Taliban seek return to peace deal in Pakistan

[batmannow]

Fazlullah asks his men to stop fighting

Tuesday, 26 May, 2009 | 04:37 AM PST |
www.dawn.com

PESHAWAR: Taliban’s Swat chieftain Maulana Fazlullah has asked his men to stop battling government troops in Mingora, a stronghold of the militants.
‘Maulana Fazlullah has directed all his mujahideen to stop resistance in Mingora and its surroundings to avoid hardships to the people and losses to the civilian population,’ Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told AFP on Monday.
‘Most of our mujahideen have already left Mingora,’ he said by telephone from an unspecified place, only saying he was speaking from a mountain top.
He accused the military of killing civilians during its fierce onslaught in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat. ‘We will fight for the enforcement of sharia law till the last drop of our blood,’ he added.
‘The field is now open for the government,’ Muslim Khan said, adding that if it was sincerely concerned about ‘the welfare of the people’ it should bring them back from the camps.
‘We will not create any hurdle. I would like to appeal to the people of Mingora to get back to their homes and start their routine life as we will not fire even a single shot,’ he said.
Asked if that meant a ceasefire, he added: ‘No, this is not like that. Our aides will remain there in Mingora, but we will not attack, we will not fire shots.’
Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said the militants ‘have started using ploys to escape. They are now remembering the civilians whom they used to behead and decapitate.’ He said the operation in the city would go on as planned.—Agencies

 

[Imran Khan]

now????? they are not brave that accept they lose .

 

[Beskar]

Amazing development! Fazlullah couldn't sound more weak at this point. Better to take him out now and THEN restore peace in SWAT.

Arrest all the 'Aides' who wouldn't fire a single shot. If they're not fighting, they should throw down their arms and stop acting like local policemen.

 

[waraich66]

My question is this jehad or katal their own famlies are suffering, if they really want to fight for islam , why they are hidding in homes and creating problem for common people.

They are moving in wrong totally direction.

 

[mDumb]

They aren't needed any more

I wouldn't even bet for a buck.

It is basic rule of conflict or war never under etimate enemy , PA is not trained for Gurrilla war , most difficult war in which casuality rate is very high.

You're correct!!! But PA's priority is to protect the Eastern flank (in case India wants to be an opportunist).

 

[batmannow]

PA intially claiming that they will flush out these terrorist with in few weeks same claim we are hearing from last two years,it mean there is hidden things or hardles which PA could not cross or avoiding to cross.
It is basic rule of conflict or war never under etimate enemy , PA is not trained for Gurrilla war , most difficult war in which casuality rate is very high.

Second thing we have seen GOP have no contigency planning for rehabilitation of displaced people of SWAT.

If nation really want to get ride of these jehadi mullahs or terrorist then nation and army and security forces should be trained for well planned gurilla war ,which may prolong to 20 or more years.

just wait for comming 20, more days ! after that you will ,may not found all this fazalluha's coward , qatil tolla.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Kill off the leadership and commanders

I agree with this but they should'nt killed in a way so that they should not be seen as martyres fighting for talibanic cause and might not become ideals/mascotts for the lower grade of fighting talibans(so that their moral dosent gets boost up) .

I would preffer to kill them through a covert operation in which they would be seen as killed by one of their own Taliban members not by the might of Pakistan Army.

 

[waraich66]

I wouldn't even bet for a buck.



You're correct!!! But PA's priority is to protect the Eastern flank (in case India wants to be an opportunist).

Our real enemy is india AND israel ,unfortunatly now our both boarders are unsafe ,who will get benefit of this satuation,we lost stretegic depth .
US is playing big game in this region ,I think we should take help of china instead of US to control this insurgency ,china is sincere friend of pakistan .

Pakistan and Iran and turkey with help of china can become much stronger economically .

China helped Srilanka to defeat LTT ,it can also help us to defeat talaban insurgency but we have to say bye bye to USA.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Our real enemy is india AND israel ,unfortunatly now our both boarders are unsafe ,who will get benefit of this satuation,we lost stretegic depth .
US is playing big game in this region ,I think we should take help of china instead of US to control this insurgency ,china is sincere friend of pakistan .

Pakistan and Iran and turkey with help of china can become much stronger economically .

China helped Srilanka to defeat LTT ,it can also help us to defeat talaban insurgency but we have to say bye bye to USA.

Actually things are bit more complex here. This is a classic strategik Black hole where our enemis also face difficulties the way we are facing them and the rules of the game are predefined . Every body has its assets in this reagion. So its not a totall lose lose situation .

 

[Enigma SIG]

Seems like they're getting hammered pretty bad. The army shouldn't give them a chance now; they should be disarmed and paraded to be stoned in public by the people of swat...

 

[Machoman]

thats Bull s!@#

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Threads merged.

Please don't start new threads on every event in Swat - there is a thread related to the IDP's, one sticky for Swat events, and now this thread related to the Taliban's 'offer' of restarting the peace deal [puke].

Most posts should fit in them.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Swat strategy

In the briefing was a very clear exposition of the strategy behind the Swat Valley operation, one that has political as well as military components.

Major-General Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, explained the wider campaign against internal insurgency began as far back as December 2007.
This went through various phases of military action followed by either surrender or periods of negotiation with various armed groups.

The peace deal reached earlier this year with Taliban groups in the Swat Valley was yet another pause in the ongoing game of high stakes cat and mouse.

When the deal was broken and the Taliban groups advanced towards the capital, Islamabad, a new phase began.

Abbas says this phase is one that will not end in negotiation – the instructions from the political leaders are to push the campaign until the enemy is defeated.

Essentially the gloves are off, and the military is operating with the assurance that there will be no pause for any negotiation.
Isolating the Taliban

At the same time, there appears to be an understanding among the military of the wider strategy as outlined by the government: The armed offensive is just one component of regaining control of the Swat Valley, the other and perhaps even more important aspect - certainly in the long term - is to regain political control.

In order to achieve this, those supporting the Taliban need to be isolated politically as well as defeated militarily.

The end of the military offensive would be just the beginning of the critical phase in establishing what General Abbas calls “the writ of the government”- the ultimate end of the campaign is to allow the return of a civilian administration that has the support of the majority of people in the valley.

It is only with this in the government view that the challenge of armed insurgency can be dealt with on a long-term basis.

This need to maintain civilian support brings with it specific operational considerations: underlying the ongoing campaign is an absolute imperative to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, the military says.

The officer commanding the 19th Division of the Pakistani army is Major-General Sajjad Ghani, the officer in charge of operations in the upper Swat valley.

General Ghani says the full resources of the military can be deployed in rural areas- for example the capture of Baine Baba Ziarat involved the use of fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships, mortars and artillery.

Urban combat

However Ghani said none of these resources are being deployed in urban combat because that would put civilians in the middle of the fighting at greater risk.

Instead, the general maintains it is infantry and infantry alone that is being deployed in densely populated regions. It is for this reason, perhaps, that the current operation to take control of Mingora will be, according to the army, “painfully slow”.

There are an estimated ten to twenty thousand civilians still in Mingora, and if the declared operational parameters are being followed then only foot soldiers are being deployed with little or no air or artillery support.

The military briefing also made clear that the operation against armed insurgency will not end in Swat.
Major-General Abbas told me that the offensive in Swat could well provide the blueprint for campaigns in other parts of the country.

I asked specifically whether he was referring to North and South Waziristan and he said yes.

He says the government will ultimately determine the priorities - and in consultation with the military - will deploy forces where and when needed according to what is regarded as the greatest challenge to national sovereignty at any given time.

Victory in the Swat valley then, if achieved, may not be the end of the government’s campaign to establish national control – it may well just mark the beginning.
Al Jazeera English - Focus - Regaining control of Swat valley

For all of you complaining about 'heavy handed tactics' this should be enlightening.

Bajaur and Loisam were both a surprise and an unusual situation - extrapolating from that and concluding the Army will not adapt and evolve based on its experiences, and just go in and level every place there is a whiff of Taliban is just moronic, and hopefully clearly illustrated as such now.

As should be the fact that both the Military and GoP are clearly aware that the military operation is just one phase in the war (implementation of that awareness will of course have the final word).

 

[ajpirzada]

I wouldn't even bet for a buck.



You're correct!!! But PA's priority is to protect the Eastern flank (in case India wants to be an opportunist).

well i didnt want to derail this thread. my question is......
Do u remember PA or ISI ever supporting Fazlullah or TTP??? coz i dont

 

[Durran3]

Fazlullah asks his men to stop fighting

Tuesday, 26 May, 2009 | 04:37 AM PST |
www.dawn.com

PESHAWAR: Taliban’s Swat chieftain Maulana Fazlullah has asked his men to stop battling government troops in Mingora, a stronghold of the militants.
‘Maulana Fazlullah has directed all his mujahideen to stop resistance in Mingora and its surroundings to avoid hardships to the people and losses to the civilian population,’ Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told AFP on Monday.
‘Most of our mujahideen have already left Mingora,’ he said by telephone from an unspecified place, only saying he was speaking from a mountain top.
He accused the military of killing civilians during its fierce onslaught in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat. ‘We will fight for the enforcement of sharia law till the last drop of our blood,’ he added.
‘The field is now open for the government,’ Muslim Khan said, adding that if it was sincerely concerned about ‘the welfare of the people’ it should bring them back from the camps.
‘We will not create any hurdle. I would like to appeal to the people of Mingora to get back to their homes and start their routine life as we will not fire even a single shot,’ he said.
Asked if that meant a ceasefire, he added: ‘No, this is not like that. Our aides will remain there in Mingora, but we will not attack, we will not fire shots.’
Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said the militants ‘have started using ploys to escape. They are now remembering the civilians whom they used to behead and decapitate.’ He said the operation in the city would go on as planned.—Agencies

Keep pounding the dead horse till its Dead i say.. The hell this guy has unleashed upon the people, he brought it upon himself and will have to pay for it big time... Hidinig behind the IDP's is not going to help this time.. They exist because of this lunatic