| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Mohmand elders fear Taliban, decline invite to jirga |
| 2007-05-26 |
| PESHAWAR: A proposed jirga of Saafi tribe in Mohmand Agency has been postponed after tribal elders declined the invitation to avoid being “victims of Waziristan-like target-killings”, tribal elders said on Friday. The Mohmand Agency political administration has been pressing major tribes of the area to unite against increasing Taliban-linked activities and had summoned a jirga for the purpose tomorrow (Sunday). “No tribal elder is ready to openly support the administration against the Taliban,” a tribal elder, asking not to be named, told Daily Times. Security agencies have warned the government that Mohmand Agency was “exposed” to the Taliban phenomenon because the area borders Bajaur Agency and overlooks Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kunar provinces where there is a resurgence of the Taliban. “Frankly speaking, I am not mad to take on the Taliban … I know what happened to the people who tried this in Waziristan,” said another elder asking not to be named. As fears of “Taliban reprisal” are gripping the Mohmand region, a meeting was held in Gandahab near Ghalanai, the regional headquarters of Mohmand Agency, on Friday where speakers paid tribute to Nazar Muhammad who was ‘martyred’ in Kunar province while fighting US forces. A participant of the meeting told Daily Times on the telephone that speakers highlighted the need for jihad against the Americans in Afghanistan. He said that Karachi-based cleric Sheikh Fazal Muhammad told the gathering of about 1,500 men including “armed and masked Taliban” that the mujahideen lacked modern weapons, but were using suicide bombers to fight back the enemy (the US). The source said that Umar Baacha, a youth introduced to the gathering as provincial head of the mujahideen, also spoke on the occasion. “We will sacrifice thousand more lives to drive out the Americans from Afghanistan,” the source quoted Baacha saying to the gathering. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #2 so Umar and the Sheikh need to have "accidents" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-26 07:23 |
| #1 So, you are beholden to man, not God. You chose fear, not life. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-05-26 01:01 |