Pakistan wrestles with a 'soldier
of peace' By Imtiaz Ali
Baitullah Mehsud, the most feared and
dangerous militant commander in Pakistan's tribal
region, has not only become the public face of
militancy in the country, but is now also openly
posing a serious threat to the US's efforts to
bring stability to neighboring war-torn
Afghanistan.
Mehsud leads the recently
formed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement
of Pakistan), a joint group of various local
Taliban outfits sharing the common objectives of
implementing sharia (Islamic law) and waging jihad
against US-led forces in
Afghanistan.
Mehsud -
who is suspected of having close ties with
al-Qaeda - has been in the headlines of local
newspapers for more than three years because of
his prominent role in spearheading the insurgency
against Pakistan's armed forces, who are currently
hunting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the
tribal areas.
Lately, Mehsud has become a
menacing presence in Pakistan due to the
widespread belief of his involvement in the deadly
wave of suicide bombings - mostly targeted against
security forces - that has shaken the whole
nation. A United Nations report released in
September last year blamed Mehsud for almost 80%
of suicide bombings in Afghanistan.
According to some reports, Mehsud has
compiled his own hit list of political leaders and
high-profile government officials, and has formed
special squads for carrying out such terrorist
acts.
Already a household name in
Pakistan, Mehsud rose to global notoriety two
weeks ago when officials named him as the prime
suspect and alleged mastermind behind the killing
of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which was the
most high-profile political assassination in the
recent history of the country.
Pakistani
authorities have released the text of a
Pashto-language telephone conversation allegedly
intercepted by Pakistan's Interior Ministry, in
which Mehsud congratulates "brave boys" for
accomplishing a "mission", which - according to
officials - refers to the assassination of Bhutto.
At 34 years old, Mehsud is a warlord based
in the restive South Waziristan tribal agency and
is said to be much revered by militants on both
sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border. Locals say
that he has more than 20,000 fighters, mostly from
his Mehsud clan. Officials as well as his aides
claim that he also has hundreds of trained
fidayeen (men of sacrifice) ready to lay
down their lives as suicide bombers upon his
instructions.
According to his aides,
Mehsud has taken an oath of allegiance to the
Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Omar. Apart from
sharing the same ideologies on sharia and jihad,
Mehsud also shares with his spiritual leader an
aversion to publicity and photographs. As a
guerrilla fighter, Mehsud sharpened his skills
under the guidance of legendary Pashtun commander
Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is widely believed
to have helped Osama bin Laden escape targeted
bombing by the US in the Tora Bora mountains of
Afghanistan in early 2002.
Known as amir
(commander) among his followers, Mehsud was an
unknown figure on the tribal scene until late
2004, when he filled the vacuum left by the famous
tribal militant leader, Nek Muhammad Wazir, who
was killed in a missile attack in June 2004. In
February 2005, the Pakistani government brokered a
deal with Mehsud in a bid to bring normalcy and
peace to violence-stricken South Waziristan.
In return for amnesty, Mehsud promised not
to attack security posts or cross into Afghanistan
for jihad, but backed out of the deal in late
August 2007 following the Red Mosque military
operation in Islamabad. Local journalists from
Waziristan say that the so-called peace deal
raised his stature and allowed him to further
strengthen his support base.
As a result,
the government's writ is confined to the compounds
of its security forces while gun-brandishing
fighters control the countryside in the South
Waziristan agency. Mehsud had his moment of glory
when the government conceded to his demand to free
militant prisoners in return for releasing more
than 250 Pakistani soldiers, seized by his
fighters and held hostage for two and half months.
Among the released militants were presumably a
number of would-be suicide bombers.
The
rising popularity of this young and committed
jihadi on both sides of the border has made him a
bridge linking the Pakistani Taliban with the
Afghan Taliban on the other side of the frontier.
Many believe that Mehsud has already been involved
in the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan by
dispatching his men to fight against the US-led
coalition forces. A close aide of Mehsud,
Hakimullah Mehsud, was captured by North Atlantic
Treaty Organization forces in the border region
while trying to cross into Afghanistan with five
foreign fighters.
Once described as a
"soldier of peace" by a top Pakistani military
general, Mehsud is now not only defying Islamabad,
but has emerged as a major irritant in the global
"war on terror". Some of the latest reports from
the frontier may be right in citing him as the new
triggerman for al-Qaeda in the border region
between Pakistan and Afghanistan - an area which
carries immense strategic importance for the
terrorist network.
Imtiaz Ali is
a Pakistan-based journalist working as a special
correspondent for the Washington Post.
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