AP: A man who Duniya TV identifies as Maulvi Umar
First Baitullah Mehsud, then his close aide Qari Saifullah, now his spokesman Maulvi Umar. Judging by some accounts, the Tehreek-e-Taliban are dropping like flies. According to news agencies today, Pakistan’s Frontier Corps arrested Maulvi Umar in Mohmand Agency late Monday, along with two of his associates. The Associated Press quoted local administrator Javed Khan who said, “Maulvi Umar is in our custody, and he is being questioned.” The news agency added in its coverage, “…three intelligence officials said local tribal elders assisted troops in locating Omar in the village of Khawazeo. The officials… said Umar’s arrest would likely be publicly announced later Tuesday.”
Much like the Baitullah Mehsud “is he dead or not” controversy, though, news agencies are reporting rumors ahead of an official announcement, or prior to authorities presenting Maulvi Umar “before journalists.” The details are once again vague. Although the aforementioned local administrator affirmed the TTP spokesman was in their custody, Major Fazul Ul Rehman merely told the AFP, “A very, very important militant has been arrested.”
If Maulvi Umar is revealed to reporters later today, it will be the second arrest of a major Taliban militant in 24 hours. Yesterday, police officials said they had arrested a militant commander and close Mehsud aide who was being treated in a private hospital in Islamabad after a drone strike in South Waziristan. Dawn reported that Qari Saifullah, a mediator between Baitullah Mehsud’s TTP and Al Qaeda, “was staying in a house with Zaid Akram [an aide] and some ‘high-value’ targets for treatment of injuries he had received in a drone attack in Afghanistan or Waziristan last month.”
Again, the details are confusing. Why would a top militant commander, one who was on Pakistan’s most wanted list, come to the nation’s capital to be treated for his injuries? Like a lamb coming into the lion’s den, it reads as more than a little counterintuitive.
Meanwhile, the Baitullah Mehsud controversy continues. The death of the TTP commander has not been fully confirmed, though U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke told reporters yesterday, “The reason it’s clear he’s dead is that if he weren’t dead, he’d be giving TV and radio interviews to prove he’s not dead.” Last week, Maulvi Umar, the spokesman believed to have been arrested today, contested U.S. and Pakistani claims that Mehsud was dead, saying “he will speak to reporters when he feels better.” According to CNN, “DNA tests were reportedly being conducted to back up these claims [that he's dead], but U.S. officials have expressed doubt that enough genetic material would be left behind, considering the enormity of the strike.”
At least in Maulvi Umar’s case, authorities won’t have to deal with those pesky DNA issues to prove his arrest. According to BBC News, “Correspondents say that his arrest may provide key information about the Taliban’s recent operations and especially the mystery surrounding the status of Baitullah Mehsud.” Do you think his arrest will mark a major blow to the Taliban, or a more symbolic victory for the Pakistani military? Finally, should news agencies report stories until they’ve been fully confirmed?
UPDATE 1744 PST: A Pakistani intelligence official interrogating Maulvi Umar Tuesday said the spokesman acknowledged Baitullah Mehsud’s death. CHUP will provide more details as reports come in.
good riddance
The CS Monitor round-up today mentioned the arrest of Umar, but also discussed the Pakistan security forces’ handling of militants after the discovery of mass graves in the Swat Valley by a fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) over the weekend.
In an opinion piece for The News, a Pakistani daily, prominent Peshawar-based journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai writes:
There is a strong argument that Pakistani courts cannot be expected to punish the militants and could even bail them out. This may be partly true but it still cannot justify extrajudicial killings … because such actions violate the law and replicate the Taliban’s actions.
HRCP chairperson Asma Jehangir … in a press release noted …
“It is vital for the success of the military operation against terrorists that the security forces’ actions are distinguishable from the atrocities by the Taliban…. Human-rights violations by security forces can only be discouraged if the state puts in place a transparent mechanism to monitor violations both during and post-conflict and fulfil its obligations of providing justice through due process.”
In international law – the issue of militants often falls into a grey area, delving into the issue of militants being non-combatants or an army. Given the way that militants have killed innocent civilians in the past, do you think they are entitled to justice through due process?
[...] at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan informs that Maulvi Umar, the spokesman of the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been captured by [...]
[...] in Mohmand Agency late Monday, along with two of his associates. […] Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan al qaeda, baitullah mehsud, drone, dropping like flies, intelligence officials, islamabad, [...]
Nice post as always.
As far as reporting stories that are uncomfirmed I think its a gray-ish area. The news right now would be is that he is rumored to have been captured, or that the government is (with whichever story you consider) saying someone has been kidnapped or killed. If a rumor is reported as fact, than that is where the problem. I mean, something can’t be confirmed but are widely believed to be true the media has a responsibility to inform the public of the developments. What isn’t their responsibility is to report a rumor as a fact. It is how one phrases the news. Syntax is essential.
A major problem with reporting these rumors or uncomfirmed stories is that the media can end up just being a propaganda tool for a state or militant group. For instance, if Athar Abbas and Holbrooke want the public and militants alike to think Mehsud is dead, others are dropping flies and commanders are being arrested it throws a major wrench into taliban plans. They will wonder what their arrested comrades etc are giving up to the police etc etc. Anyway this is where the reporters have to go beyond what they are being fed by official sources and have to work towards finding other ways to lend credibility to a rumor. I fear that a lot of the news agencies aren’t or can’t go the extra mile so when they are thrown stories like these they jump on them without spending more time and resources to investigate them. Again, they also don’t want to be the only organization which didn’t report it, but when they are right they become the only ones who didn’t report something for the right reasons! So I think its a gray area as are most ethics in journalism.
When it comes to these arrests or deatgs being major blows one could argue either way. Symbolic blows can be major blows and some can have little to no effect. I think Mehsuds death will create that power vacuum which always leaves an organization vulnerable. Someone will of course take his place. Arrests are extremely valuable for intelligence etc. So those end up being pretty big blows. So I guess no concrete answer from me, just that symbolic blows have an effect, but not necessarily what the government tries to convince us it will do.
I think with the media, there’s a fine line between reporting what’s out there, i.e. rumors or unconfirmed reports about militant arrests or deaths, and both sides using it as a mouthpiece to go back and forth. During the Mehsud controversy, it was frustrating because it took extra energy to sift through what people were saying and get down to what we actually knew – so much was being disseminated. So the question is – does the media have a responsibility to sift through that info to inform the public properly or is its role just to report the news and what’s out there?
What’s interesting about the Maulvi Umar story is that GEO News and most wire news services had the developments at the forefront of their websites, while on Dawn.com, you had to search for it. Maybe they were reluctant to call a spade a spade until all was properly confirmed?
Good news! I am starting to believe, a little bit, that the Pakistani Gov’t is on board to a little bit of liberalism. Would be great for South Asia–I think the benefits/cooperation could grow exponentially. Still skeptical, though hopeful.
[...] at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan informs that Maulvi Umar, the spokesman of the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been captured by [...]
Update on this story:
Maulvi Faqeer claims to have taken over the TTP: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-maulvi-faqeer-is-acting-tehrik-i-taliban-chief-qs-11
In the absence of Maulvi Umar, Muslim Khan is now the chief spokesman of the Pakistani Taliban.