Terror attack: warlord threatens similar assaults in West:A PAKISTANI warlord yesterday claimed responsibility for Monday's assault on the Lahore police training academy and threatened attacks on the West.
Baitullah Mehsud leads the biggest faction of Pakistan’s Taliban and is based in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region in the northwest, which borders Afghanistan. Last month, the US offered a $5 million bounty for Mehsud, describing him as key commander of al-Qaeda.
There was also a rival claim for the police school attack from the little-known group Fedayeen al-Islam, which has also claimed responsibility for the Marriott hotel bombing in Islamabad last September. But it is Mehsud’s claim that tallies with the initial government investigation, and is the one being taken seriously.
“We wholeheartedly take responsibility for this attack and will carry out more such attacks in future,” he said, speaking by phone from his hideout. “It’s revenge for the [US] drone attacks in Pakistan.”
Mehsud also threatened the United States directly. “You can’t imagine how we could avenge this threat inside Washington, inside the White House,” he said.
US drone aircraft strikes on the tribal area have more recently been on the part under his control. At least 12 people were killed on Monday when a squad of heavily armed militants stormed the police training school on the outskirts of Lahore, spraying it with gunfire and grenades, and taking hostages.
Asad Munir, a former head of military intelligence for north-west Pakistan, said that Mehsud wanted to emulate Mullah Omar, the founder of the Afghan Taliban.
“He [Mehsud] wants power. He’s not going to lay down arms even if Nato forces leave Afghanistan,” said Munir. “He thinks that, if Mullah Omar can rule Afghanistan, he can rule part of Pakistan.” By offering guns and employment to those within his native Mehsud tribe, a powerful clan in South Waziristan, the Pakistan warlord has built a following of thousands of armed supporters. Originally low-ranking within the clan, he was almost unknown until 2004. Since then Mehsud has terrorised anyone who opposed him, including the chiefs of his tribe.
His Tehreek-e-Taliban group now stretches across the tribal area and into Swat, a valley in the northwest. A copycat of the Afghan Taliban movement, the group emerged in response to Pakistan’s alliance with the US and other western countries after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. Tehreek-e-Taliban trains suicide bombers for missions across Pakistan.
In recent years, the Pakistani Taliban has fallen under the influence of al-Qaeda and its creed of relentless violence and jihad by force, as have other militant groups based Pakistan.
Under al-Qaeda’s tutelage, Pakistan’s Islamic radicals have turned on their own country. Osama bin Laden’s group now largely operates through its Pakistani partners. Mehsud was accused of carrying out the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, though he denied the charge.
The Pakistani Taliban has no known capability to stage attacks in the west, though al-Qaeda could facilitate such an operation for them. Despite the threat Mehsud poses, Pakistan's army has not targeted him. Instead, it signed a secret truce with him early last year, the latest of several agreements he has flouted. – ( Guardian service)
Sharifs cleared for return to power
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's supreme court yesterday suspended a ruling barring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother from holding elected office and restored their government in the key province of Punjab.
President Asif Ali Zardari plunged Pakistan into a political crisis a month ago by dismissing the government in Punjab after the supreme court ruled that the Sharif brothers could not hold elected office because of old convictions.
The court in its latest decision suspended the late February ruling and allowed Shahbez Sharif, who was chief minister of Punjab, to resume office. However, Nawaz Sharif must await a final petition ruling which seeks to lift a ban on him running for parliament. The former prime miminster is currenly not a member of parliament.
- (Reuters)