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10/1/2007 - The Middleman: Maulana Fazlur Rahman is considered the godfather of Mullah Omar’s Taliban. So why is the new generation of Taliban in Pakistan trying to kill him? by Nicholas Schmidle

The Middleman Maulana Fazlur Rahman considered godfather Mullah Omar Taliban So eration Taliban Pakistan trying By Nicholas Schmidle Portions article previously appeared New York Times January OctOber MAULANA FAZLUR RAHMAN GRIPPED A SWORD hands raised before fervent Islamist supporters steamy summer night Lahore The crowd chanted Islamic Revolution Rah thick colored beard signature orange turban finally sword approached podium pounds Friends America traitors voice boomed crowd roared approval Go America Pakistan Rahman Islamist feared He heads political party control Pakistan provinces election More Islamic seminaries profess political allegiance Thousands Taliban riors later fought against United States first imbibed radical theol Rahman madrassas His black white striped flies minarets antennas throughout North West Frontier Province western Pakistan And later Rahman struggling maintain empire fundamentalists The regarded godfather Mullah Omar Taliban having crisis mullah style global consequences Suddenly Rahman radical enough generation Taliban wreaking havoc Pakistan The second generation jihadis threaten hijack Rahman Islamist movement western Pakistan And trying Rahman proud admit losing touch Taliban militants hiding North West Frontier Province Federally Administered Tribal Areas where according summer National Intelligence Estimate Qaeda regroupe planning attack American homeland But close friends Rahman hometown Dera Ismail Khan reserved The gious forces divided right Abdul Hakim Akbari childhood friend Rahman lifelong member party Jamiat Ulema Islam JUI Everyone afraid These mujahideen respect anyone anymore They listen other And Maulana Fazlur Rahman hurdle their ambitions Last April rocket whistled sugarcane fields distance Rahman house before crashing veranda brother A months later Pakistani intelligence agencies discovered drafted Afghan Pakistani Taliban Rahman The Maulana moderate He wants dialogue Akbari spoke Pashto through translator But these mujahideen become extreme Rahman seemed ready introduce Taliban style Pakistan Now trying If succeed anyone RAHMAN GREW UP IN ABDUL KHEL ACONSERVATIVE PASHTUN VILLAGE North West Frontier Province surrounded dunes palms It place where women already covered burqas their backs oncoming modesty Rahman father Mufti Mehmood eight children wives Mehmood JUI begin early 1950s The party leaders mullahs demanded Pakistan Islamic state They spread their message lower class Pashtuns North West Frontier Province which remains their political Though Rahman oldest Mehmood discouraged entering politics He politics would disturb studies Rahman together drawing Dera Is Khan Halogen spotlights dotted ceiling brown leather couches lined walls Rahman striped waistco shalwar kameez The smelled strong cologne I asked considered another Never I religious family speaking Pashto And expected I would follow father Mehm blazed entangled destinies Afghanistan Pakistan United States which ultimately opened terrorist tacks September In helped start Afghanistan jihad issuing fatwa against Soviet backed communist government Kabul But later Mehmood obese diabetes tient heart attack Rahman suffers diabetes An emotional madrassa student scant political experience Rahman inherited JUI father jihadi enterprise Soon after Rahman spent three years opposing Pakistan pious ruthless military dictator General Zia Haq He worked cultivating pragmatic playing power politics Islamabad Rah joined establishment before Taliban Afghanistan In Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto named Chairman Na tional Assembly Standing Committee Foreign Affairs enabled influence foreign policy first writes Ahmed Rashid bestselling Taliban Many Taliban graduated madrassas aligned party Rahman referred He believes particularly Taliban later years having moderating influence Mullah Omar Perhaps years countries Pakistan Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates would recognized Omar regime They should given Rahman Rahman links Taliban brought Qaeda In shortly after American cruise missiles slammed Qaeda training Afghanistan Rahman issued fatwa Osama Laden killed U S missile strike Muslims obliged American found When I asked about Rahman denied proper NES fatwa You people think anyone beard anything giving fatwa Rahman He claims simply making descriptive statement moral binding Rahman revels ambiguity makes effective politician I American should killed I American would Laden killed Today creating problems world tomorrow these problems Rahman switched Pashto halting English oozing vindication This wasjust political vision I replied coming someone shoes political vision Americans being killed could easily mistaken terrorist threat That depends In other America decide whether terrorist prescient politician Did about prove correct I about situation prove correct I person I Less after Taliban government Kabul Rahman formed coalition Islamist parties along urban radical Jamaat Islami contest elections Their campaign slogan Taliban American spiked promises implement sharia Islamic The alliance known Muttahida Majles Amal MMA percent popular nationwide highest Islamist party Pakistan It earned chance govern Baluchistan North West Fron Province provinces bordering Afghanistan Foreign domestic critics MMA feared group would Talibanize provinces There image because Afghanist Rahman He sought correct image And October invited group foreign diplomats journalists NGO leaders press conference Marriott Hotel Islamabad I remove these misperceptions plain extremists renounced violence The press conference illustrated Rahman pragma evolution mainstream politician Pakistan But excessive politicking pandering foreigners began tarnish image minds conservative militant oftentimes illiterate supporters A distance between Rahman Was abandoning jihadis jihadis abandoning THE SOUND OF AN EXPLOSION punctured otherwise pleasant evening I sitting under mango drinking Southern Comfort group INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS friends including level intelligence officer I Arif It first night Dera Ismail Khan Rahman hometown While blast jerked upright seemed bothered Locals gotten bangs booms The previous night Taliban bombed music store bazaar The sound I heard explosion small grenade targeting owner cable TV service President Pervez Musharraf government increasingly frequent bombings evidence Tal ibanization creeping Afghanistan border The Taliban conducted terrorism typically falls categories attacks Pakistani security forces bombings stores selling Islamic CDs cable TV operators massage parlors other locales Taliban consider havens A newspaper editor Dera Ismail Khan showed letter received signed Taliban warning print anything defamed Taliban They threatened comply Ninety eight percent threats attacks settling scores Arif intelligence agent The Pakistani Taliban unified hierarchical organization added sipping drink The threatening letters shopkeepers newspaper editors proved Each signed different Taliban faction The Pakistani Taliban loose collection gangs working under Taliban franchise Arif bandit criminal could beard black turban himself Taliban impunity The militants Frontier government anything against someone wearing black turban Arif Rahman Islamist colleagues North West Frontier Province Assem before resigned October could afford jeopardize their political standing throwing Taliban After campaigned Taliban Afghanistan How could arrest Taliban Pakistan Rahman resents allegation facilitated Taliban He doesn pretend liberal prides himself constitutionalist democrat He wants Pakistan become truly Islamic state But moral vigilantism proliferation Taliban spired militias imagined happening My demands limited Constitution regarding formulation implemen tation Islamic If change constitution majority parliament But takes political struggle armed majority We politicians constituencies votes election If there going He added brief moment candor But afraid young fighting While Taliban behind political cover vided Rahman party tolerate anyone thinks Hamid Khan computer store Dera Ismail Khan nephew JUI ormer finance secretary I Khan store where sells bootlegged software computer games educational DVDs Islamic CDs Except about jihad Khan I spoke Urdu Earlier summer Khan received stamped signed letters Taliban He necessarily threats selling XXX DVDs store because Dera Ismail Khan these everybody But letter warned Khan uncle Don think spared because nephew JUI leader Letters Khan suggest Rahman JUI longer toughest Islamists block But insurrection Red Mosque Islamabad summer fully exposed divide between Taliban leaders yesterday those today In January Abdul Rashid Ghazi brother leaders Red Mosque launched Taliban inspired movement country capital They kidnapped brothel police officers finally seven Chinese masseuses They torched bonfire CDs DVDs demanded Musharraf implement sharia Defenders paced walls mosque holding sharpened garden tools Rahman tried brothers their reckless adventure influence inside mosque limited They simply beyond confessed Imran Khan political chief The Movement Justice Party Ghazi entourage Islamic militants fought against state security forces early July The rebellion however occurred preceding months Ghazi brother flouted efforts ulema Traditionally religious scholars wielded authority jihadis Yet JUI criticized Ghazi kidnapping tactics After examination board responsible madrassas Pakistan cancelled istration Ghazi seminaries affect Finally Mufti Taqi Usmani scholar immense repute acted spiritual guide Ghazi brother disowned former disciple Back April I asked Ghazi entire guard against looked amused worried Everywhere youngsters rejecting because people change They rigid Before commandos killed July Ghazi promised government assault Red Mosque would blessing mujahideen His martyr would further invigorate jihadis expedite Islamic Revolution Pakistan Since death soldiers policemen suicide blasts fights against Taliban jihadis South Waziristan kidnapped still holding soldiers In Taliban produced DVD circulating around Dera Ismail Khan young teenager soldiers three adolescent peers chant Allahu Akbar ground The tribal agencies Bajaur North Waziristan South Waziristan settled district Swat essentially Taliban ruled enclaves But Imran Khan politician disputes government claim violence manifestation Talibaniza Remember while Taliban power Afghanistan there Talibanization Tribal Areas Today about politics That people allegiance Taliban Many people living border think Pakistani Army being mercenary force United States Anyone wants fight Pakistani Army fight alongside Taliban Maybe Pakistani Taliban fight politics revenge Islam country Rahman slipping Or maybe because Taliban longer strictly product Rahman madrassas scapegoat explaining militant Islam A jihadi studies madrassa affiliated Rahman party likely within Rahman orbit influence The Red Mosque Ghazi example never studied madrassa He secular univer sities studied English M A International Relations The death father Ghazi blamed Pakistani intelligence services later American invasion Afghanistan radicalized legions others Before suicide bombs beheadings unheard Pakistan During weeks Oc tober suicide bombers Karachi Swat Rawalpindi killed people The American occupation Afghanistan unwittingly infused contemporary Pakistani society jihadi impulse becoming radical every Tayyab former Taliban fighter Dera Ismail Khan He Abdul Hakim Akbari Rahman childhood friend I Tayyab eveni during month Ramadan broke ritual dates samosas spicy chick Later Tayyab showed thumb sized chest bullet wound received while fighting alongside Taliban against Northern Alliance Bagram Afghanistan He fetched album pictures Taliban friends posing photo booth Kandahar One picture Tayyab killed American strike I asked friends training Taliban Qaeda camps nearby South Waziristan Plenty replied speaking through interpreter Pashto But Tayyab desire himself Why training fight their people Afghanistan occupied foreign country where jihad allowed NES Tayyab author standing front Mufti Mehmood grave Abdul Khel Rahman ancestral village But Pakistan jihad I asked friends It doesn matter Tayyab They brainwashed listen Islamic arguments A later I Rahman asked tribal revenge fighting against could classified jihad People always label according their thinking How label Rahman paused You should questions cagily He looked wishing another question I pressed Why shouldn I Because answer create problems We ulema still debating topic whether jihad Rahman another breath paused He He calculating speaker In these pauses I pictured imagining state would front newspaper But personally I believe jihad fighting It struggle And wherever struggle exceeds limits I against And still Taliban those might firing rockets house INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Definitely But because America policies extreme I trying bring mainstream We disagree mujahideen cause differ priorities They prefer fight I believe politics PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ARE AP PROACHING Pakistan their results could lustrate about where Rahman stands committed supporters Chaudhry Sharif JUI member Dera Ismail Khan thinks Rahman going problems drafting campaign strategy In election everything related Afghanistan innocent Afghans being killed Sharif But answer people What happened country Since MMAtook power North West Frontier Province terrorist attacks killed hundreds civilians Neither Rahman colleagues condemned Pakistan secular media argues silence implies support attacks But credibility already jihadi circles Rahman other choice condemns Taliban commits political suicide Campaigning security issues amount toothless strategy implementing sharia Other Islamists young renegade cleric Swat Valley named Maulana Fazlullah snatched slogan From until recently Fazlullah headed Movement Implement Sharia known Urdu acronym TNSM But Fazlullah militia freelance Twice delivers radio address broadcast thousands people Swat illegal station He preaches about virtues sharia female education honor jihad Taliban People Maulana Fazlullah working grassroots level Rahman But political people We deliver speech votes Fazlullah meanwhile Unless communities targets knowing strength until He suddenly surprised everyone Rahman In retaliation assault Red Mosque July Fazlullah militiamen suicide bombers launched attacks convoys police stations throughout Swat Valley And friend Abdul Rashid Ghazi Fazlullah promises another challenge traditional order religious scholars politicians When I asked Rahman control Fazlullah negotiating efforts JUI leader there Qari Abdul Bais saving Fazlullah Pakistani Army going But I Bais septuagenarian seemed humble estimation Fazlullah He totally contro MOHAMMAD SHER WAS THE THIRD final criminal scale steps wooden platform supported barrels erected Fazlullah This where performed public punishments Sher teens He others accused aiding kidnappers Fazlullah mujahideen caught kidnappers transporting women Swat The Taliban women arrested everyone involved crime Sher among Now looked might collapse wobbling hundreds heavily armed Taliban spread around Another Swat sitting picnic blankets waited Sher receive lashes appropriate Islamic sentence according Fazlullah Sher platform Taliban wouldn around Another jihadi clutching thick leather roughly inches camouflage shalwar kameez Every crashed Sher crowd called corresponding number lashes count final seconds basketball Sher convulsed under crack finally stood shaking tears This punishment permitted Islam announced Fazlullah deputies PA system fixed flatbed truck parked beside platform Besides three criminals lashed dozen militants stood platform holding Kalashnikovs rocket launchers I Taliban fighters wherever I looked One stomach nearby lined behind sights automatic machine Everyone Fazlullah decision hands blatant provocation government militants repel sudden ambush Pakistani Army paramili forces deputy PA system people lashings accorded Islamic Even there central Islamic government these punishments permitted parts country contributes maintaining peace deputy explained speaking Pashto We intention occupy government political authority This peace security Fazlullah sprawling mosque madrassa compound village Imam Dehri located across river Mingora Swat The entire Swat Valley surrounded mountains blanketed forests The Swat River pours peaks Hindu Kush Mountains meanders through nourishing apple persimmon orchards During summer thousands tourists flock break humidity choking lowlands When I visited Swat June still weeks before Red Mosque operation began I trouble getting clusive Serena Hotel By I returned Octobe I guest Almost immediately after arriving Mingora second around I At hundreds Taliban trucks pointing weapons ordering motorists remove decks their Fazlullah Taliban predecessors Afghanistan deems music anything plays music Islamic The Friday I Imam Dehri where I commander Fazlullah militia named Sirajuddin Fazlullah appeared briefly gesture hospitality observing aitakaaf meditation period lasts Ramadan To Mingora Imam Dehri Pashto translator I boarded small carriage attached Six other people piled Someone light moving soared Swat River Sirajuddin waited other He Rupees rough mingling crowd Fazlullah supporters The PA system outside blasted recorded jihadi poems while Taliban walked freely assault rifles slung their shoulders We struggling enforcement sharia Sirajuddin inside brick doubled office Twice government committed enforcing sharia NES never The people Islam He added We Muslims legal system based English The objective patrols replace English system Islamic Four Taliban watching intent I asked named Abdul Ghafoor fighting Islam Revenge This personal revenge religious obligation speaking through interpreter Ghafoor crouched stool Kalashnikov resting He beard black turban munition stuffed extra banana clips pistol Reebok Velcro strap L A Lak color scheme white yellow purple Messages crackled walkie talkie attached collar The Taliban coordinating their movements Later Ghafoor I walked Sirajuddin platform where Mohammad Sher accomplices lashed Ghafoor about background He recently graduated Peshawar University Master degree Islamic Theology He earned living schoolteacher In 1990s fought alongside Taliban against Northern Alliance Afghani fight Americans There Swat Every after school holidays Ghafoor grabs joins Fazlullah After lashings thousands people lined carriage across river again To avoid having Ghafoor pointed Mingora another through cluster villages loyal Fazlullah On I asked Ghafoor thought about Maulana Fazlur Rahman He party deceived public votes Islam Ghafoor Ghafoor voted MMA hoping would enforce sharia promised But Maulana Fazlur Rahman implement Islamic system within himself Gha He photographed women which against principles Islam And failed resolve Jamia Hafsa crisis He couldn protect innocent people We gotten SUV single lined fields cauliflower apricot orchards persimmon trees their tipped bright orange fruit We passed through village brick homes walls someone chalked Shariat Shahadat Islamic Law Martyrdom I never MMA again totally boycott election Ghafoor Democracy added Islamic IF WE FORCE MUSHARRAF OUT change person whole setup Changing individual worth struggling Rahman during first meeting Dera Ismail Khan Right military establishment power There always another general ready Two weeks later I Peshawar ficial residence chief minister North West Frontier Province Akram Khan Durrani At Durrani across tendering resignation dissolving MMA government All members opposition parties planned resign masse before Musharraf election October If according Durrani government would exist election whole process would illegitimate But Rahman dragged Durrani resign until strategy failed The other leaders opposition parties derided Rah playing chameleon again But Rahman wanted options The ordeal Rahman relished somewhere middle Whether floating between Musharraf opposition government Taliban Rahman plays political vagabond Several analysts diplomats politicians Islam suspect might angling prime ministership again narrowly missed In recent meeting American Am bassador Anne Patterson Rahman Patterson urged electoral alliance Benazir Bhutto Musharraf I against confided But politi cally afford Plus Americans thought Bhutto could tackle Taliban simply baffled She strategy those areas nothing those people Another diplomat requesting anonymity called Rah INSTITUT E OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS manone sophisticated politiciansinPakistan WhenI askedhimifhis confidence Rahman wouldcontinue Rahman assumed likeprime minister thediplomat sounded cautious He Rahman would promote progressive social agenda continue fight War Terror West Plus added It would signal about direction Pakistan taking someone Fazlur Rahman become prime minister Sitting PVC furniture shade large chief minister sgarden Rahmanrubbedastrandofchunky orangeprayerbeads Wetalked about changing leadership borderlands Pakistan government maliks tribal elders killed local Taliban years Oftentimes Taliban dumped bodies written Pashto pinned corpse chest calling When jihad Afghanistan started maliks tribal system Afghanistan ended leadership arose based jihad Similarly Waziristan The tribal system being relegated background leadership composed these young militants emerged Rahman This something natural Though Rahman describes local Taliban evolutionary terms explains result leadership crisis Pakistan He respects secular minded people created Pakistan thinks social religious changes decades leaders irrelevant We adjust reality demands leaders visions I asked considered himself leader vision I consider myself someone extraordinary I feelings everyone current weather everyone feels everyone feels Rahman The difference between other people responsibilities He breath fresh continued rubbing prayer beads leaned chair That I careful because decisions people I trying bring people towards Institute Fellows chosen basis character vious experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows quired report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique porting analysis periodic assessment international events issues ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located Street NW Suite Washington D C 20016 The letters provided charge members ICWAand available libraries professional researchers Phone 4068Fax 0498E orgWeb Executive Director Steven Butler Administrative Assistant Bookkeeper Meera Shah Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foun dation The Information contained publication printed republished without express written consent Institute 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