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Another case of Taliban, Pakistan Punjab-based ultras link

ISLAMABAD: In yet another development linking the Taliban with Punjab-based militant groups, a Polish engineer abducted by the Taliban is reported to have been executed after the government refused to their demand for the release of 135 militants, including four members of the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LJ).

The Dawn reported that the Taliban, who had kidnapped Piotr Stancza in September 2008, offered to release him on the condition that the government halted all military operations in the Darra Adamkhel area of the North West Frontier Province, a money pay out and the release of 135 militants.

Among them were four operatives of the LJ who are lodged in the Peshawar central jail. The LJ, is a banned Punjab-based group, and was recently named by the government for the attack on the Islamabad Marriott hotel.

Pakistan has always preferred to project the separateness of the Taliban from the Punjab-based groups, despite evidence that Punjabi militants are fighting alongside the Taliban in the tribal areas, and even in the North-West Frontier Province.

Last year, even NWFP Governor Owais Ghani had spoken of the growing links between the Taliban and Punjab-based militants.

The Taliban have released a seven-minute video said to show the beheading of Mr. Stancza, reportedly on Friday afternoon, two days after a deadline they set for the government to meet their demands. But there is no independent confirmation yet that he has been killed. The Taliban has refused to hand over his remains until their demands are met.

The Taliban is negotiating with the government through a former parliamentarian of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami, Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz. Interior Secretary Kamal Shah was also said to be involved in the negotiations. The government is said to have refused to release any member of the LJ.

Meanwhile, efforts are on to trace John Solecki, the American working for UNHCR in the Balochistan capital Quetta, who was abducted last week.

The Dawn reported that a previously unknown organisation, Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but the acronym, which sounds the same as “bluff”, raises suspicions about the organisation itself.

A man identifying himself as Mir Shakeel Baloch called a local journalist and said the group had kidnapped Mr. Solecki, who headed the UNHCR office in Quetta, to draw attention to the military operations and the alleged excesses by security forces against Blaoch civilians.

He demanded the release of 141 women from the custody of the security forces and the recovery of 6,000 missing people and the “resolution” of the Baloch demand for “independence”.

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