Taliban threaten families of legislators

CNN:

A Taliban spokesman issued a series of threats and ultimatums against Pakistani officials Wednesday as the country's military continued its offensive against the militant group in the Swat Valley.

Speaking on the telephone with CNN, Muslim Khan announced that all national and provincial parliament members from the Malakand Division, the northwestern region where the Swat Valley is located, must resign within three days.

"Otherwise, we will arrest all their families," Khan threatened, "and we will destroy all their buildings."

The Taliban spokesman issued a separate directive aimed at prompting a public show of support for the militants from Pakistan's Islamist political parties. "All these parties must help the Taliban," Khan said. "They must give a press conference to show the people that we need sharia [Islamic law] in the Malakand Division."

Members of the Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami have spoken out against the military's offensive in the Swat Valley, but they have stopped short of announcing support for the Taliban. Watch more about the victims of the war »

Throughout the fighting over the past three weeks, the gray-bearded Khan has been the public face of the Taliban, enthusiastically courting local and international media in jovial telephone conversations. In an earlier phone interview with CNN, he described how he had spent four years living in the United States, working as a painter in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

...

There is more.

The threats of additional war crimes has become common place for the Taliban. It would be nice for those interviewing this thug to ask him why he is threatening additional war crimes? Does he even know that what he is suggesting is a war crime? Does he care? Does the person doing the interview know or care?

Meanwhile the BBC is reporting the government only controls 38 percent of the Northwest Frontier Territory. This map shows the territory controlled by both.