Hostage death adds to Musharraf's
woes By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The killing of a Chinese hostage
during a rescue operation in the Pakistani tribal area
of South Waziristan on Thursday once again throws the
spotlight on the troubled region and Islamabad's
response to growing unrest there.
The
government's immediate task will be to track down the
mastermind of the kidnapping, Abdullah Mehsud, and then
to prepare for further major plots being hatched in
South Waziristan aimed at destabilizing the
administration of President General Pervez Musharraf.
In dramatic developments on Thursday, members of
the Special Services Group of the Pakistani army dressed
themselves as local tribals and stormed the mud house in
Chagmalai, South Waziristan, where two Chinese hostages
were being held. In the ensuing gunfight, Wang Peng and
the five hostage takers died. Another Chinese, Wang
Ende, escaped unharmed.
The two Chinese
engineers had been working on Pakistan's Gomal Zam Dam
project for China's state-run Sino Hydro Corp in the
restive province when they were abducted last Saturday.
The commando action was carried out after
Abdullah demanded that the abductors be given a safe
passage to Jandollah, in South Waziristan, where
Abdullah and other insurgent tribals are hiding. The
one-legged Abdullah is a veteran jihadi who fought
alongside the Taliban for may years. He was captured by
the US in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay
in Cuba, but he was released early this year after the
Pentagon said he was no longer a threat to the US and
that he had no intelligence value.
The
Pakistanis rejected Abdullah's demand for the safe
passage of the kidnappers, and when their deadline for
the release expired, they took the offensive.
Earlier in Jandollah, Mehsud tribals played
out an ancient ritual. A woman holding the Koran and a
sheep was sent to Abdullah to request the release of
a Pakistani paramilitary man who was also being
held hostage. As per tribal tradition, Abdullah was
obliged to give respect to the woman, and he accepted
her request. On Thursday, despite the commando action
in Chagmalai, in the presence of local and
international media, he handed over Mohammed Shaban, who hails
from Wehari (Punjab) to Major-General Niaz Khattack. The
major had flown into the remote and generally
inaccessible area by helicopter with only a few staff.
The horizon expands Up to August this
year, the fight in the tribal areas was between a few
branches of Wazir tribes and the Pakistani military,
which was tasked with rooting out foreign militants,
including al-Qaeda, from the area.
The Mehsud
tribes are the most educated segment of Pashtun society
and centuries-old rivals of the Wazir. Though both
tribes live in the remote high mountains, many Mehsud
tribesmen adopted a successful urban life and even
joined the Pakistan army and civil service, often
reaching high positions, including generals and top
bureaucratic posts. These two factors - their rivalry
with the Wazir and their association with the
establishment - pitched them on the government side when
military operations in the tribal areas started early
this year.
This correspondent has witnessed
first-hand how Mehsud tribesmen blocked several arteries
to prevent Wazir fighters from escaping the army.
However, when Pakistani planes bombed South
Waziristan on September 10, killing dozens of local
tribals, including women and children, the situation
changed and Wazirs and Mehsuds (Panthers and Wolves, as
the British military once referred to them) joined hands
with the single agenda of getting rid of the "Punjabi
army" from their areas.
A compact disc depicting
the destruction caused by the bombing is widely
available in North and South Waziristan, and copies were
sent to the media throughout the country. Mehsud tribals
also visited major press clubs, including in Karachi,
Rawalpindi and Lahore, where they showed their wounded
children, and also claimed that Pakistani forces had
used special chemical weapons against them.
The next battlefield Independent
sources, including the local media and tribals in South
Waziristan, claim that the army is mobilizing for an
extraordinary offensive, and that militants have already
taken up positions in the high mountains. The army has
already begun to put pressure on villages situated near
the mountains where the militants are hiding in an
effort to force them to stop fighting or face the music.
This strategy has been used in the past, and always
results in unnecessary trouble between peaceful
villagers (who couldn't stop the militants even if they
wanted to) and the military.
Similarly, the
militants have appealed to allies in mainland Pakistan
to increase the pressure on the authorities by launching
attacks. In the past, attacks have been carried out on
the corps commander's house in Peshawar and on the corps
commander's motorcade in Karachi.
Al-Qaeda
deviates In the past, al-Qaeda and its
affiliates in Pakistan were not interested in targeting
the country's rulers. Their struggle centered on the US
and its interests, which they see as the main force in
the occupation of Muslim territories. However,
Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror"
changed this, and they began to form small cells under
the name of Jundullah, which randomly struck military
targets or at targets that would undermine Musharraf's
government. Several of these cells have been caught.
Asia Times Online sources claim that "a big
mission" has been assigned from South Waziristan that is
aimed at shattering the writ of Musharraf in the
country. When, where and how are the questions now
occupying the full attention of the three premier
intelligence agencies in country - the Intelligence
Bureau, Military Intelligence and Inter-Services
Intelligence.
Syed Saleem Shahzadis
Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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