Leaders of Punjab Taliban captured

Dawn:

Security agencies have arrested two of the highest ranking Punjabi Taliban commanders, who are believed to have masterminded the 10/10 attack on Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) and other high-profile strikes in Lahore.

The two commanders identified as Iqbal and Gul Muhammad, both hailing from Faisalabad, were arrested earlier this week by law-enforcement agencies, senior officials disclosed to Dawn on Thursday.

They were members of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shura, the umbrella council of about top 40 militant commanders that coordinates and oversees Taliban activities in Pakistan.

The two, who were in charge of militancy in Punjab, officials claim, served as the link between Taliban’s main leadership in Waziristan and the increasingly threatening Punjabi Taliban network, a grouping of sectarian and Kashmir focussed militant groups responsible for the Taliban hits in Punjab and the federal capital.

Their arrest, which is being claimed by the security agencies as a major breakthrough against the Taliban in Punjab, came after telephone intercepts by intelligence agencies and disclosures by Muhammad Aqil alias Dr Usman, who led the October 10 attack on the military’s power base and was the only attacker to be arrested after the 22-hour hostage crisis in one of the headquarters’ buildings.

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So intercepting terrorist communications can have a positive effect? The ACLU must be disappointed to learn that.

This is a good move for Pakistan and reflects a new aggressiveness in going after the religious bigots who are trying to take control of the country.