Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PESHAWAR91
2009-05-04 12:35:00
SECRET
Consulate Peshawar
Cable title:  

MALAKAND DIVISION: DARUL QAZA ANNOUNCED; OPERATIONS

Tags:  MOPS PTER PGOV EAID PREF PK 
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O 041235Z MAY 09
FM AMCONSUL PESHAWAR
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7947
INFO AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL LAHORE IMMEDIATE 
AMCONSUL KARACHI IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 
USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 
CIA WASHDC
NSC WASHINGTON DC
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
S E C R E T PESHAWAR 000091 


E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/4/2019
TAGS: MOPS PTER PGOV EAID PREF PK
SUBJECT: MALAKAND DIVISION: DARUL QAZA ANNOUNCED; OPERATIONS
CONTINUE IN BUNER, DIR

CLASSIFIED BY: Lynne Tracy, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate
Peshawar, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


S E C R E T PESHAWAR 000091


E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/4/2019
TAGS: MOPS PTER PGOV EAID PREF PK
SUBJECT: MALAKAND DIVISION: DARUL QAZA ANNOUNCED; OPERATIONS
CONTINUE IN BUNER, DIR

CLASSIFIED BY: Lynne Tracy, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate
Peshawar, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)



1. (S/NF) Summary. During May 1-3, the Pakistani army secured a
key road in Buner and made preparations to move into Shangla and
Swat. The government of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP)
announced the establishment of the Darul Qaza (appellate court)
for the Malakand Division, as required by the recently-signed
Nizam-e-Adl Regulation (NAR); Maulana Sufi Mohammed rejected the
legitimacy of the new court, claiming that he had not been
sufficiently consulted. In Swat, the TTP announced May 3 that
it no longer considered itself bound by the Swat peace agreement
and began to occupy and fortify key buildings May 3-4.
Government operations continued in Dir amid growing reports of
looting of banks and other violence that may be tied to criminal
gangs as well as militants. New militant attacks took place
over the weekend in Mohmand and Bajaur tribal agencies. IDPs
continue to leave Buner and are expressing frustration at the
inadequacy of government preparations for their arrival. The
violence in Dir, Bajaur, and Mohmand underscores the continuing
challenge that Pakistani security forces face in trying to clear
as well as hold territory. End summary.

BUNER OPERATION CONTINUES AGAINST HEAVY RESISTANCE
-------------- --------------

2. (SBU) Pakistani security forces announced on May 3 that they
had secured the road between Mardan and Daggar (Buner's district
headquarters) after facing heavy resistance from taliban
elements in the area of Ambela. Operational commander Frontier
Corps Brigadier General Fayyaz Mehmood Qamar claimed in a press
conference that 80 militants had been killed over the course of
the operation, including 27 suicide attackers and a top taliban
commander for Buner district; Qamar further claimed that large
numbers of Uzbeks militants had strengthened the taliban forces.
The 11th Corps LNO noted that the operation linked up Pakistani
airborne forces, which had been inserted into Daggar by
helicopter on May 1, with the rest of the Pakistani ground
forces. Qamar noted that militants remain in Pir Baba, Shempeli

and Suleman Bakhsh and that operations are ongoing.


3. (S/NF) According to Special Operations Command-Forward
(SOC-FWD),Frontier Corps has begun to secure lower Shangla
district (east of Swat) and establish a headquarters in Alipura,
the district capital, in preparation for operations in Swat.

DARUL QAZA ANNOUNCED BY ANP; REBUTTED BY TNSM
--------------

4. (SBU) On the morning of May 2, NWFP Information Minister Mian
Iftikhar announced that the NWFP government had established
Darul Qaza (appellate courts) in Malakand Division. Iftikhar
noted that the NWFP government had named two additional Peshawar
High Court judges, Mohiuddin and Ziauddin Khattak, as the Qazis
who will preside over the Darul Qaza. Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e
Mohammadi (TNSM) leader Mualana Sufi Mohammed, who had earlier
proposed three other names for the positions, responded publicly
on May 3 that the TNSM had not agreed to the changes and that he
did not consider the established court as valid.

TTP RENOUNCES PEACE ACCORD; SWAT SECURITY DETERIORATES
-------------- --------------

5. (SBU) According to press reports and Consulate Peshawar
contacts in Swat, taliban over the weekend looted district
government buildings and hotels in Mingora and Saidu Sharif.
Militants also attacked police checkpoints in Khwazakhela on May
1 and near Mingora on May 2, abducted and beheaded two police
officials on May 2 and abducted four other police officials in
villages in Swat on the same day, and destroyed vehicles
carrying army supplies in Khwazakhela on May 3. A 100-member
jirga from Swat met May 1 in Peshawar with Swat Awami National
Party (ANP) leader Afzal Khan Lala and called for governemnt
action to suppress the militants in Swat.


6. (C) Tehreek e-Taliban Swat spokesman Muslim Khan, speaking to
the press May 3, called the Swat peace accord "practically
dissolved" as a result of ongoing Pakistani military operations
in Buner and Dir. The NWFP government has not officially
responded to this announcement to date. According to Consulate
Peshawar contacts in Swat, militants occupied and began to
fortify key buildings in Mingora during the night of May 3-4.
Armed militants have been patrolling the area openly since May

3. Taliban also attacked the power station outside of Mingora
on May 3, partially destroying it and cutting electricity to
Mingora and surrounding areas.

LOWER DIR STILL RESTIVE
--------------

7. (SBU) According to press reporting, Pakistani military
operations continued in Lower Dir on May 2-3, with heavy
casualties reported during a day-long battle in the area of
Maidan. Armed persons looted banks in Timergara, Chakdara, and
other areas of Lower Dir in the wake of operations there. One
Consulate contact from Lower Dir commented that the district was
in "trouble" and he had evacuated his family from the area. In
response, the NWFP government has announced a curfew throughout
Lower Dir, but enforcement is questionable.

CLASHES IN BAJAUR AND MOHMAND
--------------

8. (SBU) According to press reporting, on the evening of May 1,
approximately 100 militants attacked a Frontier Corps checkpoint
in northwestern Mohmand Agency near the Afghanistan border.
Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, claimed to have
killed 16 militants. In Bajaur Agency, a taliban attack on
Pashat, the Salarzai tehsil headquarters, led to a day-long
clash between a local lashkar and taliban elements. With
assistance from security forces, the lashkar killed four
militants.

IDPs
--------------

9. (SBU) Refugees continued to leave Buner, Dir, and Swat but an
accurate count remains elusive. According to the Commisioner
for Afghan Refugees (CAR),44 families have been registered at
Jalala camp in Mardan; capacity remains for another 350 to be
registered at that camp. In Sheikh Shahzad camp in Mardan, 16
families have been registered, but another 350 families could be
accomodated. In Yar Hussein Camp in Swabi, 300 families have
been registered but capacity remains for another 400 families.
A local NGO representative in lower Buner estimated that tens of
thousands of refugees from Buner were along the highways and in
camps; many, however, refused to stay at the camps and had found
lodging with relatives in Swabi and Mardan.


10. (SBU) Primary complaints of those refugees refusing lodging
in the camps included lack of facilities and communal living
situations in multi-family tents that are "incompatible with
Pashtun values." According to the NWFP Social Welfare
department, approximately 400-500 families are living outside of
camps. According to UNESCO, in Dir approximately 500 displaced
families are residing in four "spontaneous" camps, in
institutions in and around Timergara. (Note: Further details
reported septel.)


TRACY