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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan: New Militant Web Links Pose Fresh Challenge |
| 2007-07-03 |
| (AKI) - A new web of militancy based in Pakistan is posing a serious challenge to the Western coalition operating in Afghanistan and to the Pakistani establishment. Over the last year this threat has been spreading rapidly. While establishing its frontline in the remote tribal areas ahead of a new battle in Afghanistan against NATO troops, it is increasing its foothold far from the remote tribal areas, in the capital Islamabad, in particular in the orbit of the radical Lal Masjid. Fundamental in this new militant network is the pro-Taliban movement Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), banned but still active in Pakistan. It is rapidly spreading its influence, partly through over 100 illegal FM radio stations that cross its constituencies of Swat, Mengora, Malakand and Deer. TNSM was founded by a cleric Sufi Mohammed in 1990s and it occupied the strategic highways and trade routes including the silk route which connects Pakistan to China to fullfil their demand of implementing the Sharia in Pakistan during the government of Benazir Bhutto. The militants demanded the enforcement of Islamic laws and threatened to continue to block the major trade routes connecting the country to China and Afghanistan. Sufi Mohammed mustered some 10,000 people to Afghanistan during 2001 to fight against American troops. When he returned back from Afghanistan he was put in jail where he remains still. However, his brother Mullah Fazal The Valley of Peshawar, comprising Mardan, Swabi and Peshawar City, is also under the influence of Pakistani Taliban but the support it can count on there is limited compared to other parts of NWFP. Strategists and decision makers in Pakistan believe that this new web of militancy starts from North Waziristan and South Waziristan and stretches the length of the Afghan border up to Bajaur agency. They believe the entire network is intertwined with the radical Lal Masjid of Islamabad. According to high level sources, the proof of these ties is the fact that one of the two radical pro-Taliban brothers who run the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, recently addressed the members of TNSM by telephone. "This is the wrong interpretation of a rare event. Yes ideologically we agree with TNSM that we all believe in Islamic system of life but it is wrong that we discuss the strategies or aiming to launch any joint strategy" his brother, Abdul Rasheed Ghazi told Adnkronos International (AKI). As far as the telephone address is concerned, "we only sent a delegation to meet TNSM people and convey our message and one member of our delegation called Maulana Abdul Aziz and put the telephone near the mike. That’s how only one occasion Maulana Abdul Aziz addressed the TNSM members. It has never been the routine,” he added. “Extremism is growing in Pakistan like in other countries of the world and we are taking measures to contain it. We have security agencies posted in Malakand, Mengora, Swat where the TNSM is growing but they are less well-equipped and fewer in numbers," Major General Waheed Arshad, director general inter-services public relations of the Pakistani armed forces told Adnkronos International by phone. "We are taking rapid steps to enhance the capacity of our security agencies,” he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 More importantly, why hasn't Lal Masjid had a gas line rupture underneath it yet? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-03 05:01 |
| #1 How does an illegal FM radio station make it more than a few hours before it gets bombed? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-07-03 03:34 |