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Wazir tribesmen wary of Uzbek militants’ return to South Waziristan

* Afghan Taliban negotiating truce between Maulvi Nazir and pro-Uzbek foes

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Ahmedzai Wazir tribesmen were opposing a possible return of Uzbek militants to their former strongholds around Wana town in South Waziristan as Afghan Taliban leaders negotiated a truce between militia commander Maulvi Nazir and his pro-Uzbek foes, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

Maulvi Nazir took full control of Wana after he drove out foreign militants and their local supporters in a battle in March last year. “We have told Maulvi Nazir that even if he allows pro-Uzbek commanders back, Uzbek militants will not be welcomed because they were involved in murders of tribal elders,” said an elder who attended a meeting between Maulvi Nazir and Ahmedzai Wazir elders. The elder, who did not want to be identified, was talking to Daily Times by telephone from Wana.

Truce: He said the “Islamic Emirate” (Taliban) delegation’s meeting with Maulvi Nazir followed a visit by Wazir elders to Bakakhel (near Bannu) to talk to pro-Uzbek Wazir commanders.

Haji Javed, Maulvi Abbas, Haji Umar, Ghulam Jan and Nek Muhammad left Wazir areas after Uzbek militants were expelled from Wana and surrounding areas. The commanders backed the Uzbeks but could not withstand the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes’ military-backed onslaught. “Maulvi Nazir believes the commanders will have to swear allegiance to him if they want to return to native land,” a source said.

“We spent three days in Bakakhel to convince Abbas and Javed,” said the Wazir elder. “They said they will follow the Islamic Emirate’s decision, and the Emirate ultimately involved itself to bring these people back together.”

A source close to Maulvi Nazir told Daily Times that a three-member delegation of “the Islamic Emirate” was talking to Maulvi Nazir in Wana to broker a deal between him and pro-Uzbek commanders. He said the delegation members were “not known faces” and one of them was “speaking Pushto in Kandahari accent” suggesting he was from Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, the birthplace of Taliban.

Nazir was continuously updating Ahmedzai Wazir elders on the talks, the sources said. Taliban called Afghanistan the “Islamic Emirate” when they ruled the country. The name also began to refer to Waziristan when pro-Taliban tribal militants took almost full control of the area.

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