Faqir Mohammed
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Faqir Mohammed (born circa 1970 in Chopatra, in Bajaur Agency, Pakistan) is a member of the Mommand tribe whose house was raided by Pakistani security agencies hunting a "high value" al-Qaeda target in 2005. Public sympathy raised him into a position of leadership in the Bajaur Agency. His house was raided again on 22 January 2006, and three of his relatives were arrested. He is a wanted man due to suspected contacts with Taliban and Al-Queda militants.
Though not a tribal chief or elder, he has a security team and 15-20 followers. The local tribal administration does not dare arrest him. However, his house was burnt down by tribal elders as is custom. He was warned in January 2006 that failure to surrender to authorities would result in his house being burnt down again.
Until the age of 20, he was a student unknown for any militancy. He began his education studying in a local madrassa under Maulana Abdus Salam. His first jihad mentor was Maulana Sufi Mohammad.
Along with his two sons, he was a staunch activist of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws, and but were captured in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, and are now held in Dera Ismail Khan jail in southern Pakistan. However, he successfully fled back to Pakistan, where his knowledge of the territory has been useful to Al-Queda operatives.
For his part, Faqir Mohammed strongly denies any presence of al-Qaeda or Taliban leadership in the area and says, "According to Pashtun tradition we will definitely exact revenge on America. Ayman al-Zawahiri never came here but if he wanted to come, we will welcome him, and it will be a great pleasure for us to be his host" (Daily Jang, January 23, 2006). President Pervez Musharraf, however, is insistent that "al-Qaeda fighters were probably killed in a suspected CIA air strike that killed 18 civilians in Bajaur Agency earlier this month…now that we have started investigating the reality on the ground, yes we have found that there are foreigners there, that is for sure." (The Nation, January 25, 2006).[1]
He commented on another Bajaur airstrike which occurred in October 2006.
He has one wife.
[edit] References
- ^ Nasir, Sohail Abdul (February 9, 2006). Al-Zawahiri's Pakistani Ally: Profile of Maulana Faqir Mohammed. The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved on 30 October 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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