Islamic Emirate of Waziristan

The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan ( _ur. اسلامی امارات وزیرستان), also known as the Islamic Republic of Waziristan, is a rebel organization, in Waziristan, Pakistan that some commentators claim gained "de facto" recognition from the Government of Pakistan when it was named as party to the Waziristan Accord, the agreement reached between Islamabad and local tribesmen to end the undeclared Waziristan War on September 5, 2006. [cite news
title = Pakistan: Hello al-Qaeda, goodbye America
first = Syed Saleem
last = Shahzad
publisher = Asia Times Online
url = http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI08Df03.html
date = 2006-09-08
accessdate = 2006-09-12 ] cite web
last = Moreau
first = Ron
coauthors = Zahid Hussain
year = 2006
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13990130/site/newsweek/
title = Border Backlash
work = Newsweek international edition
publisher = MSNBC.com
accessdate = 2006-09-20] [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16191502/] [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16240565/site/newsweek/] [http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/03/06/79810.aspx]

Description

The Islamic militants in Waziristan are said to have close affiliations with the Taliban. Waziristan is often mentioned as a haven for al-Qaeda fighters, who will be required to either leave the area or act peacefully as a condition of the negotiated peace accord. Some of these militants call their organization the "Taliban." - "The tribal militants call themselves "Pakistani Taliban," or members of a newly coined and loosely knit entity, the Taliban."

Tribal leaders control the area of the North Waziristan Agency and the South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).Fact|date=May 2008 In practice they have replaced these two agency-level governments as the political body controlling the area,Fact|date=May 2008 although formal dissolution of the agencies is not part of the truce agreement.

Partisans in North Waziristan declared an "Islamic state" in February 2006. [cite news
last =
first =
title = Taliban, al-Qaeda establish 'Islamic State' in NW Pak
publisher = Press Trust of India
date = 2006-02-12
url = http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=62744
accessdate = 2006-09-12 ] According to anonymous sources, the Pakistan government effectively acknowledged the organization in the Waziristan accord of September 5, 2006 which referred to the organization in the agreement, however the agreement does not recognize the Taliban as an independent state, but only as a security body charged with fulfilling the obligations of the treaty. [cite news
last = Roggio
first = Bill
title = Talibanistan: The Establishment of the Taliban
url = http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/09/talibanistan_the_est.php
publisher = The Fourth Rail
date = 2006-09-05
accessdate = 2006-09-28]

There is speculation that Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders have found refuge in the area controlled by the Emirate, which is a staging ground for militant operations in Afghanistan. [cite news
title = Al Qaeda Finds Its Center of Gravity
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/weekinreview/10rohde.html
first = David
last = Rohde
publisher = New York Times
date = 2006-09-10
accessdate = 2006-09-12 ] A condition of the truce is that no support be given for these operations. Local observers view the truce accord as a prelude to hot pursuit chases of mujahideen into Pakistan by NATO forces in Afghanistan. [cite news
title = The knife at Pakistan's throat
first = Syed Saleem
last = Shahzad
publisher = Asia Times Online
url = http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI02Df02.html
date = 2006-09-02
accessdate = 2006-09-12 ]

Details of the agreement may be found under Waziristan accord.

Leadership structure

The Taliban in Waziristan is led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran mujahideen commander and member of the Zadran tribe, who aligned himself with the Taliban and rose to be a cabinet member of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the official name of the former Taliban government of Afghanistan). He has delegated much of the day-to-day field operation to his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is said to be military commander over all the Taliban-aligned militants in the Waziristan tribal regions.cite news
title = Forces, militants heading for truce
first = Ismail
last = Khan
publisher = Dawn
url = http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/23/top2.htm
date = 2006-06-22
accessdate = 2006-09-29]

In June 2006, in advance of the Waziristan accord, the elder Haqqani issued a decree that stated that while the fight with the US and Karzai governments will continue "till the last drop of blood", it was no longer Taliban policy to continue to fight with the Pakistan army. The ceasefire edict was circulated only in South Waziristan, however, to keep pressure on the Pakistan government towards reaching a peace accord in the north (ultimately the Waziristan accord).

The Haqqani edict resulted in a partial ceasefire in South Waziristan, although some tribal militias continued to fight on in hopes of winning the release of fellow rebels imprisoned by the government. Ultimately it would be the Waziristan accord that would secure the release of all rebel fighters, both Taliban and non-Taliban.

While reporting on the June ceasefire in South Waziristan, the Dawn newspaper in Pakistan also reported that a senior Taliban figure (left unnamed), in consultation with local tribal leaders, had blessed Maulavi Nazir Ahmad as head of the militants of the Ahmadzai Wazir (tribe). The senior leader also endorsed Baitullah Mehsud to continue as head of the mujahideen of the Mahsud tribe and appointed, Abdullah Mehsud, a renowned fugitive jihadist, to head a shura of mujahideen representing four additional tribes.

It is not clear if Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, and thus the entire Pakistan Taliban leadership, identifies himself as a part of a Taliban, or if it is a smaller, and perhaps non-Taliban, group of militants who invoke this name as a rallying cry.

After an initial miscue,cite news
title = Govt, N. Waziristan Taliban enter Peace Agreement
first =
last =
publisher = Pakistan Times
url = http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/09/06/top10.htm
date = 2006-09-06
accessdate = 2006-09-24] the Government of Pakistan has consistently emphasized the Taliban was not party to the accord. However, on September 24, The Daily Telegraph published an article revealing the previously unnamed "senior leader" to be none other than Mullah Omar, the former leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Regarding Mullah Omar's role in the southern ceasefire and the truce in North Waziristan, the Telegraph quotes Lateef Afridi, a tribal elder and former member of the Pakistan national assembly, as saying: [cite news
title = Omar role in truce reinforces fears that Pakistan 'caved in' to Taliban
first = Massoud
last = Ansari
coauthors = Colin Freeman
publisher = The Daily Telegraph
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/24/wafg24.xml
date = 2006-09-24
accessdate = 2006-09-29]

"Had [local tribal militants] been not asked by Mullah Omar, none of them were willing to sign an agreement…. This is no peace agreement, it is accepting Taliban rule in Pakistan's territory."

A true state?

Though proclaimed by the rebels as a "state" or "emirate", there are questions regarding the region being called as such. Those who support that the region is a state point to the facts that the federal authority is little to nonexistent and that the area is ruled mostly by tribal elders. [cite news
title = Where the Taliban still rule
first = James
last = Rupert
publisher = Newsday
url = http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wotali054618726feb09,0,4795733.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
date = 2006-02-09
accessdate = 2006-09-28] Moreover, Taliban reportedly control most of the region with its own authoritarian rule including beheadings and other violent punishments which the Pakistan government has been unable to stop. [cite news
title = The Taliban's bloody foothold in Pakistan
first = Syed Saleem
last = Shahzad
publisher = Asia Times Online
url = http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HB08Df01.html
date = 2006-02-08
accessdate = 2006-09-28] cite news
title=Border Backlash
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13990130/site/newsweek/
publisher=MSNBC
date=2006-07-31
accessdate=2007-01-13 ] Such brazen show of authority has led one author in the "Wall Street Journal" to remark that Waziristan Agency was a "state within a state" [cite news
title = Musharrafistan
first = Mansoor
last = Ijaz
publisher = Wall Street Journal
url = http://users1.wsj.com/article/SB115862670767067004.html?mod=todays_asia_opinion
date = 2006-09-19]

Pakistan’s new Waziristan strategy

On June 4th the National Security Council of Pakistan met to decide the fate of Waziristan and take up a number of political and administrative decisions to control “Talibanization” of the area. The meeting was chaired by President Pervez Musharraf and it was attended by the Chief Ministers and Governors of all 4 provinces. They discussed the deteriorating law and order situation and the threat posed to state security.

The government decided to take a number of actions to stop the “Talibanization” and crush the armed militancy in the Tribal regions and the NWFP.

The NSC of Pakistan has decided the following actions will be taken to achieve the goals:
*Deployment of unmanned reconnaissance planes
*Strengthening law-enforcement agencies with advanced equipment
*Deployment of more troops to the region
*Operations against militants on fast-track basis
*Focused operations against militant commanders
*Action against madrasahs preaching militancy
*Appointment of regional coordinators
*Fresh Recruitments of police officers in NWFP

The ministry of interior has played a large part in the information gathering for the operations against militants and their institutions. The Ministry of Interior has prepared a list of militant commanders operating in the region and they have also prepared a list of seminaries for monitoring.

The Government is also trying to strengthen the law enforcement in the area by providing the NWFP Police with weapons, bullet-proof jackets and night-vision devices. The paramilitary Frontier Corps will be provided with artillery and APC’s. The state agencies are also working on studying ways to block FM frequencies of illegal FM radio channels.cite web
last = Khan
first = Ismail
year = 2007
url = http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/26/top4.htm
title = Plan ready to curb militancy in Fata, settled areas
work = Newsweek international edition
publisher = Dawn.com
accessdate = 2007-06-27]

ee also

* Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3532841.stm Waziristan: Bin Laden's hiding place?] "BBC News"
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16191502/ NBC A journey to the heart of Taliban country]