InshAllah terrorists will not succeed in harming prime minister or his family. I hope, given the treat, govt does all it can to protect all leaders, including the leaders of political parties.
Taliban vow to eliminate PM, family members
Taliban vow to eliminate PM, family members
President, aides, Benazir’s mausoleum also to be attacked; Taliban angry over declaration of war by PM
Saturday, May 09, 2009
By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: Extremely angered by the prime ministerís address to the nation on Thursday, the terrorists fighting security forces in Swat and adjoining areas have vowed to eliminate Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and his family, it was learnt on Friday.
ìWe thought that being a member of a religious family, Gilani will support our demand of implementing Shariah in the Malakand Division but instead he has announced all-out war against us, which has angered our commanders as well as fighters,î said a commander of the terrorists while talking to The News via telephone.
The militant commander, who wished anonymity, said that after the prime minister’s declaration to eliminate the Taliban, they had started planning to eliminate the top leaders of the ruling alliance, including the president, the prime minister and their close family members and aides. He said that hometown of Prime Minister Gilani, Multan, and tomb of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto might also be targeted.
ìBesides, the personnel and installations of security forces, we have now also included civilian rulers in our hit list. We will definitely need sometime to plan our actions but it is not impossible for us and we have all the means to implement our plan of attack anywhere in Pakistan,î he said.
The militant commander also confirmed that the chief of the outlawed terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baitullah Mehsud, was advising the Swat militants in their fight against security forces. He said that the TTP chief had now advised the Swat chapter of his organisation to plan attacks on civilian rulers.
This correspondent tried to contact Muslim Khan, the spokesman for TTP Swat chapter, but he could not be reached despite repeated attempts. When approached for comments, Ameer Izzat, spokesman for Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), said that they had nothing to do with the TTP as they had their own organisation, which believes in peaceful struggle for implementation of Shariah.
About the latest threat by militants to target the civilian leadership of the country, the TNSM spokesman said he could not comment on the matter except for saying that those fighting security forces could do so.
Asked why the TNSM was not renouncing the militancy publicly, the TNSM spokesman said that the government had already left them in a lurch and they could not afford the enmity of the Taliban by publicly renouncing militancy and fighting.
