Pakistani militants rip female leaders, U.S. ties

updated 11:22 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2007

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Some are al-Qaida, some are Taliban and others are homegrown. But all of Pakistan’s militants share a vision and unshakable beliefs that include a ban on a woman leading the nation and opposition to a close alliance with America.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto blamed al-Qaida and Taliban militants for Thursday’s deadly suicide bombing that killed scores in Karachi during a procession to mark her homecoming after eight years in self-imposed exile.

The attack came as Pakistan’s government is struggling to contain a rising Islamic militancy in the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border in northwestern Pakistan. Violence linked to militants has killed more than 1,000 people in a little over three months — most in the restive tribal belt on the border.

The self-declared standardbearers of Islam have also rampaged through the region bombing girls schools, threatening female teachers and even beheading two women they charged with prostitution. They have burned down music and CD shops and threatened barbers with violence if they trimmed beards. In some areas, they have even set up their own police forces.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has vacillated in the past between blistering military attacks on the militants and negotiating peace deals with them. The deals struck in 2005 and 2006 have been blamed for a reconstituted al-Qaida in the region and a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan.

Hard-liner anger against Musharraf surged this summer when the army raided a pro-Taliban mosque in Islamabad, leaving more than 100 people dead. Militants launched suicide bombings and other attacks in response, causing the government to deploy thousands of troops to the northwestern tribal regions.

Revenge attack
Militants contacted by The Associated Press in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province Friday called Thursday’s suicide attack revenge for the Pakistani military operations in the area and the support Bhutto and Musharraf have offered the United States in its fight against terrorism.

Mahmoud Al Hasan, a leader of Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, a militant group aligned to Pakistan’s religious Jamaat-e-Islami party, condemned the bombing because of the civilians who were killed, but attacked both Bhutto and Musharraf as “slaves” of the United States.

He castigated Bhutto for her comments against extremism and her recent statement that she would accept U.S. assistance in targeting Osama bin Laden if he is found on Pakistani territory.

“Benazir Bhutto was totally talking like an infidel. What should be the reaction of jihadis? They should definitely kill her. She is an enemy of Islam. She is an enemy of jihadis. She is an enemy of the country. This is the reaction,” said Al Hasan. “If it had killed only Benazir Bhutto then it would have been OK.”

A businessman in the northwestern city of Peshawar who finances militant groups said the attack against Bhutto was well-coordinated and planned. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested by authorities, said there are hundreds of would-be bombers in Pakistan who are ready to blow themselves up in such attacks.

He said they find sanctuary in the tribal regions along the Afghan border where like-minded tribesmen under the Taliban banner hold sway.

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