Peshawar: The Afghan government has denied the claims that Maulana Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Swat, was killed in fighting in Afghanistan's eastern Nuristan province.
In fact, the claims are now being denied by all sides. The Governor of Nuristan and an Afghan police official had made the claim initially but Afghanistan's interior ministry later said there were no confirmed reports about his death.
The Afghan government subsequently said it believed one of Maulana Fazlullah's aides and some of his men were killed in the clashes in Barg-i-Matal district of Nuristan. This claim too was unconfirmed as it wasn't being confirmed by independent sources and both Afghan and Pakistani Taliban kept denying it.
Afghan Taliban commander for Nuristan province, Mufti Munibullah, also refuted the claim by Afghan government that 300 Pakistani Taliban under Maulana Fazullah's command took part in the fighting in Barg-i-Matal district in Nuristan.
He said Pakistani Taliban were not present in such big numbers in Nuristan. He argued that never have Afghan or Pakistani Taliban fought in Afghanistan under the command of a Pakistani Taliban leader. "In Afghanistan, every militant, whether Afghan or foreigner, has to fight under the command of the Afghan Taliban," he insisted.
However, he and other Afghan Taliban commanders conceded that Maulana Fazlullah had been moving in Nuristan and neighbouring Kunar provinces along with a few of his men after escaping from Pakistan.
Pakistani Taliban commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad also denied the reports about Maulana Fazlullah in Afghanistan and termed it part of the propaganda by the Afghan government. He too thought that Maulana Fazlullah was presently in Afghan territory.
Maulana Fazlullah had escaped from Swat late last year following the Pakistani military operation and made a phone call to reporters from somewhere in Afghanistan. At the time, Pakistani authorities were claiming that Fazlullah was under siege in Swat in an injured condition and that he would soon be captured or killed. His escape was an embarrassment for the Pakistan government and military.
Though defeated in Swat and rest of Malakand division, the militants and most of their commanders managed to survive and escape from the area. Many were subsequently captured and summarily executed by the security forces. Among the 21 top wanted Taliban militants in Swat, about six have been killed and three are still in military custody. Others including Maulana Fazlullah are at large.
Maulana Fazlullah's presence in Afghanistan also showed that the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are able to move across the Pak-Afghan border fairly easily to seek refuge and also to join the fighting. The Durand Line border, more than 2400 kilometres in length, is difficult to control despite efforts by the Pakistani security forces and the US-led Nato and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.
