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Brainwashed boy bomber flees Taliban
In the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a 14-year-old boy ‘came to’ just before pulling the pin on his suicide jacket
Daud Khattak in Bajaur and Nicola Smith
The Sunday Times December 27, 2009
USMAN GHANI was a 14-year-old schoolboy when he was forcibly removed from his family and trained as a Taliban suicide bomber. His story — revealed in the week that yet another blast brought the death toll to more than 500 in barely two months — reflects the tragic tales of many young Pakistanis brainwashed by the Taliban to bring terror to the country’s cities.
Living in the remote town of Khar, in the Bajaur tribal agency of northwest Pakistan, Ghani was an easy target for the Taliban militants who control the area with their potent mixture of arms and fundamentalist beliefs.
His father Lal Zaman, a blacksmith, had been caught selling hashish, a crime punishable by death under the Taliban’s harsh code. Zaman was given a cruel choice: to hand over his eldest son or be executed.
Ghani was forced to pay for the “sins” of his father. Militants took him and he was driven, blindfolded, to the Taliban-infested Bandai area of Bajaur, where he learnt his fate. “Three leaders said because my father was guilty of selling hashish, as a punishment I would have to carry out a suicide attack or be slaughtered,” he said.
“When I refused, they tied me down with a rope and started beating me. Eventually I said I was ready to carry out an attack just to make them stop.”
Ghani was subjected to months of indoctrination. He was imprisoned with two other teenage boys and forced to listen to militant sermons every night. “They told us that a suicide attack is the direct path to paradise, where beautiful women and all the happiness of life are waiting for you,” he said. “They said we were lucky to have been chosen by God for this noble purpose.”
When Ghani showed the slightest sign of reluctance, his captors switched tactics. “They came and forced me to eat a tablet. After taking the pill I couldn’t understand what was right or wrong. Whatever they said to me I would answer ‘yes’ and it seemed justified to me.
“The pills made me forgetful and I stopped caring about my brothers, sisters or parents. The only thing before me was paradise and I agreed to carry out an attack for the sake of Islam.”
He was taught how to operate the suicide jacket and assigned a target — Malak Rahmatullah, a tribal elder opposed to the Taliban.
He received final, hate-filled sermons from Maulvi Faqir, deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and Maulvi Omar, the Taliban spokesman. “Omar told me to go to a nearby mosque for prayer five times a day and to stroll through the streets so no one in the village would suspect me as a stranger.”
He was ordered to target Rahmatullah during Friday prayers. When he protested that there would be civilian casualties, he was told: “God knows best. He will send all the pious among the slain straight to paradise, while those who are sinful will find their place in hell.”
Ghani was put into his suicide vest and taken to the mosque. “They directed me to get into the second row behind him [Rahmatullah] and then draw the pin, which was fixed to the left side of my chest.
“I’d been fully prepared to carry out the suicide attack but when I reached the mosque I realised that something was wrong. There were copies of the holy Koran everywhere and old people and young children were coming to pray.
“I asked myself how I could kill all these innocent people to send myself to paradise. Then I suddenly thought of my younger brother playing in a field outside our house and calling me.” Ghani fled, knowing he would incur the wrath of the Taliban who were waiting for news of carnage.
He was savagely beaten and imprisoned for six days before escaping to his family’s home. For weeks he lived in fear of recapture until he was finally arrested by the Pakistani army. As the army continues its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border, many more suicide bombers are believed to have infiltrated the urban population. Army chiefs claim to have killed almost 600 militants and cleared more than 80% of Waziri territory, but none of the Taliban’s leaders has been captured.
A blast that killed four on Thursday in Peshawar brought the death toll since October in the northwestern city to 225. More than 500 have been killed throughout Pakistan.
Brainwashed boy bomber flees Taliban
In the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a 14-year-old boy ‘came to’ just before pulling the pin on his suicide jacket
Daud Khattak in Bajaur and Nicola Smith
The Sunday Times December 27, 2009
USMAN GHANI was a 14-year-old schoolboy when he was forcibly removed from his family and trained as a Taliban suicide bomber. His story — revealed in the week that yet another blast brought the death toll to more than 500 in barely two months — reflects the tragic tales of many young Pakistanis brainwashed by the Taliban to bring terror to the country’s cities.
Living in the remote town of Khar, in the Bajaur tribal agency of northwest Pakistan, Ghani was an easy target for the Taliban militants who control the area with their potent mixture of arms and fundamentalist beliefs.
His father Lal Zaman, a blacksmith, had been caught selling hashish, a crime punishable by death under the Taliban’s harsh code. Zaman was given a cruel choice: to hand over his eldest son or be executed.
Ghani was forced to pay for the “sins” of his father. Militants took him and he was driven, blindfolded, to the Taliban-infested Bandai area of Bajaur, where he learnt his fate. “Three leaders said because my father was guilty of selling hashish, as a punishment I would have to carry out a suicide attack or be slaughtered,” he said.
“When I refused, they tied me down with a rope and started beating me. Eventually I said I was ready to carry out an attack just to make them stop.”
Ghani was subjected to months of indoctrination. He was imprisoned with two other teenage boys and forced to listen to militant sermons every night. “They told us that a suicide attack is the direct path to paradise, where beautiful women and all the happiness of life are waiting for you,” he said. “They said we were lucky to have been chosen by God for this noble purpose.”
When Ghani showed the slightest sign of reluctance, his captors switched tactics. “They came and forced me to eat a tablet. After taking the pill I couldn’t understand what was right or wrong. Whatever they said to me I would answer ‘yes’ and it seemed justified to me.
“The pills made me forgetful and I stopped caring about my brothers, sisters or parents. The only thing before me was paradise and I agreed to carry out an attack for the sake of Islam.”
He was taught how to operate the suicide jacket and assigned a target — Malak Rahmatullah, a tribal elder opposed to the Taliban.
He received final, hate-filled sermons from Maulvi Faqir, deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and Maulvi Omar, the Taliban spokesman. “Omar told me to go to a nearby mosque for prayer five times a day and to stroll through the streets so no one in the village would suspect me as a stranger.”
He was ordered to target Rahmatullah during Friday prayers. When he protested that there would be civilian casualties, he was told: “God knows best. He will send all the pious among the slain straight to paradise, while those who are sinful will find their place in hell.”
Ghani was put into his suicide vest and taken to the mosque. “They directed me to get into the second row behind him [Rahmatullah] and then draw the pin, which was fixed to the left side of my chest.
“I’d been fully prepared to carry out the suicide attack but when I reached the mosque I realised that something was wrong. There were copies of the holy Koran everywhere and old people and young children were coming to pray.
“I asked myself how I could kill all these innocent people to send myself to paradise. Then I suddenly thought of my younger brother playing in a field outside our house and calling me.” Ghani fled, knowing he would incur the wrath of the Taliban who were waiting for news of carnage.
He was savagely beaten and imprisoned for six days before escaping to his family’s home. For weeks he lived in fear of recapture until he was finally arrested by the Pakistani army. As the army continues its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border, many more suicide bombers are believed to have infiltrated the urban population. Army chiefs claim to have killed almost 600 militants and cleared more than 80% of Waziri territory, but none of the Taliban’s leaders has been captured.
A blast that killed four on Thursday in Peshawar brought the death toll since October in the northwestern city to 225. More than 500 have been killed throughout Pakistan.
Brainwashed boy bomber flees Taliban
