Marwat Khan Lodhi
BANNED
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2010
- Messages
- 5,341
- Reaction score
- -29
- Country
- Location
published in (April 2014)
It was an unforgettable journey. On January 15, we started off from Ittehad Town, Karachi. We were four friends and the purpose of our visit was to meet the Taliban commander of the Mehsud tribe, Mr Khan Said, alias Sajna, to resolve a land plot dispute in Ittehad Town. After 16 long hours we reached Bannu, a southern town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, by bus. We stayed there for the night at a hotel to take rest.
The next morning we got onto a passenger van to reach Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan. We crossed three military check points; the first checkpoint was at Bakakhel where we were asked to get off the van for a body search and had to walk a circular cut for one kilometre. Only ladies and some elderly men were allowed to stay in the van as it crossed the check point. The second check post was in Khajuri; the same ritual took place, holding identity cards in hand and checked by military men manning the check posts. Those who do not belong to North or South Waziristan are rigorously interrogated. When we reached Mir Ali, we saw a hotel. The residents said that 40 men had been taken out from that hotel and killed at point blank range. We saw a mosque, which bore marks of cannon shells.
When we reached Miranshah, it seemed to be a different land. Everybody seemed to be from Taliban groups. We saw Uzbeks, Chechens, Turkmen, Tajiks, Uighurs and Punjabis. For some reason I could not spot any Arabs in Miranshah. I was curious about where the Arab fighters belonging to al Qaeda stayed. I found out later that they lived in the suburban villages and hardly came to the market. They had hired locals to do their groceries and for shopping they sent them to Peshawar and other cities across Pakistan. Every second person had a walkie-talkie with long antennas. They were like wireless sets. Different groups had different code names just like the forces and would use those names when speaking on the wireless set. The most frequently heard code name was ‘Ababeel’. I saw vehicles that belonged to the Afghan army, Afghan police and NATO forces but such vehicles would pass by the Pakistani military checkpoints without being checked or stopped. Common people were thoroughly searched but some vehicles with even tinted glasses were not checked. I am not sure to whom those vehicles belonged. Some vehicles were playing naat sharifs (hymns) loudly but were not stopped at the check posts.
Our business was related to the Sajna group of the Mehsud Taliban but there was another group too, the Hakimullah Mehsud group. I was focused on the Sajna group to get to know how it operates. For Mehsud tribesmen, there were separate offices in Miranshah, which would deal with their matters like land disputes, business disputes and family issues. Areas like Saanp, Makeen, Ladha, Speenkai Raghzai, Baarwan, etc, had their separate offices (markiz) with landline telephone numbers, which the Taliban would openly use to dial numbers across Pakistan. There were around 17 offices for different areas in the main Miranshah bazaar. The offices were quite large and, at one time, around 40 people can sit in one office. If you are a Mehsud tribesman and you are living in Karachi, South Waziristan or any other part of Pakistan, your case will be dealt with by the area office where your family originally came from. The Hakimullah Mehsud group had its own offices but since our dispute needed to be resolved by the Sajna group, we were more concerned about its operations. One could see clear tension between the two groups. We were going to meet Mufti Noor Wali from the Sajna group who controls Mehsud tribesmen in Karachi from his headquarter in Miranshah. Karachi has the largest Mehsud population in Pakistan and all their disputes are put before Mufti Noor Wali for resolution. For the readers’ information, the Sajna group has banned jirgas (village courts) for Mehsud tribesmen in Karachi so whatever the dispute, small or big, the parties have to go to Miranshah and present their case in the court of Mufti Noor Wali. He had his office in the main Miranshah bazaar on the second floor of a building in the market. Mufti Noor Wali is the chief justice of the Taliban Sharia Court. He is around 35-years-old, tall and cross-eyed.
On a lighter note, my friend wanted to tell Sajna that his chief justice was like our former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry but I stopped him as I was afraid he might feel offended. I was the only non-Mehsud in the group. I saw hundreds of Mehsud tribesmen in Miranshah who had come from Karachi as the Taliban had issued orders that they should present themselves in the court of Mufti Noor Wali. I met several people who told me that they had been there for several nights staying in a sarai (hotel) in Mir Ali and Miranshah waiting for their turn with the Taliban shura chief justice. There was a danger to their lives but if they had not come, they would be targeted in Karachi so, for fear of their own lives, they were in North Waziristan. They were clearly between a rock and a hard place. I saw those who owned a transport business of dumpers, those who had disputes of land plots in Kanwari Colony, Suhrab Goth, Ittehad Town and those who had disputes involving their Chang Chi rickshaws, even they were there to seek the services of Mufti Noor Wali. Most of them were poor people who had spent lots of money to reach North Waziristan and were now waiting in line for days for their turn to see the cross-eyed chief justice. Some were told to go back and come next month again as the big man was too busy and could not spare time for them. If one had a strong reference, one had better chances of getting an appointment with the chief justice sooner. In some cases people would not get the appointment at all.
Mufti Noor Wali’s verdicts would make some happy but others upset. I noticed that those who were on good terms with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and provided funds to it get favourable decisions from him. Several Mehsud tribesmen were targeted in Karachi; the terror of the TTP is so great that when Mufti Noor Wali makes a phone call to someone from the Mehsud tribe living in Karachi, he does not waste a day in reaching Miranshah. The trip from Karachi to Miranshah and the lodging there cost around Rs 50,000 and since Mufti Noor Wali has banned Mehsud jirgas in Karachi, anyone with a small dispute has to submit his case in his darbar. Now the Sajna group has complete control over Karachi and the extortion money (bhatta) that it collects from builders, transporters, the oil tankers union, rickshaw union and businessmen, with impunity. The interesting aspect is that the above unions take money themselves to Miranshah to hand over to the cross-eyed ‘chief justice’. The Hakimullah Mehsud group has almost been eliminated from the city of Karachi. The Sajna group has also eliminated the influence of the Awami National Party (ANP) from the port city. So far, not a single important commander from either the Hakimullah Mehsud group or Khan Said Sajna group has been targeted by the police, rangers and the army in Karachi. The high profile commanders of Hakimullah Mehsud were all killed by the Sajna group, not by the armed forces. The important commanders of the Sajna group in Karachi are Khan Zaman, Mufti Javid, Zahidullah Zakriya and Omar. They are openly operating in Karachi and have not been arrested by the security agencies, which makes common people suspect that they have the support of the security establishment. Several people in Miranshah told me that they have lost faith in the government agencies and they have no option but to come to Miranshah and pay money to save their skin and their families.
I noticed that Mufti Noor Wali caused terror among the people — those going to meet him were truly terrorised. He has spread the propaganda that he is very strict and does not compromise on principles but I noticed that if one has a strong reference from a big commander in the TTP, one will get an appointment easily and also a favourable decision; otherwise one has to wait for weeks to meet him. The TTP gets sizable funding from Karachi. According to some estimates and my interaction with businessmen in Karachi, the TTP collects Rs 100 million every month from Karachi alone. When we met Mufti Noor Wali in his office in the presence of Khan Said Sajna, the meeting went very smoothly. However, I noticed that neither our bodies were searched nor our phones were taken from us. This shows their confidence about having complete control. I found him to be a rigid man with a coarse voice and no sense of humour at all. He presented himself as an uncompromising man who accepts no references and makes decisions justly. Since he is the chief justice of the Taliban Sharia Court, his decisions are based on sharia. One thing I noticed: he is very hospitable and when it is lunchtime, he feeds everyone present in his office. He fed us too with beef, potato and gravy followed by black tea. The lunch was good, no doubt.
Mufti Noor Wali is well respected by all commanders from the Sajna group as well as by Khan Said Sajna himself. The friend I accompanied had a land dispute with another party in Ittehad town in Karachi but since he had a strong reference from a TTP commander, we were given access to the chief justice on the same day. The chief justice did not arrive at a decision and told the opposing parties that he would seek evidence from his commanders and make a decision in the next hearing. The date for the next hearing would be conveyed to both the parties through ‘proper’ channels. I also visited different towns in North Waziristan like Data Khel, Dande Darpakhel, Mir Ali, Ghulam Khan, Shawal and areas of the Dawar tribe. I discovered that the Dawar tribesmen are really fed up with the Mehsud Taliban. Hundreds of Dawar families fled their lands and moved to Bannu for fear of military operations especially after the Khajuri suicide attack and corresponding military strikes in Mir Ali.
The Dawar tribesmen also left for other areas when the political administration asked them to expel the TTP and Uzbeks from their areas. Their plea was how could they expel them if the government was in no position to do the same? Dawar tribesmen also told me that when there are drone strikes or military strikes, TTP militants loot their shops with impunity. People in private will tell you how much they appreciate drone strikes but, in front of the media, they feel frightened. The most important thing I saw was that very close to the Miranshah main market is a military fort but in the centre of the bazaar is a government hospital of which full operational control is with the Taliban. We saw Taliban from the Sajna group and the Haqqani group in the hospital. I also saw Haqqani group members openly roaming in their vehicles and not being stopped at army check posts. The Wazir Taliban also enjoy full freedom in Miranshah and other parts of North Waziristan.
Some general observations I had: when top Taliban commanders park their vehicles, others strictly watch them for fear that someone may plant explosives close to them. Both groups are afraid of each other and in recent incidents have killed each other’s commanders. I have heard that TTP commanders do not stay in one place. Top commanders like Rais Khan, alias Azam Tariq, Noor Wali and Khan Said Sajna stay in different houses given to them by the local people. They visit each other unannounced. At night, one hears drones above and everyone has this fear that their house might be targeted. Despite this fear, locals tell me that drones are the best weapons ever produced.
My trip to North Waziristan — II
@W.11 @Secur
It was an unforgettable journey. On January 15, we started off from Ittehad Town, Karachi. We were four friends and the purpose of our visit was to meet the Taliban commander of the Mehsud tribe, Mr Khan Said, alias Sajna, to resolve a land plot dispute in Ittehad Town. After 16 long hours we reached Bannu, a southern town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, by bus. We stayed there for the night at a hotel to take rest.
The next morning we got onto a passenger van to reach Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan. We crossed three military check points; the first checkpoint was at Bakakhel where we were asked to get off the van for a body search and had to walk a circular cut for one kilometre. Only ladies and some elderly men were allowed to stay in the van as it crossed the check point. The second check post was in Khajuri; the same ritual took place, holding identity cards in hand and checked by military men manning the check posts. Those who do not belong to North or South Waziristan are rigorously interrogated. When we reached Mir Ali, we saw a hotel. The residents said that 40 men had been taken out from that hotel and killed at point blank range. We saw a mosque, which bore marks of cannon shells.
When we reached Miranshah, it seemed to be a different land. Everybody seemed to be from Taliban groups. We saw Uzbeks, Chechens, Turkmen, Tajiks, Uighurs and Punjabis. For some reason I could not spot any Arabs in Miranshah. I was curious about where the Arab fighters belonging to al Qaeda stayed. I found out later that they lived in the suburban villages and hardly came to the market. They had hired locals to do their groceries and for shopping they sent them to Peshawar and other cities across Pakistan. Every second person had a walkie-talkie with long antennas. They were like wireless sets. Different groups had different code names just like the forces and would use those names when speaking on the wireless set. The most frequently heard code name was ‘Ababeel’. I saw vehicles that belonged to the Afghan army, Afghan police and NATO forces but such vehicles would pass by the Pakistani military checkpoints without being checked or stopped. Common people were thoroughly searched but some vehicles with even tinted glasses were not checked. I am not sure to whom those vehicles belonged. Some vehicles were playing naat sharifs (hymns) loudly but were not stopped at the check posts.
Our business was related to the Sajna group of the Mehsud Taliban but there was another group too, the Hakimullah Mehsud group. I was focused on the Sajna group to get to know how it operates. For Mehsud tribesmen, there were separate offices in Miranshah, which would deal with their matters like land disputes, business disputes and family issues. Areas like Saanp, Makeen, Ladha, Speenkai Raghzai, Baarwan, etc, had their separate offices (markiz) with landline telephone numbers, which the Taliban would openly use to dial numbers across Pakistan. There were around 17 offices for different areas in the main Miranshah bazaar. The offices were quite large and, at one time, around 40 people can sit in one office. If you are a Mehsud tribesman and you are living in Karachi, South Waziristan or any other part of Pakistan, your case will be dealt with by the area office where your family originally came from. The Hakimullah Mehsud group had its own offices but since our dispute needed to be resolved by the Sajna group, we were more concerned about its operations. One could see clear tension between the two groups. We were going to meet Mufti Noor Wali from the Sajna group who controls Mehsud tribesmen in Karachi from his headquarter in Miranshah. Karachi has the largest Mehsud population in Pakistan and all their disputes are put before Mufti Noor Wali for resolution. For the readers’ information, the Sajna group has banned jirgas (village courts) for Mehsud tribesmen in Karachi so whatever the dispute, small or big, the parties have to go to Miranshah and present their case in the court of Mufti Noor Wali. He had his office in the main Miranshah bazaar on the second floor of a building in the market. Mufti Noor Wali is the chief justice of the Taliban Sharia Court. He is around 35-years-old, tall and cross-eyed.
On a lighter note, my friend wanted to tell Sajna that his chief justice was like our former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry but I stopped him as I was afraid he might feel offended. I was the only non-Mehsud in the group. I saw hundreds of Mehsud tribesmen in Miranshah who had come from Karachi as the Taliban had issued orders that they should present themselves in the court of Mufti Noor Wali. I met several people who told me that they had been there for several nights staying in a sarai (hotel) in Mir Ali and Miranshah waiting for their turn with the Taliban shura chief justice. There was a danger to their lives but if they had not come, they would be targeted in Karachi so, for fear of their own lives, they were in North Waziristan. They were clearly between a rock and a hard place. I saw those who owned a transport business of dumpers, those who had disputes of land plots in Kanwari Colony, Suhrab Goth, Ittehad Town and those who had disputes involving their Chang Chi rickshaws, even they were there to seek the services of Mufti Noor Wali. Most of them were poor people who had spent lots of money to reach North Waziristan and were now waiting in line for days for their turn to see the cross-eyed chief justice. Some were told to go back and come next month again as the big man was too busy and could not spare time for them. If one had a strong reference, one had better chances of getting an appointment with the chief justice sooner. In some cases people would not get the appointment at all.
Mufti Noor Wali’s verdicts would make some happy but others upset. I noticed that those who were on good terms with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and provided funds to it get favourable decisions from him. Several Mehsud tribesmen were targeted in Karachi; the terror of the TTP is so great that when Mufti Noor Wali makes a phone call to someone from the Mehsud tribe living in Karachi, he does not waste a day in reaching Miranshah. The trip from Karachi to Miranshah and the lodging there cost around Rs 50,000 and since Mufti Noor Wali has banned Mehsud jirgas in Karachi, anyone with a small dispute has to submit his case in his darbar. Now the Sajna group has complete control over Karachi and the extortion money (bhatta) that it collects from builders, transporters, the oil tankers union, rickshaw union and businessmen, with impunity. The interesting aspect is that the above unions take money themselves to Miranshah to hand over to the cross-eyed ‘chief justice’. The Hakimullah Mehsud group has almost been eliminated from the city of Karachi. The Sajna group has also eliminated the influence of the Awami National Party (ANP) from the port city. So far, not a single important commander from either the Hakimullah Mehsud group or Khan Said Sajna group has been targeted by the police, rangers and the army in Karachi. The high profile commanders of Hakimullah Mehsud were all killed by the Sajna group, not by the armed forces. The important commanders of the Sajna group in Karachi are Khan Zaman, Mufti Javid, Zahidullah Zakriya and Omar. They are openly operating in Karachi and have not been arrested by the security agencies, which makes common people suspect that they have the support of the security establishment. Several people in Miranshah told me that they have lost faith in the government agencies and they have no option but to come to Miranshah and pay money to save their skin and their families.
I noticed that Mufti Noor Wali caused terror among the people — those going to meet him were truly terrorised. He has spread the propaganda that he is very strict and does not compromise on principles but I noticed that if one has a strong reference from a big commander in the TTP, one will get an appointment easily and also a favourable decision; otherwise one has to wait for weeks to meet him. The TTP gets sizable funding from Karachi. According to some estimates and my interaction with businessmen in Karachi, the TTP collects Rs 100 million every month from Karachi alone. When we met Mufti Noor Wali in his office in the presence of Khan Said Sajna, the meeting went very smoothly. However, I noticed that neither our bodies were searched nor our phones were taken from us. This shows their confidence about having complete control. I found him to be a rigid man with a coarse voice and no sense of humour at all. He presented himself as an uncompromising man who accepts no references and makes decisions justly. Since he is the chief justice of the Taliban Sharia Court, his decisions are based on sharia. One thing I noticed: he is very hospitable and when it is lunchtime, he feeds everyone present in his office. He fed us too with beef, potato and gravy followed by black tea. The lunch was good, no doubt.
Mufti Noor Wali is well respected by all commanders from the Sajna group as well as by Khan Said Sajna himself. The friend I accompanied had a land dispute with another party in Ittehad town in Karachi but since he had a strong reference from a TTP commander, we were given access to the chief justice on the same day. The chief justice did not arrive at a decision and told the opposing parties that he would seek evidence from his commanders and make a decision in the next hearing. The date for the next hearing would be conveyed to both the parties through ‘proper’ channels. I also visited different towns in North Waziristan like Data Khel, Dande Darpakhel, Mir Ali, Ghulam Khan, Shawal and areas of the Dawar tribe. I discovered that the Dawar tribesmen are really fed up with the Mehsud Taliban. Hundreds of Dawar families fled their lands and moved to Bannu for fear of military operations especially after the Khajuri suicide attack and corresponding military strikes in Mir Ali.
The Dawar tribesmen also left for other areas when the political administration asked them to expel the TTP and Uzbeks from their areas. Their plea was how could they expel them if the government was in no position to do the same? Dawar tribesmen also told me that when there are drone strikes or military strikes, TTP militants loot their shops with impunity. People in private will tell you how much they appreciate drone strikes but, in front of the media, they feel frightened. The most important thing I saw was that very close to the Miranshah main market is a military fort but in the centre of the bazaar is a government hospital of which full operational control is with the Taliban. We saw Taliban from the Sajna group and the Haqqani group in the hospital. I also saw Haqqani group members openly roaming in their vehicles and not being stopped at army check posts. The Wazir Taliban also enjoy full freedom in Miranshah and other parts of North Waziristan.
Some general observations I had: when top Taliban commanders park their vehicles, others strictly watch them for fear that someone may plant explosives close to them. Both groups are afraid of each other and in recent incidents have killed each other’s commanders. I have heard that TTP commanders do not stay in one place. Top commanders like Rais Khan, alias Azam Tariq, Noor Wali and Khan Said Sajna stay in different houses given to them by the local people. They visit each other unannounced. At night, one hears drones above and everyone has this fear that their house might be targeted. Despite this fear, locals tell me that drones are the best weapons ever produced.
My trip to North Waziristan — II
@W.11 @Secur
