I predicted a few months back that Musharraf would team with Maulana Fazlur Rahman and his "old Taliban" (and Bhutto as well who turned out to be utterly worthless ) in a war against al Qaeda and "new Taliban" or young Taliban commanders supported by al Qaeda in taking over tribes. In other words, al Qaeda was trying to take over the Taliban with fighters redirected from Iraq.
According to the Pakistan Daily Times:
Editorial: Finally, boots on ground in Swat
Finally the army has begun its ground offensive in Swat after days of sniping at the Al Qaeda militants from its helicopter gunships, killing 35 on the first day. Since the army went into the Valley, there has been a steady growth in casualty among the outsider elements and their local supporters. This is a change from the humiliating reversals which the militants inflicted on the paramilitary personnel earlier on, forcing one to come to the conclusion that that phase in Swat had done much to undermine the confidence of the local population and given heart to the planners of Al Qaeda and its Taliban minions to act as if they owned Swat. The beheadings carried out by “foreign-looking” terrorists had nearly convinced the Swatis that a new government had actually come into being, pledging to institutionalise what they had always demanded as “justice without delay”.
These foreign looking fighters are al Qaeda. They are fighting along side the young Taliban leaders in Swat that are al Qaeda affiliates.
Again from the Daily Times:
One reason why the army delayed going into Swat could be linked to the MMA government of the NWFP which had to first “requisition” the operation. Peshawar had its own angle on Swat, perhaps looking at it as the first instalment of what it wanted to do to the rest of the province through its Hasba Bill. In May this year the MMA government had struck a nine-point “peace deal” with the local warlord Fazlullah in return for his pledge to let Peshawar handle the law and order situation in Swat. He had also agreed to close his centres of training for the militants, end acquisition and manufacture of weapons like the bombs, and had committed to providing troops [sic!] in operations mounted by the province against any “anti-state elements”.
This was, of course, a joke and an eyewash which no one, including the media, tried to question. Fazlullah was given permission to operate his FM radio stations from where he continued to warn the local population against flouting his so-called “sharia laws”. The federal government reacted to this by extending the operation of PEMRA to the PATA area which included Swat and thus rendered the agreement null and void.
I believe that what this is saying is that the MMA lead by Gen. Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rahman (co-leader of the old Taliban) had to be brought on board and give his permission. This looks to me as though the Daily Times is verifying that the Maulana is siding with Musharraf to battle al Qaeda allied Taliban.
If this is accurate, it validates my prediction and if they all hold their nerve, (big if) could spell disaster for al Qaeda wich is running out of places to hide as its' support base grows smaller and smaller, mostly owing to its' own brutishness.
Comments