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India-Pakistan
Taliban commander back on the air in Pakistan
2011-07-08
[Dawn] One of Pakistain's most notorious Taliban radio voices is back on the air after the army raided his stronghold last year and drove him across the border into Afghanistan.

The resurgence of Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, also one of the Pak Taliban's top commanders, illustrates the resilience of Orcs and similar vermin fighting to topple the US-allied Pak government and the growing problem of sanctuaries in eastern Afghanistan that allow fighters to elude the army's grasp.

"We will return and enforce the golden system of Islam," Mohammed said in a recent radio broadcast from his new base in Afghanistan. "All of those who have turned their backs on us, like we are gone for good, should seek forgiveness from Allah."

Militants and their supporters in Pakistain have long used illegal FM radio stations to spread their message and incite violence against the government. The tactic is hard to counter because the equipment needed is cheap and easily transportable.

Mohammed was one of the most prominent cut-thoat radio personalities before the army invaded his enclave early last year in the Bajur tribal area, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of the Pak capital of Islamabad.

Many of the Orcs and similar vermin in Bajur, including Mohammed, simply slipped across the border into Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral...
, an area of Afghanistan where the US has largely withdrawn its troops.

Kunar has turned into a staging ground for large-scale attacks inside Pakistain, according to the Mighty Pak Army.

The most recent such assault in Bajur occurred Monday when around 60 Pak Talibs sent by Mohammed stormed a paramilitary checkpoint, killing one soldier and wounding three others, said local officials.

Mohammed grabbed credit for the attack, as well a similar one by at least 100 Orcs and similar vermin on several border villages in Bajur in mid-June that killed at least five people.

"Our fighters carried out these two attacks from Afghanistan, and we will launch more such attacks inside Afghanistan and in Pakistain," said Mohammed over the Voice of Sharia radio in his measured, matter-of-fact style.

His on-air reply after the June attack: "Don't dare stand in the way of those who are following the path of God."

Radio is the main connection to the outside world for most rustics in Bajur and other areas along the Afghan-Pakistain border because they can't afford satellite television dishes, and the infrastructure needed for cable TV is usually nonexistent.

Mohammed and his associates transmit for two and a half hours every day beginning at 8 p.m., although sometimes the broadcast is overpowered by a station run by the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said Gul Ahmed Jan, the owner of a grocery store near Khar, the main town in Bajur.

Mohammed gives half-hour sermons three times per week in which he encourages locals to participate in jihad, or holy war, and warns them against cooperating with Pak authorities.

"This war is between Islam and infidels, and every Mohammedan is duty-bound to take part," said Mohammed on his show "The Leader Says."

His brother, Gul Mohammed, who claims to have been tortured by Pakistain's security forces, often rails against alleged mistreatment of rustics by the Mighty Pak Army and Frontier Corps.

The station also plays songs praising jacket wallahs, even though some radical Islamists, including the Afghan Taliban, have denounced music of any kind.

"Look, the lucky guy is on the way to heaven," said one song. "Young man, how great you are."

Militants from the 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...
Valley in nearby Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province are often invited to participate as guest speakers. Their leader, Mullah Fazlullah, was Pakistain's most active Taliban radio personality before the army invaded Swat in 2009, earning him the nickname "Mullah Radio."

He is also believed to be in Kunar, according to the Mighty Pak Army and Bajur residents, but he hasn't resurfaced on the radio.

The Mighty Pak Army has complained that US and Afghan forces have done nothing to address the growing number of Orcs and similar vermin who have holed up in Kunar after fleeing military operations on the Pakistain side of the border.

The US withdrew many of its troops from Kunar in the past year so it could focus on more populated areas that it deems more strategic.

"There is no effort to act against these strongholds or sanctuaries," said Pakistain army front man Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
. "Many terrorist leaders are gathered there, and there is no pressure on them to leave."

The army claims that groups of up to 300 Orcs and similar vermin have staged at least five cross-border attacks in the last month, killing 55 paramilitary soldiers and tribal police.

A senior Western intelligence official, however, expressed doubt about Pakistain's figures and whether all the attacks came from bases in Afghanistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
Posted by:Fred

#3  We pull out of one province and they slide back in....
Posted by: Griting Smith6978   2011-07-08 13:07  

#2  Taliban commander back on the air in Pakistan

"...Hey, it's Manic Maulvi here on 1040 AM in beautiful Bajur, not quite eight o'clock on a rainy Friday morning! We're gonna have a traffic update in just a couple, along with a current list of madrasssa closings, till then stay with us, and remember -

(sound bite)"Allen Snack-bARRR!"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2011-07-08 08:27  

#1  94 days, still waiting for my Glow-in-the-Dark Crescent. Crazy Mullah Water Chrystals not as advertised either
Posted by: S   2011-07-08 01:59  

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