Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
How security forces got the message loud and clear from man behind ‘Radio Taleban’
Mohammed Ali is one of the masterminds of the Taleban campaign that has brought the security forces in the Swat Valley to their knees.
On the FM radio system that he helped to set up in Swat to spread the message of the Taleban, he announced the names of people who deserved to die, sometimes adding the names of their children and the schools they attended. He is also regarded as the main strategist behind a two-year suicide bombing campaign against government buildings, military installations, schools and individuals that forced the Government to accept a Taleban-administered mini-state where Sharia is applied.
Using the name Nadar, which means fearless, he told radio listeners: “I like the sound of the death rattle when army people are slaughtered. I want to hear that every day.”
Now in a disguised and guarded safehouse in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, close to the Afghanistan border, he sits in front of me. It is the first time that he has left the Swat region, which was once a holiday resort, for months.
“We follow the law of Islam. The Army burnt 5,551 copies of the Holy Koran. Innocent boys and girls were killed so it does not seem wrong for us to kill someone in that way,” he said. “We are struggling for sharia. We will go to jihad and it will remain to the end of time if they deny us.
“In Pakistan we are struggling to achieve what we have been told we should achieve, and that is sharia through the land. We have relations with our brothers in Afghanistan because they want what we want,” he added.
The fractured grip on power that Islamabad has on Pakistan is causing concern in Britain, the US and India.
Swat, which is 100 miles north of the capital, may never be the same again and the Taleban may not be contained easily there. The elders commanded by Mohammed Ali oversee an organised and brutal militia. Their latest propaganda videos show recruits training at camps in the mountains, where they are taught unarmed fighting techniques, shooting and suicide bomb preparation.
Pakistan denied the existence of the camps but the Taleban said that the videos were filmed only a few weeks ago. A large part of the film is dedicated to suicide bombing. The pictures show young men, grinning with pleasure as their hooded colleagues hug them and congratulate them on their decision to blow themselves up for the cause.
The men are shown strapping on suicide vests or checking cars and vans packed with explosives. The attacks and the aftermath are filmed - the carnage, bodies and grieving relatives are depicted as victories.
In Pakistan the bomb attacks are an almost daily occurrence and have been effective enough in Swat to secure the Taleban a new haven in the heart of Pakistan.