8 Tribal leaders shot dead in Waziristan

[waz]

Gunmen in Pakistan have shot dead eight pro-government tribal leaders in the troubled South Waziristan region on Afghanistan's border, officials say.
The tribesmen were killed in two separate attacks on Sunday night and early Monday, a security official said.

Three of the men died in Wana, the region's main town, while the others were shot dead at their homes in Shkai, a town north of Wana, he said.
South Waziristan is a known stronghold of Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

The region has been at the centre of fighting between the army and the militants in recent months.

Gunmen stormed the office of Taleban commander Maulavi Nazir in Wana on Sunday night and killed three of his supporters and wounded four others, officials said.


They said five people were killed in the nearby Shkai area in another attack on the office of Commander Khanan, who is loyal to Mullah Nazir.

Officials say they suspect the attackers to be Uzbek militants, who are opposed to Mullah Nazir.

Although a Taleban commander, Mullah Nazir recently fought foreign militants with the backing of Pakistani government troops.

Reports from Wana say the attacks may be in retaliation for an incident last month in which a suspected Uzbek militant was trapped and killed by Commander Khanan's men in the neighbouring North West Frontier Province district.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Pakistan tribal elders shot dead

 

[waz]

This does look like the work of foreign ba*tard militants as I can’t believe that other Pakhtons will gun down such influential men which is now look to trigger a far wider war as their supporters want revenge.

A very sad day may Allah have mercy upon the dead elders. They were set to negotiate between the government and the likes of Meshud.

 

[roadrunner]

Hmm, this won't go down well. Last time the Uzbeks (Al Qaeda) did something like this 200 of them were killed. I don't see why the response would be any different this time round.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Now that 8 of them are dead, maybe the rest of them would understand that there is a time for peace and a time to finish the job. Everytime, the millitary started a campaign, these guys would come out and put a stop to it---the govt didnot want to alienate them and the public and they have made the govt and pakistan and the pakistanis suffere because of there interference all the time.

Stopping the campaign meant that these guys were being paid by the other side to make arrangement for their escape. With these killings that meaning has changed as well.

Some people just have the habbit of getting into the middle of the state affairs just to show how important they are. There will be others who will fill in their shoes---or should I say ----peshawri chappals.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

As far as i know a Major operation is going to start within weeks from now to clear all the FATA from these people and push them inside Afghanistan or in the Grave.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Is it correct that the NWFP Governor has resigned owing to difference over the way the terrorists should be handled?

If he has indeed resigned, what was the difference between him and the official policy, if indeed there were such difference.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

.....

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

??????????

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

Wait and See!

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Waiting but not seeing!

Stop daydreaming.

Musharraf will sort the terrorists and some others too!

Don't underestimate him!

 

[IceCold]

I wouldnt say that an act like this is good for the army because after all valuable lives are lost but, its good in a manner that people of Waziristan will now understand more why a military action against these militants is necessary and so more support by the locals will come the Pakistan armies way in flushing these militants out.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

Waiting but not seeing!

Stop daydreaming.

Musharraf will sort the terrorists and some others too!

Don't underestimate him!

I said wait and see what happens.
As an offesive move is about to happen in FATA region against the Mehsuds and Talibans.

Since the previous Governer was of the thinking that we should not do everything by force he resigned as he is respected in Waziristan Tribes as a dialouge person who tries to resolve the matters peacefully.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

I said wait and see what happens.
As an offesive move is about to happen in FATA region against the Mehsuds and Talibans.

Since the previous Governer was of the thinking that we should not do everything by force he resigned as he is respected in Waziristan Tribes as a dialouge person who tries to resolve the matters peacefully.

Contradictory thought.

What is there to wait and see.

The terrorist have to be and will be wiped out. That is what the govt wants.

You agree with that and you also say that the Governor is respected since he does not want to use force!

Man you chaps really live in a world where you want to have your cake and eat it too!

This attitude is what is ruining Pakistan.

You can't have the the best of both worlds.

You have to choose and get about achieving it.

It can't be yeh bhi waah waah, tan bhi waah waah!

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

We pakistanis have a very hard time understanding that these lunatics have turned around and starting hurting us real bad.

It is due to the lack of experience that most of us donot know how to stop the violence. The taliban, the jihadis, al qaeda, madrassahs trained, they donot consider anybody else as a human being who has a right to live their lives. We say that they are misguided, please try to be good--- we say that their familes were killed in millitary action so their actions are justifiable and they can do suicide bombings---what a sick thought----. They are a cancer and they need to be eradicated as such. The problem is that we pakistanis donot have the courage to take that step. And the basic reason behind that is that we have a very hard time in defining justice and providing justice.

One of these days pakistanis will have to take a firm stand and then follow through with delivery---the time to negotiate with that tribe is long gone---once we realize that---then we will have clearer goals in front of us and make our decisions and jobs easier.

 

[BATMAN]

600-strong tribal Lashkar to ‘protect peace’

* Local Taliban say pro-Uzbek fighters are threatening peace

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

WANA: Members of the Pashtun Ahmedzai Wazir tribe on Thursday raised a 600- strong Lashkar (tribal militia) to “protect peace in the area”, elders and eyewitnesses said.

“It is in our common interest to work for peace,” Amir of local Taliban Maulvi Nazir told an Ahmedzai Wazir jirga in Wana, three days after two simultaneous attacks on his offices left 10 of his men dead.

The jirga would mandate the Lashkar in a meeting on Friday, tribal elders told Daily Times. According to tribal traditions, Lashkars are raised to take a unified position against a common threat.

Threat to peace: Taliban commander Matta Khan said the threat was from “the commanders who fought for Uzbek militants when Maulvi Nazir led a popular uprising against them in April last year”. He blamed “people like Ghulam Jan” of “plotting against peace in our area” and for the attacks on two offices of Maulvi Nazir in Wana and Shakai Valley last week.

“Wazir tribesmen sheltering the foreigners must now give them up,” Reuters quoted tribal elder Meetha Khan as saying.

“The lashkar will give two options to those sheltering the foreigners, either to stop sheltering them and return to their tribe, or face the eviction of their families from the area,” Khan said.

The Zalikhel tribe that makes up half of Ahmedzai Wazirs was under fire from the jirga participants being asked to clarify its position on militant commanders who oppose Maulvi Nazir, a witness said.

Witnesses told Daily Times no speaker at the jirga named Baitullah Mehsud as the prime suspect.

Pakistan has blamed the leader from the Mehsud tribe, based in South Waziristan, for a recent wave of suicide attacks, many on security forces. The government has said Baitullah Mehsud was also responsible for assassinating Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman Benazir Bhutto on December 27.

The Wazir militia, Reuters said, is expected to operate only in the Wazir tribal area, and would thus have little or no impact on Mehsud and the Al Qaeda allies in his area.

Thousands of foreign militants, including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks, fled to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal lands after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, a Reuters report said. It says the militants were given refuge by the Pashtun tribes who live on both sides of the porous border.
“But relations between some of the tribesmen and their foreign guests began to break down last year when tribesmen, with the backing of the Pakistani military, turned against foreign militants after they had tried to kill a tribal elder,” it said.

“About 300 foreign militants and up to 40 Pakistani tribal fighters were killed in days of clashes that followed.”