Operasjonen ved byen Wana i Sør-Waziristan har kjørt seg fast på grunn av tap, trusler fra andre stammer og klaner om å slutte seg til motstanden, og en fatwa fra Pakistans 70 mest fremstående skriftlærde.

In a significant development on Sunday, 70 of the country’s most popular religious clerics, in a religious ruling issued from the federal capital Islamabad, called the Wana operation (Wana is the headquarters of South Waziristan agency) an «unjustified war» by the Pakistan army on their Muslim brothers. The clerics said that since the war had been unleashed on the mujahideen in support of the US cause in the region, anyone who died resisting the Pakistani forces would be a martyr, and any Pakistani soldiers killed would die «Motul Haram» – in other words, they would go to hell. The ruling also prohibits funeral prayers for soldiers killed in the conflict.

This declaration gives supporters of al-Qaeda in Pakistan even stronger reason to wage both political and guerrilla wars against the Pakistani authorities. The ruling is a major setback for the Pakistani ruling class, and even information minister Sheikh Rasheed, who is famous for his outspoken nature, has refused to comment.

Det som ikke skulle bli et nytt Tora Bora ser dermed ut til å ha blitt det. Ayman al-Zawahiri eller hvem det nå var som skjulte seg, skal ha unnsluppet via et hemmelig tunnelnettverk, heter det. Det ville være underlig om ikke myndighetene hadde fått greie på en slik fluktmulighet. Men det er en hendig unnskyldning for at det heller ikke lyktes å ta lederne denne gang. Det er heller ikke så lett for USA å kritisere Musharraf: Han får kjeft nok lell.

The Wana operation now has the potential to give liberal political groups as well as religious groups the opportunity to jump onto the anti-government bandwagon, and even to accentuate splits within the establishment.

What began, therefore, as an operation to force al-Qaeda and the Afghan resistance from their base in Shawal – a no man’s land on both sides of the border – where they are in protection of the Data Khali and Mada Khail tribes (not Zaka Khail as this scribe mentioned in a recent report) is rapidly escalating into a major crisis for the whole country.

kilde: More fuel to Pakistan’s simmering fire
By Syed Saleem Shahzad i Asia Times.