PAKISTAN’S army chief yesterday appealed to a Taliban-linked clan to support the offensive against them.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s letter – dropped as leaflets from the air in South Waziristan – was addressed to the Mehsud tribe, whose members fill the top ranks of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Taliban have killed hundreds of tribal elders throughout the Afghan border region to undermine the age-old system there and solidify control.
Loyalties run deep among tribesmen, and codes of honour prevent them from informing on each other.
Gen Kayani described the Mehsuds as courageous, loyal Pakistanis, urging them to “rise collectively” against militants in their midst.
The army has also struck deals to keep two powerful, anti-western tribal chiefs from joining the battle.
Tribal leaders Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur will stay out of the fight in parts of South Waziristan controlled by the Pakistani Taliban. They will also allow the army to move through their own lands unimpeded, giving them additional fronts from which to attack the Taliban.
In exchange, the army will ease patrols and bombings in their lands. South Waziristan is also a major sanctuary and training ground for al Qaida. Its mountains have been under near-total militant control for years and are considered a probable hiding place for Osama bin Laden.
In Pakistan’s capital, meanwhile, two suicide attackers bombed an Islamic university yesterday, killing two people and wounding 20 others.
No group claimed responsibility for the Islamabad attack, which followed a surge in assaults by militants.
The first blast was in the cafe, the second in the Islamic law department. The International Islamic University was established in the 80s. Its sprawling campus has over 12,000 students, nearly half of them women. Many of the students come from abroad. Most take Islamic studies of some description.