Swat residents now flying anti-Taliban banners: 'Where is the shameless Fazlullah?'

by: Salaam

Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 12:31:27 PM EST

PESHAWAR: The display of anti-Taliban banners by unknown persons in various areas of Kabal was the topic of discussion in Swat on Monday and majority of people hailed the move as a sign of an end to the Taliban era.

Kabal residents said on Sunday that they saw anti-Taliban banners calling leader of the Swat militants Maulana Fazlullah a "shameless" person. "Where is the shameless Fazlullah?" was the slogan inscribed on one of the banners. One can infer from the writing on the banner that those having displayed the banners were criticising the Taliban leader for going underground.

Other slogans included, "Taliban's friend is the nation's foe," and "The Taliban movement is virtually the movement of oppressors."

Story here.

(Via)

Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah resurfaces in Afghanistan

by: Salaam

Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 21:45:08 PM EST

Now the leader of the Swat Taliban has reappeared in Afghanistan, and he's promising vengeance.

"I have reached Afghanistan safely," Maulana Fazlullah told BBC Urdu.

"We are soon going to launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat."
....

He issued a warning to the North West Frontier Province's information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

"The authorities should beware, especially Mian Iftikhar Hussain, whose fate will be like that of Najibullah," he warned, referring to Dr Najibullah who was Afghan president before the Taliban hanged him in 1996 when they took Kabul.

Najibullah* was tortured, castrated and executed without trial by the Afghan Taliban in 1996, after which his body was dragged through the streets and hung from a lamp post.

* Juan Cole today linked an article by a UN official who spent some time visiting with Najibullah just before the Taliban killed him. The official asked Najibullah if he regretted the blood on his hands from his time serving as head of the Afghan secret police under the communists.

"Dear Alan, do not be naïve about what you are facing. They will bring a destruction you cannot imagine."

His message to me, at our New Year meeting in 1995, was one of no regrets for whatever he had done to stand against the Islamists. He was absolutely clear about that; he would do it again.