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Pak offensive claims top Taliban commanders Fazlullah cornered

	June 29, 2009

In the twin Pak military offensives in Swat and Waziristan while the Taliban commander in Swat is reported to have been cornered and injured, in Waziristan, a pro-Government Tehrik-e-Taliban commander Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, a rival of Baitullah Mesud has been killed by his own security guard in a mosque in Dera Ismail Khan.



In Swat, troops are in the final phase of eliminating terrorist hideouts and camps. Biha, the last stronghold of the Taliban in northern Swat, has been fully secured and Shamozai in the west is being cleared, the military spokesman, Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas, said on June 22.



As the fighting for the complete control of Swat raged, Pakistani troops claimed on June 22 that the troops had killed more than 30 militants in retaliatory air strikes after Taliban launched attacks on the military. Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban commander in Swat Valley, was cornered and injured. “There are reports that Maulana Fazlullah has been injured”, Interior Minister Rehman Malik was quoted by Geo News channel as saying. He told reporters on June 22 that Fazlullah has been spotted and could not escape. Fazlullah’s brother was injured during an operation while members of his family have been detained in Haripur, Malik said. In another setback to the Pak Taliban leader, Fazlullah, one of his close aides and deputy chief in Swat Valley, Shah Dauran, was also killed. He was injured in the military offensive on June 25.



Reports from North and South Waziristan said hundreds of militants had been killed in the military offensive, air strikes and the US Drone attacks. The militant commander in Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, is believed to have narrowly escaped death in US Drone missile strikes that killed more than 80 militants on June 24. A senior militant commander, Khwaz Ali, believed to be a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud was among six militants killed in the first Drone attack targeting a suspected Taliban training centre near Shabikhel on June 24. Earlier reports said, another Taliban commander, named Sangeen Khan was also killed. US Drones fired three missiles on aTaliban training centre near the village of Makeen, 60 kms from Waziristan’s chief town of Wanna, killing seven militants and then another barrage of seven missiles rained down on the same area at a funeral procession for some of those killed in the first attack. Some foreign militants of Arab, Tajik, Uzbek and Chechen origins were also present at the funeral. Baitullah Mehsud was said to be at the funeral of Khwaz Ali when the Drones struck. Other reports, however, said Baitullah had left the place before the lethal second attack took place.



In Waziristan, in a clear sign of growing decisions within Taliban ranks, a top militant leader, Qari Zainuddin, seen as a rival of Baitullah Mehsud, against whom Pakistani forces have mounted a massive operation was killed by one of his own security guards on June 23. Zainuddin was gunned down in his office in the north-western town of Dera Ismail Khan by his own guard when he returned from a mosque after offering morning prayers. The assailant is reported to have fled in a waiting car. Another of Zainuddin’s bodyguard, Baz Muhammad, who was also injured, said, “It was definitely Baitullah’s man who infiltrated our ranks and he has done his job”, vowing revenge.



Qari Zainuddin had been leading the Taliban group since the murder of its leader and Baitullah’s brother, Abdullah Mehsud. The group has been active inside Afghanistan against the US and NATO forces. Qari Zainuddin was the elder son of slain militant Masood-ur-Rehman Mehsud who had announced his leadership after the death of Abdullah Mehsud who was killed on July 24, 2007 in the Zhob area of Baluchistan. Close aides of Abdullah Mehsud alleged that Baitullah Mehsud helped the security forces hunt down the one-legged militant who was killed as he was coming from Afghanistan. Masood-ur-Rehman Mehsud announced his leadership after the death of Abdullah Mehsud. But, during that tense period, Baitullah Mehsud killed Masood-ur-Rehman Mehsud using a remote-controlled bomb in South Waziristan. His son, Qari Zainuddin, decided to take revenge for his father’s murder. He was heading the “Abdullah Mehsud Group” in the Taliban and announced in July 2008 in a letter that was circulated to the media that he would extract revenge from Baitullah Mehsud. Baitullah last year dissociated himself from the group and formed his own Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP]. He established links with the Al-Qaeda and other militants who carried out terrorist attacks in Pakistani cities. Last week, Qari had declared war against Baitullah and offered to cooperate with the Pakistani Army in its hunt against the TTP chief. In a series of interviews, apparently sponsored by security agencies, Qari had accused Baitullah of indulging in un-Islamic fight against an Islamic State and committing terrorist acts at the behest of some foreign powers. Baitullah’s group, on the other hand, dubbed Qari an ISI agent. Qari Zainuddin had also launched a concerted drive to enlist support from members of the Mehsud tribe.



On the other hand, Qari Zainuddin Mehsud and his deputy, Haji Turkistani, alleged that Baitullah Mehsud was an American and Indian agent, that he was the one who killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and that the real jihad is what is going on in Afghanistan and not what is going on in Pakistan.



Many diplomats contacted officials in the Pakistan Foreign Office and the Interior Ministry as well as media circles for answers to their questions. Western diplomats were mainly confused over the claim made by Qari Zianuddin and Turkistani that Baitullah Mehsud was an American agent and that he was the one who killed Benazir. These diplomats were asking a question: if Baitullah Mehsud was involved in Benazir’s assassination, did it mean that the American authorities were involved in that conspiracy? No government official had an answer to that question.



As the Pakistan Army battles Al-Qaeda’s Taliban allies in the Swat Valley, the Al-Qaeda has declared if it were able to take possession of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, it would use the arsenal in its fight against the United States. “God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the Mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans,” Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.



The military offensive and the counter-attacks by the Taliban militants in their South Waziristan have displaced more than 40 thousand people who started moving even before the offensive began. They joined nearly two million people who left their homes in north west of Pakistan after the Army launched the operation against the forces of Maulana Fazlullah in the Swat Valley in April. This prompted the United Nations to launch an appeal for $543 million in aid to avert a long-term humanitarian crisis.



Zardari has admitted that that internal terrorism and not India is the greatest threat to his country. Zardari said during a meeting with EU officials in Brussels on June 24, “I do not consider India a military threat. India is a reality. Pakistan is a reality, but Taliban are a threat, an international threat to our way of life.” The statement marks a significant shift in Islamabad’s view of its traditional rival, said the DAILY TELEGRAPH of London.



Zardari, spent most of his time this month visiting world capitals to win international support against terrorism. His summit meeting with European Union President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic and his recent visit to the headquarters of the NATO in Brussels represented major efforts to convince the international community that Pakistan is serious about defeating terrorism. Leaders from Washington to London and Moscow to Brussels have had a good word for Zardari and Pakistan, but most of them are still cautious.



At home, Zardari is swiftly losing political support not only among people at large but also in Parliament. The Zardari Government did not take Parliament into confidence before launching Army operations in Swat and South Waziristan. The main opposition party in the National Assembly, Nawaz Sharif’s PML[N], supported the operations in Swat but now it has serious reservations about the strategy in South Waziristan. Sharif had long meetings with his parliamentarians in Islamabad recently and decided to ask the Government some tough questions regarding the operation about the US Drone attacks in South Waziristan. He has serious reservations about the role of the slain militant leader, Qari Zainuddin.



James Jones’ visit – US Senate clears Pak aidBill



President Zardari sought Drone technology from the US when the American National Security Advisor, Gen. James Jones, called on him in Islamabad on June 25. He told the visiting US official that the Americans should give Pakistan the Drone technology for “boosting its indigenous capacity to eliminate militants from its soil”. Gen. Jones told the Pakistan leadership that the 26/11 style terror attacks must stop. He vowed to help Pakistan and India improve their relations to combat the militant threat.



Meanwhile, the US Senate has not only unanimously passed the Bill tripling American civilian aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion for the next five years, but also has gone on to recommend another $7.5 billion for the subsequent five years to signal a long-term American commitment. The Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, passed on June 25, said “Subject to an improving political and economic climate in Pakistan”, an additional assistance of $1.5 billion per year should be provided. For the 2009-2013 period, Pakistan will not only get $1.5 billion every year as civilian aid but also a separate security or military aid. The Obama Administration has indicated that it will be providing Pakistan $400 million in annual security assistance for the 2010-13 period.



With the two chambers passing different versions of the aid Bill, the legislation will now go for a reconciliation by a conference of their representatives to produce a compromise measure that will be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.