Taliban open court in GB sends shockwaves in Pak

Aasha Khosa/New Delhi

Taliban Commander Habibur Rehman had escaped from a jail in Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan occupied Kashmir three years after he had killed 10 foreign tourists who were on an expedition to Nanga Parvat in 2013.

Habibur Rehman had escaped along with one of his accomplices in the mass murder case.

On June 7, ‘Commander’ Habibur Rehman was back in Gilgit as he held an open Islamic court at Babsar polo ground of Diamer tehsil. The commander, who told the journalist interviewing him that he was the Niab-Sadr (deputy chief) of the Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan for Taliban and also paraded four of his deputies all holding Kalashnikovs.

The commander read from a written text and said his job was to impose Islamic rule and to ensure everyone followed it religiously.

As the video of a local journalist interviewing the Commander went viral on social media, the was palpable tension in Pakistan about the resurgence of this group that had once ruled the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was shared on social media by both Indian and Pakistani:

Commander Habib ur Rehman, second in command of Taliban in Gilgit-Baltistan holds an open katchery. And @ImranKhanPTI wants tourism in Gilgit Baltistan. Tourism doesn’t happen just because area is beautiful. Tourists need to return home, alive. These are basic hygiene issues. pic.twitter.com/iDE2xTi0Kc

— Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) July 8, 2021

“His coming back and holding an open court is a piece of alarming news for Pakistan,’ Cheema, a familiar face on the Indian Television debates said.

Perves Hoodbhouy, an academician said there is no difference in the ideology of the Afghan Taliban and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and only their enemies are different.

He says this video clip has reminded him of the total control of the Taliban in the Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa till 2017 when women were targeted for attending schools and the group killed those defying them with impunity.

Another journalist on the show said he was witness to the flogging and killings by Taliban in Swat where a roundabout has since been named as “khooni chowk.” It’s the place where the Taliban dumped the bodies of their victims.

The journalists and analysts generally felt that the Pakistani government has lost control on the Taliban in Afghanistan and it was not possible to ‘get the strategic depth that Pakistani’s ISI and Army had once targeted in supporting the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani analysts are suspicious of India’s growing links with the Taliban. Citing the presence of India’s external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar (who was meeting his counterpart and the President-designate) when the Taliban delegation was there, the commentrators said Pakistan could be in for a troubled period.

Earlier Pakistan’s National security advisor Moeed Yusuf t presented a grim picture of the Afghan situation to the elected parliamentarians warning that the negative fallout of the civil war in the neighbouring country may result in the Taliban fighters slipping into Pakistan as refugees.

Both the FM and the NSA gave a detailed briefing to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, headed by Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman. The meeting was convened to discuss the current Afghan situation. Initially, the foreign minister wanted the briefing to be in-camera, citing sensitivity of the issue but the committee chairperson rejected his demand.

The NSA briefed the committee as a special invitee. Moeed sounded pessimistic about the prospects of peace in Afghanistan. “The situation is bad and out of Pakistan’s control.”