Author: Rezaul H Laskar
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September5, 2009
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-was-sent-to-seek-mehsuds-help-against-ind/513175/
Introduction: Aziz was sent by the Interior
Ministry to meet Mehsud to convince him to show 'unity against India' amid
heightened tensions between the countries
A former parliamentarian, known for his links
with militant groups, on Friday made the startling claim that the Pakistan
government had deputed him to hold secret talks with slain Taliban chief Baitullah
Mehsud on forging "unity against India" in the wake of the Mumbai
attacks.
Shah Abdul Aziz, who was arrested in July
on charges of being linked to the abduction and killing of Polish engineer
Piotr Stanczak by the Taliban, made the revelation in an interview with a
TV news channel, two days after he was freed from prison on bail.
Aziz said senior officials of the Interior
Ministry sent him to meet Mehsud after the Mumbai attacks in November last
year. He said the officials asked him to convince Mehsud to show "unity
against India" amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The former member of the National Assembly
said he met Mehsud along with a 15-member delegation of Islamic scholars from
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He said he stayed in Makeen area of South
Waziristan, a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, for three days to convince
Mehsud but the militant commander was not ready to accept the delegation's
views. Mehsud finally agreed to back the government in case of any offensive
by India when Aziz and the delegation rejected his offer to join him for a
meal.
"It is a tradition of Pashtuns that they
do not make their guests angry at a meal," Aziz said.
Following this, Mehsud issued statements to
international media organisations like CNN and BBC and the Pakistani media
that his Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan would fight alongside the Pakistan Army
against Indian forces in spite of its differences with the military and the
government.
Aziz claimed that when he was detained, three
letters written by Mehsud to the Pakistan Army chief were recovered from his
briefcase. He did not disclose the contents of these letters.
He said he was "kidnapped" by intelligence
agencies from Blue Area in the heart of Islamabad on May 27 and not arrested
as was being claimed by law enforcement authorities. He said he was taken
to an undisclosed location in handcuffs and shackles. While in custody, he
was tortured and forced to make "some confessions", he claimed.
After he refused to do so, intelligence agencies
presented a youth named Attaullah who made statements about his alleged involvement
in the murder of the Polish engineer, Aziz claimed.
