Pakistan Taliban leader faces threat from fellow tribesman

[Pirate Smile]

Source: McClatchy

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A new Islamic militia leader has emerged in Pakistan to openly challenge al Qaida-affiliated warlord Baitullah Mehsud for the first time from within his own tribe, marking the start of a bloody confrontation in the wild Waziristan region that could have profound consequences for both Pakistan and the West.

In his first interview with Western news reporters, Qari Zainuddin vowed this week to wipe out Mehsud and rescue Pakistan from a reign of terror that has pushed the nuclear-armed U.S. ally toward collapse.
Zainuddin charged that Mehsud, who is the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, had betrayed both his Muslim religion and the Mehsud tribe of his native South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.

-snip-
Zainuddin, who described himself as "real" Taliban , reportedly has gathered as many as 3,000 armed followers and is being secretly backed by the Pakistan state against Mehsud's, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head as a "key al Qaida facilitator." Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, are thought likely to be hiding in the South Waziristan region controlled by the Mehsud tribe.
A cult of throat-slitting and suicide bombing marks Mehsud's grim rule. His group has staged spectacular terrorist attacks across Pakistan and has an extremist network that spans the tribal borderland that runs along the Afghan border and reaches deep into the country.

-snip-
Many believe that Mehsud can be defeated only by a member of his own clan. Zainuddin is a Mehsud and also he used to be part of Mehsud's network, giving him an intimate knowledge of its working and its members, a knowledge that the Pakistan army lacks.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/70022.html

[babylonsister]

1. So there are good and bad 'Taliban'? News to me, but I'm

encouraged that people in Pakistan are fighting their battles and not depending solely on us.

[Pirate Smile]

3. The fact that the Pakistani people have turned on the Taliban affiliated with Al Qaeda and

are behind the government kicking their ass now is a HUGE positive development. There have been a few good articles about this lately. I'll see if I can find them.

[Pirate Smile]

4. One article: Pakistan public opinion turns against Taliban, giving army upper hand against militants

Pakistan public opinion turns against Taliban, giving army upper hand against militants

PAUL ALEXANDER | Associated Press Writer
6:24 PM CDT, June 11, 2009


FILE - This April 4, 2009, file photo, shows members of a Pakistani civil society march on the street during a rally to condemn flogging of a woman in Lahore, Pakistan. It could be the video that changed Pakistan, an instant icon that has come to represent the Taliban and an extreme form of Islam. The government is using the clip to ask its people if this is what they want; the answer from many Pakistanis is no. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary,file) (K.M. Chaudary, AP / April 4, 2009)


ISLAMABAD (AP) — The footage was chilling — a woman crying out in pain, held face-down on the ground, as a man with a long beard flogged her in front of a crowd.
It could be the video that changed Pakistan.
That two-minute clip, purportedly shot in the Swat Valley where the Taliban held sway until a recent military offensive, has come to represent the militants and their extreme form of Islam. The footage is increasingly seen here as a turning point — perhaps even more persuasive than all the bombings, beheadings and other violence, most recently Tuesday's suicide attack on a luxury hotel.

-snip-
No matter. She remains irrevocably linked with the Taliban, an instant icon the government has used to ask Pakistanis if this is what they want for their country.
The answer from many seems to be no.
There are no scientific polls, but in informal interviews by The Associated Press with more than three dozen Pakistanis across the country Wednesday and Thursday, not a single person expressed sympathy or allegiance toward the Taliban. The most common answer was the militants should be hunted down and killed.
Many people told the AP they used to support the Taliban but no longer do so. The finding is supported by those of Pakistani analysts and commentators, who say they detect a similar shift in public opinion recently against the Taliban.

Certainly, the militants retain some support, particularly in the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan that the Taliban and al-Qaida have used as sanctuary. The extremists would likely retreat to these areas if they continue to suffer defeats elsewhere.
But the change in public mood is empowering the army in its offensive against the militants — a campaign supported by the Obama administration, which believes security in Pakistan is vital to defeating the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Now the army says it has the Taliban on the run, helped by tips from residents in villages under fire. It's quite a change from several months ago, when the Taliban was on the march within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad, and there was talk of the entire country falling to the militants.

-snip-
"Now we have the result," he continued. "It is very miserable, painful for all of us. We had a good life there. We had a good home and everything. Now we are begging for even daily meals. These people are responsible. They betrayed us and played with our religious emotions."
Nadeem Ahmad Awan, a 31-year-old bookseller in the southwestern city of Quetta, said the army should "kill each and every Taliban."
"No Taliban should go unharmed," agreed Asma Arshad, 23, a college student in the central city of Multan. "The killing of Taliban is good for Islam and it is good for Pakistan."

-snip-
"The mood has changed toward the Taliban even among those who had empathy with them," said Mahmood Shah, a retired military officer. "Now I don't think they can talk openly in favor of the Taliban. They will be stoned or something."
Attacks like Tuesday's bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar that killed at least nine people, including two U.N. workers, also have hardened people's resolve.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-pakistan-turning-point,0,5809127.story

[Pirate Smile]

7. The Taliban's PR campaign backfired:

"I get the sense that setting off bombs on any civilian target in the North West Frontier Province — particularly in a place like Peshawar, which might otherwise be a hotbed of support for the insurgency — is fairly obviously a counterproductive strategy," Shah said.

The militants' efforts to expand their sway beyond Swat also appear to have been a miscalculation. Under a February peace deal signed with the government, they imposed sharia, or Islamic law — the whipping in the video appeared to be punishment for an offense — and have been accused of murders, rapes and pillaging.
Sufi Muhammad, an influential Taliban cleric, further stirred outrage with a speech in which he denounced democracy and elections — an unpopular pronouncement in a country that recently has emerged from a decade of military rule.

The Taliban's other actions had an impact, too.
"The militants were blasting saloons, destroying girls' schools. They were stopping women from coming out of their homes or going to the doctor," Hasan said. "People became fed up with this. They are reclaiming Islam. ... For the first time in Pakistan, they are taking a strong stand against the Taliban and the extremists."
Zahid Omar, 37, a local trader in the eastern city of Lahore, said people had been forced to see the Taliban's "ugly faces."

Zafar Hilaly, a former Pakistani ambassador, wrote in the influential daily The News that the Taliban's actions already have cost them any chance of destabilizing the government.
"They helped the public make up its mind," he wrote. "They helped the army do what it should have done much earlier, which was to fight. They encouraged parliament to acquire some spunk. Pakistan's victory in the present war against the Taliban is preordained for no other reason than the nation is finally united against the enemy."

The government has shown more savvy than in previous offensives against militants that left civilians dead. They appear to have been careful to avoid collateral damage as much as possible this time, though it's impossible to know for sure because the military has severely restricted access to the combat zones.
In addition, there has been a nearly monthlong pause in U.S. drone-fired missile strikes against militant targets near the Afghan border. Such strikes are unpopular in Pakistan, though U.S. officials say the lull was not timed to allow the government to build good will.



I believe most of this started after Obama's early May Pow Wow with the Pakistani and Afghan leaders in the White House.

[bloomington-lib]

2. I would think Bin Laden would be pissed at this guy too

bringing that kind of conflict into his safe haven. Mehsud isn't sleeping well tonight I bet.

[Turborama]

5. K&R Could this be the tipping point of this civil war? n/t

[Pirate Smile]

6. More like the entire country against the tribal region. The country has unified against

the Al Qaeda sympathizing Taliban. Good news. :)

Check out the article in post 4.

[Pirate Smile]

8. kick