Gunmen kill ‘peace broker’ Mirajuddin


Afp May 20, 2010

PESHAWAR: Gunmen on Thursday shot dead a former pro-Taliban lawmaker who was instrumental in brokering several peace deals between the government and militants, officials said.

The killing took place in a village near the town of Tank, which borders South Waziristan - the tribal district where the military last October launched an air and ground offensive to flush out Taliban militants. “Maulana Mirajuddin was on his way home after saying his morning prayers when two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on him,” district police officer Ejaz Abid told AFP. Mirajuddin received multiple bullet wounds and died before he could be taken to hospital, he added.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the incident, but said nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the killing. Mirajuddin was a central leader of the Jamiatul Ulema-e- Islam (JUI-F) and a former member of Pakistan’s lower house of parliament. He was instrumental in helping to broker a peace deal in South Waziristan in 2005 between the government and the founder of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US missile attack last August.

He also sat on a committee which held negotiations with Mehsud in 2007, which led to a ceasefire in South Waziristan. Pakistan’s military is fighting against militants across much of its semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington the most dangerous place on Earth. Washington believes militant safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal belt must be eliminated if al Qaeda is to be defeated and the nearly nine-year war against the Taliban brought to an end in Afghanistan.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 21st, 2010.

COMMENTS (2)

KM | 13 years ago | Reply How can you be so sure that these so called Talibans are NOT sponsored? How can you be so sure that this deal maker was NOT killed by the third party who doesnt want the defected to come to the straight path?? Please think ...
Rashid Saleem | 13 years ago | Reply An example of the hypocrisy in the Taliban group. You just cannot trust these demented souls. I wonder if there are people who still advocate that the operation against such hostile people was unnecessary.
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ