DUSHANBE, October 22, 2011, Asia-Plus — Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban leader Maulvi Fazlullah, a key figure in the insurgency, has vowed to return home to wage war as the country comes under renewed American pressure to tackle militancy, Reuters reported on October 21.
Pakistani leaders always approach us when their relations with the US become unfriendly and later forget their promises, Sirajuddin Ahmad, a close adviser to Afghanistan-based Taliban leader Maulvi Fazlullah has said.
“We sacrificed our lives, left our homes and villages for the sake of sharia (Islamic Law) and will do whatever we can to get sharia implemented in the Malakand region and rest of Pakistan,” Sirajuddin Ahmad noted, describing Fazlullah”s position.
He was answering written questions submitted by Reuters.
Fazlullah was the Pakistani Taliban leader in Swat Valley, about 100 miles northwest of Islamabad, before a 2009 army offensive forced him to flee. Also known as FM Mullah for his fiery radio broadcasts, he regrouped in Afghanistan and established strongholds, and poses a threat to Pakistan once again, said army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.
He is a prime example of the classic problem faced by Pakistan”s military, one of the world”s biggest. Militant leaders can simply melt away in the rugged mountainous frontier area in the face of army offensives.
The Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but aligned to the Afghan Taliban fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan, has declared war on the Pakistani state for providing support to the U.S.-led war on militants in the region.
Pakistan recently complained that Afghan and U.S.-led forces had failed to hunt down Fazlullah who was responsible for a spate of cross-border raids. On the other hand, Afghanistan and the United States have accused elements in the Pakistan government of supporting members of the Afghan Taliban.
The attacks in which militants loyal to Fazlullah took part killed about 100 members of Pakistan’s security forces. Fazlullah, a leading figure in the Pakistani Taliban insurgency, is based in Kunar and Nuristan provinces in Afghanistan, said Abbas.
Other leaders of the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella of about 12 groups, and the government have suggested they are open to peace talks to end a conflict that has killed thousands of people.
