|
Bhutto suspect orders end to Pakistan militant attacks: letter
2008-04-24
An Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani warlord accused of masterminding the slaying of Benazir Bhutto has ordered an end to attacks on security forces in a letter obtained by AFP Thursday. The order by Baitullah Mehsud, who was named by Pakistan's Taliban movement last year as its chieftain and was alleged by the government to have links to Osama bin Laden's network, comes amid peace talks with the government. "For the sake of general peace, provocative actions are strictly banned. The order is final and there will be no leniency," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP. The typed letter, distributed Wednesday in the tribal region of Waziristan and in parts of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, warned that those who violated the order would be punished severely. "Violators of the order will be publicly hanged upside down in main bazaars," Mehsud, known to be one of the top militant commanders in the rugged region, said in the letter. A senior Taliban source confirmed the militant movement was the source of the notice. "We have issued the letter," he said requesting anonymity. The letter emerged a day after officials said that the new government, which defeated allies of President Pervez Musharraf in elections in February, had drafted a peace agreement with Taliban in the tribal belt. There was no immediate comment from the government. It also follows the release of a senior pro-Taliban Pakistani militant, Sufi Mohammad, earlier this week after his banned hardline group, Tahreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, pledged to renounce violence. The deal is aimed at transforming a month-long lull in a wave of suicide bombings -- including the one that killed former premier Bhutto in December -- into a permanent peace in troubled Pakistan. The government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, once a close aide of Bhutto, announced soon after winning the elections that he would launch talks with any rebels who renounced violence. The previous pro-Musharraf government and the United States Central Intelligence Agency both blamed Mehsud for Bhutto's killing in a suicide attack at an election rally in December. Mehsud has denied involvement. The attack was one of a wave of suicide blasts since the start of 2007 that has killed more than 1,000 people in Pakistan, a frontline state in the US-led "war on terror". But the new government has said that Musharraf's strong-arm tactics against the militants have backfired and is now keen to pursue a multi-pronged strategy including political and economic resolutions. Officials said the draft agreement involves pledges by the militants and armed forces not to take action, the withdrawal of troops from certain areas and the exchange of prisoners. Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan is being held by Taliban rebels in the tribal belt after he was kidnapped in February.
| 
