Pakistan attempts to deflect attention away from the real impact of the Waziristan Accord
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President – General Pervez Musharraf. |
President Pervez Musharraf is making a great effort to portray the Waziristan Accord as a positive step in reigning in the Taliban and al Qaeda during his visit to the United States and his meetings with President George Bush and senior advisers. President Musharraf has also attempted to deflect some of the attention from the Waziristan accords by claiming former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage threated to ‘bomb Pakistan to the stone age’ if the country did not cooperate against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mr. Armitage rejects such a statement was made.
In an effort to show the Waziristan Accord is working, Pakistan announced “security forces have arrested 10 people from Lawara Mandi area near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the North Waziristan Agency.” The report goes on to explain the ten were “mostly Afghans” and the arrests were made in conjunction with tribal elders. A later report in the Daily Times indicates the ten suspects will be judged by a tribal jirga. One of the jirga members judging the ten is Maulana Alam, a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader. The Asia Times’ Syed Saleem Shahzad notes that JUI-F “is the only party still working in the two Waziristans. JUI-F keeps in close contact with the mujahideen who call themselves the Pakistani Taliban.” JUI-F is the political apparatus of the Taliban in the tribal regions.
The timing of the arrests is suspect, and clearly timed to coincide with Musharraf’s visit with President Bush. He can now claim the Waziristan Accord is working. The claim that the ten were “mostly Afghans” reinforces Musharraf’s statements that the Taliban are largely an Afghan problem. And the Pakistanis can claim they are doing something about the porous border with Afghanistan.
But the fact is the Waziristan Accord has been broken by the Taliban numerous times since its inception on September 5th. The assassination and attacks against pro-government and anti-Taliban tribals are happening on a near daily basis. These are only the incidents reported to the press. An American intelligence source states there are more executions that are not being reported.
September 10:
A senior tribal elder was shot and killed after he “confessed to spying for the Americans.” He had notes pinned to his body with knives.
September 11:
Taliban killed a tribal member for “suspected of collaboration with authorities in the hunt for insurgents” in a drive-by shooting.
September 12:
“A pro-Afghan elder” was shot then beheaded.
September 15:
A government official was kidnapped.
September 15:
A senior journalist was shot in the head and killed.
September 19:
A car bomb destroys dozens of cars outside a police station
September 19:
A roadside bomb wounds two female government health workers, their driver and a passer-by.
September 19:
Two soldiers were seriously wounded after the Taliban attacked their outpost.
September 21:
A government official was killed and two friends wounded after they were ambushed by “pro-Taliban militants.”
September 21:
Pro-Taliban militants executed a tribesman.
September 22:
A “US spy” was murdered and a letter placed on his body as a warning to other spies. He was shot over 30 times.
The Taliban has not been held accountable for their actions in western Pakistan. No arrests have been made in any of these cases.
President Musharraf is unlikely to report any of these violations of the truce to President Bush.
6 Comments
(h/t Charles @ LFG) – this may have something to do about it.
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He’s got a book coming out.
As for the coincident of the 10 arrests, Musharraf always produces out-of-the-blue results when he comes to town or U.S. officials visit Pakistan.
Those wishing to read how another analyst views the events described in the Dawn article might want to visit A.J. Strata.
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This is truly interesting news. The locals handed over the insurgents who were primarily Afghani and clearly running from the US forces. This kind of cross border coordination could mean a lot of progress in tamping down the unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as honing in on Bin Laden and Zawahiri.
The Strata-Sphere: Waziristan Deal Nets 10 Afghan Terrorists
Waziristan Pact Update
More is becoming public on the Waziristan Truce, the Pak Tribune prints the key points:
A day before, President, General Pervaz Musharraf`s visit to Kabul, the government and local tribesmen , generally known as Taliban, signed a peace agreement in Mir…
I’ve got some hope for this, but I’ll warn you all that I am an eternal optimist first.
http://noblesseoblige.org/wordpress/?p=538
Bill could also win a great dinner if he takes up this bet.
On the other hand, this is looking ominous:
http://www.frontierpost.com.pk/index.php?page=news&nid=5289&tname=top_stories
The Sham Waziristan Accord
Courtesy of The Fourth Rail:
Pakistan attempts to deflect attention away from the real impact of the Waziristan Accord
President Pervez Musharraf is making a great effort to portray the Waziristan Accord as a positive step in reigning in the Taliban…