Karachi (AsiaNews) – Leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have warned that their boys and girls aged 10 to 20 are ready for a “Jihad against the infidels.” Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Anayat Kalley, a few kilometres from the headquarters of the Bajaur Agency, a tribal area near the Afghan border, Tehrik’s deputy chief Maulana Faqir Mohammad and spokesman Maulvi Omar said that “a ‘fidayeen squad’(suicide bomber squad) comprising 10- to 20-year-old boys and girls, was ready to carry out attacks if the government did not immediately stop its operations in the Swat Valley and reverse its decision to launch military operation in other tribal areas. In the meantime arrangements have been made to effectively wage a “Jihad against the infidels”.
Maulvi Omar said that Tehrik’s chief, Baitullah Mehsud, held consultations with key Taliban commanders and they agreed that the only way to effectively counter the government’s plans was to launch massive terror attacks.
Suicide attacks involving minors are set for Peshawar, Mardan, Dir and other sensitive districts.
The spokesman said Taliban had set up modern anti-aircraft and missile systems at their checkpoints along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to avert any threat of incursion into fundamentalist areas by NATO and the Afghan National Army.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan also warned Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain to “immediately end his kingdom in Karachi”, saying the time was ripe for the Taliban to gain control of the city.
“This is a final warning for Altaf Hussain to cease his statements against the Taliban and end his kingdom in Karachi, otherwise we will launch attacks against the MQM,” the Taliban warned.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders did not wait long to respond, accusing the Taliban of plotting to “spread ethnic and sectarian violence” with a variety of weapons, adding that it was prepared to counter the enemy threat.
The Movement’s leaders called on the government to act against the “Talibanisation” of the North-West Frontier Province and find out who is supplying the Taliban with weapons and funds.
.jpg)
