DAR AL ISLAM-PAKISTAN: MUSHARRAF WILL HANG TO DEATH

Pro-Taliban militants vow to 'hang Musharraf to death'

Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan have threatened to avenge the deaths of their comrades and kill the country's president Pervez Musharraf.

A report in the Asian Age newspaper quoted a Taliban spokesman who said the militants were not ready to forgive Musharraf and will "hang him to death shortly".

"He cannot be forgiven as he has ruthlessly bombed thousands of innocent Pakistanis and mujahideen (holy warriors) at the behest of America," said the spokesman of the group known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi Umer.

"The nation cannot forget the massacre of thousands of religious students along with their teachers at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in the federal capital," he said, referring to the seige of the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad in which at least 100 people were killed last July.

"Thousands of people have been killed in tribal areas and in the settled parts (of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province) under the pretext of the American-sponsored so-called war against terrorism," he said.

"The list, carrying the sins of Musharraf, is so long that he deserves to be hanged. Musharraf being the powerful person till yesterday has turned out to be the weakest person today, and the change has occurred with the blessing of Allah Almighty."

"The day is not far when Musharraf would be hanged to death," Maulvi Umer was quoted as saying by a local Urdu-language newspaper in Pakistan.

He said Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was optimistic about the outcome of impending peace talks between militants and the government. On the other hand, he said Peshawar and Islamabad have reached a consensus to constitute two separate jirgas, one each for the tribal areas and the settled areas, for negotiations with the Islamic militia.

"The shura (council) of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan met a few days back (at an undisclosed location), and welcomed the new government’s offer to settle the ongoing bloodshed in tribal as well as settled areas through negotiations," he was quoted as saying.

"Taliban Amir Baitullah Mehsud is looking forward to the future peace process," said the Tehrik-e-Taliban spokesperson.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Pro-Taliban militants vow to 'hang Musharraf to death'