Orakzai Agency. ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar... Kurram's Shias had an intense interest in striking a deal for local reasons. Kurram is divided between a northern half bordering Afghanistan controlled by Shias and a Sunni-dominated southern half, which includes the only road connection to Peshawar and the rest of Pakistain. Hundreds have been killed in fighting between militias run by the each sect. Divisions between the communities worsened with the growing influence in the area of the Pak Taliban, allied with the Sunni radical group Lashkar-e-Janghvi, known for its attacks on Shias around Pakistain, said Bangash. The bloodletting peaked in 2007 when Shias drove Sunnis out of Parachinar, the regional government headquarters. Sunni Mohammedans retaliated by denying Shia Mohammedans access to road. In some instances, Sunni gunnies have stopped buses on the road, taken out Shia passengers and executed them. The Shia militias had to turn to the Haqqanis to strike a deal "because they are so strong. No one else is as strong," Bangash said. Neither Bangash nor other Kurram rustics could say whether negotiations involved a member of the Haqqani family. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the network's operational head, was in Kurram in September, according to the Long War Journal, a US-based Web periodical which tracks bad turban activity. While Kurram's Sunnis have come under Taliban sway, its Shias have come under the influence of two local militias called Hezbullies and the Mehdi militia -- unrelated to the jihad boy groups of the same name in Leb and Iraq, respectively -- Bangash said. "The Shias are held hostage to the Hezbullies and Mehdi militias, like the Sunnis are held hostage to the Taliban," said Bangash. The agreement brokered during Ramadan is an uneasy one, says Bangash. Relatives of Shias killed by their Sunni rivals oppose the dealmaking with the Haqqani network. "About a week ago some of Haqqanis representatives came to Parachinar to talk to the elders to try to keep the deal in place," said Bangash. |
| Posted by:Fred |