Taliban desecrate body of slain opposing tribal leader

LONG WAR JOURNAL.org ^ | December 17, 2008, 1:03 am | Bill Roggio

[Cindy]

The Taliban have defeated the primary tribal opposition organized against it in the insurgency-wracked district of Swat in Pakistan's northwest. The leader of the tribal resistance was killed and two of his aides were beheaded last weekend after the Taliban overran the region controlled by the opposition.

Pir Samiullah, a rival tribal and religious leader opposing Mullah Fazlullah's forces in the Matta region of Swat, and eight of his followers were killed in a Taliban assault on Dec. 16. Two of his aides were subsequently beheaded in public, while an estimated 40 of his followers have been captured. "The Taliban also torched the houses of Samiullah and 15 elders of his group," Daily Times reported.

After Samiullah was buried, the Taliban returned, dug up his body and hanged it in public. The Taliban made an example of Samiullah and those who oppose Fazlullah's rule.

Samiullah was the first tribal leader in Swat to raise a lashkar, or tribal army, to oppose the Taliban. He claimed to have organized more than 10,000 tribesmen to oppose the Taliban and protect 20 villages. Samiullah and his followers are members of the Gujjar community, which is a group distinct from the dominant Pashtun tribal confederations that support the Taliban.

[Pontiac]

Swat was once Pakistan's vacation paradise, rich with golf courses, hiking trails, a ski resort, and archeological sites. The fighting has destroyed Swat's tourist industry. Fazlullah's forces have burned down the ski lodge and bombed the lifts.

The Islamists have destroyed any semblance of modernity in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In destroying all means or financial gain in the name of Islam they have made poverty and ignorance an institution in these countries.

The schools they sponsor teach only one useful skill; reading. However they even pervert this one skill permitting only religious text for reading material.

It is amazing that so many of the secular humanist in this country have made themselves the allies of the Islamist by opposing the military action in these countries when actions of these Islamist are so inhumane.

[Cvengr]

I never had paid attention to the name “Fazlullah”, but it now seems irrevocably linked to “criminally insane fanatic”.

At first, I thought he’s the type of leader to allow in power of one’s enemies, until they have been maneuvered into complete annihilation. An outstanding leader for the nonredeemable. But upon further reflection, I wouldn’t wish that type of thinking upon my adversaries, nor does it seem to be good for anything.

Such behavior manifests something prolific about the human condition. Whatever religious beliefs held by Fazlullah, they must lead in their prolonged association to incredibly sick behavior. Completely void of justice, but arrogantly absorbed in judgment and accusatory condemnation of their opposition, such thinking lacks righteousness.

[DainBramage]

Musharraf let this scum take over that region and now the price is being paid.

Ive wondered how someone could operate a pirate radio station in that region without its exact location being triangulated?

And why couldnt someone with the technology just hijack it to broadcast propoganda against the radio mullah?