The British paper
The Telegraph is reporting that the peace treaty that Pakistan signed with the Taliban and tribal leaders in the Waziristan province was personally approved by
none other than Mullah Mohammed Omar, the head of the Taliban. This is the guy -- after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri -- most wanted by the United States. He has a
$10 million price on his head.
And yet our occasional ally Pakistan, which has cut and run from the war on terror, apparently cut a deal with him -- although the Pakistanis are denying it.
A FUGITIVE Taliban commander has emerged as the key player behind the movement's controversial peace deal with Pakistan.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader, who has a $US10 million ($A13 million) price on his head for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, signed a letter explicitly endorsing the truce announced this month.
Mullah Omar
Tribal elders in south Waziristan said Mullah Omar had sent one of his most trusted and feared commanders, Mullah Dadullah, to ask local militants to sign the truce.
Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter known for a fondness for beheading his enemies, is believed to be the man leading the campaign in southern Afghanistan.
"Had they been not asked by Mullah Omar, none of them were willing to sign an agreement," said Lateef Afridi, a tribal elder and former national assembly member. "This is no peace agreement. It is accepting Taliban rule in Pakistan's territory."
Mullah Dadullah is the Taliban's military commander. Back in May he was reported to have been arrested. Apparently Dadullah was not arrested, unless he's calling journalists from Gitmo.
Mullah Dadullah
Mullah Omar's role in the Sept 6 agreement in North Waziristan was first claimed by his top military commander Mullah Dadullah who called a senior journalist in Peshawar by satellite telephone earlier this month to tell him that he visited South Waziristan and North Waziristan tribal agencies three months ago and advised militants not to fight the Pakistani armed forces.
Pakistan's government says it is all a big lie.
"It is baseless, it is totally baseless," a foreign ministry spokesperson said about the reports appearing both at home and abroad amid accusations by critics that the government had given in to pro-Taliban militants to end military operations against fugitives from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and their local harbourers.