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‘Registering with Taliban can save your neck’

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: A person can escape being executed by the Taliban through registering for “jihad in Afghanistan” at the militant’s recruiting office in South Waziristan, a senior tribal elder told Daily Times on Friday.

“You have to register yourself if you want to live. It does make a difference when you are enrolled with the Taliban,” said the elder, in Peshawar to attend Wednesday’s jirga with President Pervez Musharraf. He spoke on condition of anonymity to escape reprisals from the Taliban as well as the political administration.

The Taliban think of anyone not with them as against them, so the safest course is to register with them and stay silent, he said. “Registration makes the militants believe you are with them,” said the elder. Military movement is restricted and a weekly convoy brings reinforcement to Wana where elders take a huge risk by visiting the administration, said the elder. “We even fear that the militants might have bugged our phones.”

He added that the government’s peace deal with former militants in late 2004 strengthened the Taliban in South Waziristan. “The Taliban have opened recruiting offices in Wana, Makeen and Barwend areas and are influential because they are providing residents the relief that the political administration denies,” he said. He added that clerics were replacing chieftains in all committees and the government “appears to be happy with changing situation” in South Waziristan.

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