Al Qaeda and TTP plan massive operation in SWAT

[sob]

Al Qaeda plans a massive operation in Swat to take on the Pakistani Army and to ensure that they do not move troops to North Waziristan to work in tandem with the American troops.

Al-Qaeda backs massive push in Swat

Al-Qaeda's leaders have allocated 2 billion rupees (US$23.25 million) and a new training program for 400 militants in Khyber Agency to start a full-blown insurgency in the Swat area of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province and Malakand Division next summer, Asia Times Online has learned.

At a time United States President Barack Obama was making a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday and telling US troops at Bagram air base outside Kabul that they should be prepared for tough times, militants who spoke to ATol said al-Qaeda had masterminded a plan for militants that would see them engage the Pakistan military in Swat.

This, it is expected, would reduce the military's ability to further US designs in the region, in particular by preventing it from launching an all-out offensive in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, a key militant stronghold and staging post for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.

Swat remained a ghost valley for three months as the military went about its business, showing no mercy.

"Every morning we would see at least three dead bodies of Talibs, but the military never allowed them to be buried. They wanted them to be eaten by the crows, eagles and vultures," a student, Abdul Rahman, told ATol.

Reports and a video of gross human-rights abuses surfaced in the wake of the operation, to such an extent that the US threatened to cut off aid to Pakistan and the army chief constituted a committee to probe the video's contents.

Undoubtedly we are down, but we are not out. We have completely overhauled our strategies. We will come back very strongly next summer," Hussain said.

He continued, "Have you heard the news of the murder of local nazims [elected mayors], lawyers and members of the Awami National Party? This is a very organized but low profile Taliban campaign to assassinate their rivals. In the next few months, this campaign will jack up and by next summer, the militants will be in the valley to take on the army," Hussain said.

I did recall some high-profile murders. including that of Dr Farooq Khan, a physiatrist and religious scholar who supported the army by setting up schools to reform militants.

The Taliban have adopted a similar approach in Khyber Agency, where by 2007 they had a very small presence, with the Brelvi - a Sufi sect - in the majority.

"Al-Qaeda has directly taken over Swat issues. Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban's [TTP - Pakistan Taliban] Swat wing, has been summoned to North Waziristan so that al-Qaeda can direct all decisions through him. The chief operations commander, Ibn-e-Amin [or Bin Yameen], has been placed in Mohmand [Agency - near Malakand] so that he can direct operations in the Swat Valley and fighters have been placed in the Khyber Agency's Terah Valley for training."

Hussain warmed to his story, "Initially, militants were asked to stop their activities in Swat at once and retreat and everybody was then instructed to go to Terah Valley in Khyber Agency. Even the activities of abduction for ransom were stopped in Swat while essential operations related to Swat and Malakand were diverted to other branches of militants.

This article is from Asia Times Online.and is written by Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief

 

[maomao]

Good news for pakistan!

 

[Oracle]

Something to cheer about! Let's celebrate coz' this time the demon will hunt the creator.

 

[Yusuf]

Ok, all the best. Thats one part of Pakistan gone. Would the Taliban integrate that with Astan after that considering the Durand line is not accepted by Astan?

 

[SHASH2K2]

I will keep both eyes and ears open for good news coming our way. Common Taliban you can do it . Break Pornistan into pieces. :angry_1::angry_1::angry_1:

 

[Oracle]

Biggest fear would be if the TTP & the Al-Qaida can lay their hands on a single piece of weapons of mass destruction. This will signal the end of Pakistan, but we also might suffer a lot.

 

[Phenom]

This is more likely a Psy-ops so that Pakistan can stall their offensive in N.Waziristan and get more military aid from US. I have seriously doubt that AQ or Taliban is in any position to launch an offensive inside Pakistan.

 

[sob]

This seems to be a cover up by the Pakistani Army to give them an excuse not to start operations in North Waziristan.

This news is what makes me very worried,

Shia deal gives militants new Afghan access

Shia Muslim militias in Pakistan'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 Associated Press.

Shias, who control a key piece of tribal real estate, cut a deal with the deadly Haqqani network to give insurgents a safe, alternative route to Afghanistan through Pakistan's Kurram tribal region, said Munir Bangash, who is familiar with the deal. A second tribesman from Kurram confirmed the deal but spoke only on condition of anonymity fearing retribution from the Taliban and from fellow tribesmen.

The deal underlines the problems of shutting down the Haqqani network's access to its bases in Afghanistan from its refuges in Pakistan.

The Haqqani network is blamed for many of the deadliest attacks on US troops in Afghanistan. Washington has been pressing Pakistan to launch a military operation against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan 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 Pakistan 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 Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A delegation of Shia elders and Shia militiamen 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 Pakistan strongholds in neighboring North and South Waziristan across the border to its Afghan bases in Khost and Paktia provinces, Bangash said.

In return, the Haqqanis intervened with the Sunni Muslim militants 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 Muslim. Rival Sunni Muslims have also blocked the only highway connecting Kurram to Pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa provincial capital of Peshawar.

Bangash said hundreds of Haqqani insurgents as well as Pakistani Taliban have taken refuge in Kurram to escape attacks by U.S. drones in North Waziristan as well as a Pakistan military offensive in South Waziristan and Orakzai tribal regions.

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 Pakistan.

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 Pakistani Taliban, allied with the Sunni radical group Lashkar-e-Janghvi, known for its attacks on Shias around Pakistan, said Bangash.

The bloodletting peaked in 2007 when Shias drove Sunnis out of Parachinar, the regional government headquarters. Sunni Muslims retaliated by denying Shia Muslims access to road. In some instances, Sunni militants have stopped buses on the road, taken out Shia passengers and executed them.

The Shias were forced into it when the Pakistan Army despite many pleas of help refused to intervene in the local dispute. In the end the Shias were forced to sign this deal, which enables the militants to sneak into and out of Afganistan with ease.