 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| No evidence Baitullah threatened suicide attack |
|
|
|
Thursday, October 18, 2007
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Did Baitullah Mehsud, the commander of Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, really threaten suicide attacks targeting Benazir Bhutto?
Members of his group have expressed ignorance about any such threat and the pro-MMA Senator Maulana Saleh Shah, who was reported to have made a statement about Baitullah Mehsud’s plan to ‘welcome’ Benazir Bhutto upon her return to Pakistan with a suicide bombing, has already issued a denial.
The threatened suicide bombing has been widely reported by the domestic and international media. It was taken seriously and became the major reason for undertaking extraordinary security measures for the expected arrival of Benazir Bhutto at Karachi airport on Thursday and during the, subsequent, procession that she was scheduled to lead. It also prompted her and her party to seek special jamming devices and foolproof security measures to foil any terrorist attack on her.
However, there is no evidence that Baitullah Mehsud has issued any threat to target Benazir Bhutto. Members of his group in South Waziristan and Tank said they were unaware that a threat was issued.
Requesting anonymity, they pointed out that Baitullah Mehsud, in the rare statements that he has issued till now, never made any such threat. They said his spokesman, Zulfiqar Mehsud, too, had not made any threat of suicide bombing at Benazir Bhutto.
The threat was first reported in a section of the press and the news item quoted Maulana Saleh Shah, member of the Senate from South Waziristan. An English language newspaper (not The News) in a front page story quoted the Maulana as saying that Baitullah Mehsud would ‘welcome’ Benazir Bhutto with a suicide bombing due to her provocative utterances against the Taliban and other militants. The Maulana was quick to issue a denial which was published in some newspapers.
Talking to The News, he even claimed that the reporter in question accepted his mistake and apologized to him after he confronted him and questioned the veracity of the report. “I was quoted out of context. I didn’t say all that was published in my name,” he argued.
However, sources said Maulana Saleh Shah, who belongs to Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s JUI-F, made some comments about the possibility of suicide bombings targeting Benazir Bhutto once she returned to Pakistan. As he has been meeting the elusive Baitullah Mehsud in his South Waziristan hideouts as part of tribal Jirgas that mediate between the militants and the government, it is normally assumed that he has access to the militants and their military commanders and enjoys their trust.
On a number of occasions, he has proved a timely source of information for the media about the events in South Waziristan. But the recent reports from South Waziristan suggest that Maulana Saleh Shah has lost some of that trust.
As Baitullah Mehsud and his spokesmen have made no statements threatening suicide attacks on Benazir Bhutto, one may well ask whether one should give credence to a statement made on their behalf by someone else. In this case, that ‘someone else’ is Senator Maulana Saleh Shah and he, too, has denied making any such statement on behalf of Baitullah Mehsud.
Reporters covering Waziristan, particularly those based in Wana, Miranshah, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, pointed out that the only source of information for the tribal militants is radio, mostly the Pashto and Urdu services of BBC. “As the statement quoting Senator Maulana Saleh Shah wasn’t aired by any radio station and was only reported in an English newspaper, Baitullah Mehsud and his men seem to be unaware that he reportedly threatened Benazir Bhutto with suicide attack upon her arrival,” one of the reporters Irfan Burki based in Tank said.
Another reporter, Dilawar Wazir, who is based in Dera Ismail Khan, added that the militants don’t know what is being published about them in the newspapers or broadcast on television channels.
Though it is clear that Baitullah Mehsud hasn’t threatened Benazir Bhutto with suicide bombing, one should keep in mind that anyone intending to launch such an attack would not brag about it publicly. Benazir Bhutto has provoked the militants and Jihadis with some of her recent pro-US and anti-al-Qaeda and anti-Taliban statements and one should, therefore, not rule out the possibility of suicide bombings targeting her. But that could happen once she is in power and has the authority to order military operations against the militants. At present, she doesn’t possess the authority to cause harm to the militants and it appears that the latter would prefer to wait and see as to how she acts once she is in power.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
CJ says good governance being compromised
By Sohail Khan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that good governance is being compromised as it is believed that the administration of justice is the sole duty of courts or the legal fratern more |
|
|
Hakimullah dies of wounds in Multan?
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Reports about the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud once again started circulating on Tuesday and this time it was being reported that the militant commander had succumb more |
|
|
MNAs seek solution to Sindh-Punjab water rift
ISLAMABAD: Members of the National Assembly on Tuesday urged for the resolution of the water crisis between Punjab and Sindh, failing which would lead to serious repercussions for the country.
Yousuf Tal more |
|
|
Good governance hinges on change in national behaviour: PM
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that change in the collective behaviour of the nation is necessary for the promotion of good governance. He said that his government believed in streng more |
|
|
NIC made mandatory to get sugar from USC outlets
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday made it mandatory to produce national identity cards to get a pack of 2kg sugar from the USC outlets.
The ECC met here unde more |
|
|
|
Three provinces to hold LG polls in four months
By Hanif Khalid & Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: A high level meeting here on Tuesday at the Aiwan-e-Sadr decided that the chief ministers of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan would hold local government elections in four months.
President Asif Al more |
|
|
|
Senators condemn attack on Sh Rashid
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday strongly condemned the murder attempt on Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members advised Sheikh Rashid to stop more |
|
|
|
PIA obliges religiously; latest being religious minister
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), facing a mind-boggling loss of about Rs70billion, has quietly upgraded two seats of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and his wife fr more |
|
|
|
A brigadier without brigade has a history of thrashing
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The basher-brigadier of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), who assaulted his professor colleague late Thursday, has a long list of such incidents on his credit as his resume is sprin more |
|
|
|
PAC settles drought money misuse
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: A special committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing misuse of drought funds worth million of rupees on Tuesday conveniently settled majority of charges against deputy auditor general o more |
|
|
|
NA-55 by-polls
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has urged all the political parties, including the PML-N, to withdraw from the NA-55 by-polls in favour of Sheikh Rashid.
“ more |
|
|
|
Point scoring be avoided in Rashid attack case: Shahbaz
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the Rawalpindi incident on Monday had grieved every Pakistani.
He said a joint investigation team comprising federal and provincial agencies including I more |
|
|
|
SC moved against delay in judges’ appointment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday against the government’s delay in the appointment of judges in the apex court and was prayed for directing the government to perform its constitutional duty by more |
|
|
|
‘74 killed in Bajaur operation’
By Hasbanullah Khan
KHAR: Security forces claimed to have killed 74 militants and injured 54 others and wrested the strategically important hilltops and areas from the insurgents during the weeklong military operation in the Mamon more |
|
|
|
Afghan unrest kills US, French soldiers
KABUL: A US and French soldiers were killed in attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance said.
The US service member was killed in an improvised bomb blast in southern Afghanis more |
|
|
|
Army called in for today’s Lakki by-election
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The government has requisitioned the services of the Pakistan Army to augment the police and civil security forces for conducting the NWFP Assembly by-election on PF-75 Lakki Marwat for which polling more |
|
|
|
Meeting discusses political issues
ISLAMABAD: A meeting held here at the presidency on Tuesday and presided over jointly by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani discussed political and development issues in the N more |
|
|
|
Rashid accuses PML-N of promoting criminal culture
ISLAMABAD: Head of Awami Muslim League, Sheikh Rashid, on Tuesday criticised the PML-N-led Punjab government for promoting criminal culture in Rawalpindi and the province.
Talking to a private TV channel more |
|
|
|
Briefs...
Over 64 dead in Afghan avalanches
KABUL: At least 24 bodies have been recovered and 40 other people are feared dead after avalanches swept vehicles into a ravine and trapped cars in a mountain pass overn more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
