Taliban make decision on Imran Khan’s Waziristan rally

[humanfirst]

Taliban make decision on Imran Khan’s Waziristan rally

KARACHI: The banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has said that the militant organisation has made a decision regarding cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s peace march to South Waziristan; however, the decision will be announced a day before the rally actually takes place.

According to a report by the BBC Urdu on Monday, a spokesman for the TTP Ehsanullah Ehsan said that the decision was taken during an important meeting of the Taliban council on Saturday attended by the TTP’s central leaders.

The spokesman said that the Taliban has made a final decision; however, he added that he was unable to disclose whether the decision was in favour of Khan’s rally or against it.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking to Dawn.com correspondent Zahir Shah Sherazi over telephone from an undisclosed location, confirmed that the banned organisation had made the decision at a meeting of its central leaders Saturday, but will announce it a day before the proposed rally.

Imran Khan, the chief of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), has vowed to rally to South Waziristan against drone attacks along with thousands of people, including 30 civil society activists from the US.

At a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the PTI chief said claimed that the Mehsud, Burki and Bhittani tribes of Waziristan had assured him of providing security to the participants of the rally.

The rally, starting from Islamabad, will pass through Balkasar, Talagang and Mianwali, reaching DI Khan on October 6. On October 7, the participants will gather in Tank and then will move towards South Waziristan where a public meeting will be held at Kot Kai.

South Waziristan is one of the seven regions in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), governed by tribal laws. An Islamist insurgency led by the Pakistani Taliban plagues the region, which is close to the Pak-Afghan border, while the area is known to be infested with militants, including the al Qaeda, the Taliban and several other armed extremist organisations.

The tribal areas, especially North and South Waziristan, have also been the stage of US drone strikes, which many say are ineffective and have claimed the lives of several innocent civilians.

No sympathy for liberals

Earlier in August, Taliban spokesman Ehsan had said that a reaction to Khan’s proposed visit will be made public after the “Shurah [council] of TTP…decide what to do a week before his (Khan’s) sure arrival.”

The spokesman, denying earlier reports of a TTP death threat to the PTI chief, however, had made it clear that the Taliban ‘have no sympathy for Khan or liberals, a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.

“It’s sure and clear that we don’t have any sympathy with Imran Khan. Neither [do] we need his sympathy, as he himself claims to be liberal and we see liberals as infidels,” he said.

The spokesman had said that by calling himself a ‘liberal’, Khan had proved that he was a ‘slave of the US and Europe’, and that the Taliban are not satisfied with his policies.

http://dawn.com/2012/10/01/taliban-make-decision-on-imran-khans-waziristan-rally/


Isn't this ihsanullah the same moron who announce responsiility of bomb blasts now and then...?How is he able to give media interviews like this..?

 

[JayAtl]

Oh- is that why Imran switched it to be a virtual march? b

 

[Ahmad]

The Pakistani Taliban has launched a scathing attack on Imran Khan as he prepares to lead a "peace march" against US drone strikes.

A spokesman for the group said it would not provide protection to the former cricketer as he leads what organisers hope will be tens of thousands of protesters, including several US peace activists, into the country's most dangerous region of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Sunday.

The area has been off limits for years because of the complex war being fought between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani army.

The TTP has rejected "baseless" reports that it would protect Khan, who has led the high-profile campaign against the CIA's unmanned aircraft attacks on Fata, which have killed many leading militants. "Our mujahideen are not so priceless that we deploy them to protect a westernised and secular personality," the spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said.

Khan regularly attacks Pakistan's westernised liberals, earning him the nicknames "Taliban Khan" and "Clean-shaved Mullah".

But the TTP have been unimpressed by his credentials as a man of the religious right, describing him as a "slave of the west". "Imran Khan's so-called peace march is not in sympathy for drone-hit Muslims but only to increase his political popularity," it said. The group added that it would not reveal whether it planned to attack Khan's convoy, in order to protect "military tactics".

In recent days, other militants in the area have warned of dangers to the marchers. On Thursday in Tank, one of Fata's administrative units, leaflets from a little-known militant group called Mujahideen Jaishul Khilafa were circulated, warning people not to participate in the rally.

If anything "unpleasant happened", Khan should be held responsible, the leaflets warned, adding: "On the politics of drone, [Khan] is promoting the Jewish agenda and Christianity."

Khan had claimed the militants had no problem with his plan to march to the town of Kotkai in South Waziristan. "The tribes have got in touch with the militants and the tribes have told us that it's fine, they have no objections to it," he said.

But even without Taliban opposition, doubts have increased over whether he will succeed in entering the region, despite claims by Khan's supporters that the army had given its blessing.

Some officials from Fata were adamant the protesters would not be given permission to enter the territory. "[Khan] should realise he is going to put everyone in danger," Tafsheen Khan, the chief secretary, warned.

Joining supporters of the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are foreign anti-war activists, including a largely female contingent from the US group Code Pink, and Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the British human rights group Reprieve.

Pakistani Taliban TTP warns Imran Khan ahead of drones march | World news | The Guardian