Author: Isambard Wilkinson, London Daily Telegraph
Publication: The Washington Times
Date: October 26, 2006
URL: http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061025-101010-8249r.htm
Taliban militias in Pakistan have set up offices,
introduced taxes and taken control of justice in the tribal agency of North
Waziristan, where last month the government signed a peace agreement with
militants.
In violation of the agreement, a Taliban shura,
or council, distributed pamphlets of its policies while militants patrolled
the area's streets. They have already killed numerous "American spies."
A "tax schedule" detailed how businesses
are liable for paying charges to the Taliban. Trucks entering the agency will
pay for a six-month pass, and gas-pump owners will have to make contributions
to the Taliban shura. The taxes were described as a "donation" in
the pamphlet.
The deal signed by the government on Sept.
5 stipulated that al Qaeda fighters were to be expelled from North Waziristan,
and pro-Taliban militants were not to run a "parallel administration"
or take part in fighting against coalition forces across the border. In return,
Pakistani forces, who had been fighting local militants over the summer, withdrew
from combat. The army retained the right to carry out strikes in the area
if militants did not adhere to the deal.
But it was later discovered by Pakistani journalists
that the deal was signed with wanted militants and not with tribal elders,
as was officially claimed. Pakistani officials hoped the deal would empower
tribal elders to control militants in their region, but an estimated 120 of
them have been killed in the past year.
After the withdrawal of the army, a power
vacuum was filled by mullahs and their long-haired, bearded, weapon-toting
militants. According to Pakistani reporters, some of the militants wear badges
that read: "Appointed by the office of the Taliban, the mujahedeen of
the North Waziristan Agency."
Power is now in the hands of a so-called "mullahcracy"
and people who Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recently dismissed as
hashish-smoking thugs who use the Taliban's mantle to coerce locals.
Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani, a member of
North Waziristan's Taliban shura, said his followers were abiding by the pact.
But he said they still offered "moral support" to those fighting
in Afghanistan.
"There is no doubt that we support this
jihad against infidels, against these Christians who have invaded a Muslim
land," he said.
Instead of crossing from Waziristan, fighters
continue to cross into Afghanistan from other areas.
"If you can't go into Afghanistan from
Waziristan, you can go from other areas. There are many, many other ways to
go," a fighter from North Waziristan told Reuters news agency.
NATO officials in Afghanistan said militant
activity has increased 300 percent in the border regions since the pact was
signed.
