Militant warns of Pakistan army help

2011-11-22 12:31

Peshawar - A powerful militant commander who has a peace deal with the Pakistani military said his fighters would not stop army engineers building a road through territory he controls in the country's northwest, but warned locals working on the project would be killed as spies.

The statement by Hafiz Gul Bahadur shows the shaky nature of the deal he has in the Afghan border region of North Waziristan, which is home to many of the most active militant groups.

It follows reports that the Pakistani Taliban, perhaps the most deadly faction there, had entered into preliminary peace talks with the government.

Bahadur and his some 4 000 fighters are a deadly foe for US troops across the border in Afghanistan, but do not target Pakistani troops, unlike some militant factions, including the Pakistani Taliban.

This distinguishes the Bahadur group in the eyes of the Pakistani army, which has an unofficial nonaggression pact with them and other allied groups like the Haqqani Network.

Troops

Earlier this month, Bahadur threatened to abandon the deal, complaining the army had killed some of his men.

Army engineers are building new roads in the tribal regions, seeking to win over the population. The US, which is supporting Pakistani anti-insurgency operations to reduce attacks in Afghanistan and squeeze al-Qaeda, is paying for some of them. The army is building one such road through North Waziristan.

We "will not create any hurdle in their work so long as our pact is intact, but residents are restricted from contacting them, providing gravel, machinery and vehicles", the Bahadur group said in a statement, which was distributed in North Waziristan and received by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"Such people will have no protection from the holy warriors," the statement said, accusing the army of recruiting locals for spying. "They will be responsible for any losses."

Army officials were not available for comment.

The military has undertaken operations in most of the tribal regions, but has yet to do so in North Waziristan. It has several thousand troops stationed in the remote region.

As well as Bahadur, the region is home to the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani network and al-Qaeda operators planning and training for attacks.

The US has asked Pakistan to move into the region, but it has not done so, saying it lacks the troops. The US routinely attacks militants there with drone-fired missiles.

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for many of the hundreds of suicide attacks on army, intelligence and civilian targets around the country since 2007. It wants to oust the democratically elected, US-backed government and replace it with a hard-line Islamist state.

Some commanders have said recently that they are in preliminary contact with government intermediaries to discuss a possible peace deal.

The government has not confirmed this. Any deal with the Pakistani Taliban would likely alarm the US, which has criticised past deals.

- AP