Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
May 6, 2008
Pg. 1
Peace deal slips in tribal zone
By Khudayar Khan, The Washington Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's peace talks with the militant leader who is thought to have planned the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have reportedly collapsed, just weeks after the new government said it was close to a deal.
Baitullah Mehsud, a leader in the South Waziristan tribal zone, discontinued talks because the new Pakistani government refused to withdraw its troops from territory that was under his control before a midwinter military offensive, a purported spokesman said.
"The government was not serious in its talks and did not meet the ... demand for the withdrawal of army troops" from the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, said Maulvi Omar, who claims to be Mr. Mehsud's official spokesman.
Mr. Omar said the talks could resume if government troops start to withdraw.
Mr. Mehsud leads Pakistan's Taliban movement and is close to al Qaeda and fugitive Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Pakistan's government accuses Mr. Mehsud of orchestrating the December suicide attack that killed Mrs. Bhutto, a charge he denies.
A document released in Islamabad last month, purported to be a draft agreement between elders in the Mehsud tribe and the government, said a phased troop withdrawal from Mehsud territories would begin if there were no further attacks on the military and civilian officials and installations.
The agreement also sought to ensure that militants make no further attempts to establish a mini-state in Mehsud areas or to collect taxes from the local people. The government wanted total acceptance of its writ in the Mehsud territories.
Mr. Mehsud, who was pushed into a remote corner of South Waziristan in a midwinter military thrust, was not directly involved in talks with government officials, but appeared eager for a deal. He issued a "directive" last month ordering his followers not to take any provocative actions against government troops or civilian officials.
Nothing in the draft agreement stipulated that the militants in the Mehsud areas avoid entering Afghanistan to assist the Taliban and al Qaeda against the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force.
However, the draft called on the Mehsuds to expel "foreign elements" in their territory.
Foreign elements refer to al Qaeda fighters, most of whom are Arabs, and Afghan Taliban fighters taking refuge in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Pakistan has been criticized in the West for negotiating with terrorists.
Security analyst Ikram Sehgal told The Washington Times, "There is a misconception in the West" about negotiating with militants.
He said the talks were being held with Mehsud tribal elders "who did not fall into the category of terrorists."
"Channels of communication should remain open with them" because "they have the ability to police the areas themselves," Mr. Sehgal said.
Khalid Aziz, the director of the Islamabad-based Regional Institute for Policy Research, said talking with elders in a bid to maintain peace in the tribal belt was a tradition dating to the British colonial era.
"If the government signs the agreement with the Mehsud tribe," the Pakistan Taliban Movement "could ignore it and continue to fight," Mr. Aziz wrote in the English-language newspaper the News.
Even after Mr. Mehsud's directive was circulated in the form of pamphlets to his followers in the tribal areas, terrorists launched at least three attacks, killing about 10 people and injuring several others.
That appeared to make a mockery of Mr. Mehsud's "directive," in which he said violators of his orders would be "strung upside down" and punished in public places. No subsequent floggings have been reported.
Ralph Joseph contributed to this story from London, Ontario.
May 6, 2008
Pg. 1
Peace deal slips in tribal zone
By Khudayar Khan, The Washington Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's peace talks with the militant leader who is thought to have planned the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have reportedly collapsed, just weeks after the new government said it was close to a deal.
Baitullah Mehsud, a leader in the South Waziristan tribal zone, discontinued talks because the new Pakistani government refused to withdraw its troops from territory that was under his control before a midwinter military offensive, a purported spokesman said.
"The government was not serious in its talks and did not meet the ... demand for the withdrawal of army troops" from the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, said Maulvi Omar, who claims to be Mr. Mehsud's official spokesman.
Mr. Omar said the talks could resume if government troops start to withdraw.
Mr. Mehsud leads Pakistan's Taliban movement and is close to al Qaeda and fugitive Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Pakistan's government accuses Mr. Mehsud of orchestrating the December suicide attack that killed Mrs. Bhutto, a charge he denies.
A document released in Islamabad last month, purported to be a draft agreement between elders in the Mehsud tribe and the government, said a phased troop withdrawal from Mehsud territories would begin if there were no further attacks on the military and civilian officials and installations.
The agreement also sought to ensure that militants make no further attempts to establish a mini-state in Mehsud areas or to collect taxes from the local people. The government wanted total acceptance of its writ in the Mehsud territories.
Mr. Mehsud, who was pushed into a remote corner of South Waziristan in a midwinter military thrust, was not directly involved in talks with government officials, but appeared eager for a deal. He issued a "directive" last month ordering his followers not to take any provocative actions against government troops or civilian officials.
Nothing in the draft agreement stipulated that the militants in the Mehsud areas avoid entering Afghanistan to assist the Taliban and al Qaeda against the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force.
However, the draft called on the Mehsuds to expel "foreign elements" in their territory.
Foreign elements refer to al Qaeda fighters, most of whom are Arabs, and Afghan Taliban fighters taking refuge in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Pakistan has been criticized in the West for negotiating with terrorists.
Security analyst Ikram Sehgal told The Washington Times, "There is a misconception in the West" about negotiating with militants.
He said the talks were being held with Mehsud tribal elders "who did not fall into the category of terrorists."
"Channels of communication should remain open with them" because "they have the ability to police the areas themselves," Mr. Sehgal said.
Khalid Aziz, the director of the Islamabad-based Regional Institute for Policy Research, said talking with elders in a bid to maintain peace in the tribal belt was a tradition dating to the British colonial era.
"If the government signs the agreement with the Mehsud tribe," the Pakistan Taliban Movement "could ignore it and continue to fight," Mr. Aziz wrote in the English-language newspaper the News.
Even after Mr. Mehsud's directive was circulated in the form of pamphlets to his followers in the tribal areas, terrorists launched at least three attacks, killing about 10 people and injuring several others.
That appeared to make a mockery of Mr. Mehsud's "directive," in which he said violators of his orders would be "strung upside down" and punished in public places. No subsequent floggings have been reported.
Ralph Joseph contributed to this story from London, Ontario.