Pak ex-MP says he met Mehsud to plot against India

A former parliamentarian known for his links with militant groups on Saturday made the startling claim that the Pakistan government had deputed him to hold secret talks with slain Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud on forging "unity against India" in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Shah Abdul Aziz, who was arrested in July on charges of being linked to the abduction and killing of Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak by the Taliban, made the revelation in an interview with a TV news channel two days after he was freed from prison on bail.

Aziz said senior officials of Pakistan's interior ministry sent him to meet Mehsud after the Mumbai attacks in November last year.

He said the officials asked him to convince the slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief to show "unity against India" amidst heightened tensions between the two countries.

The former member of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament said he met Mehsud along with a 15-member delegation of 'ulema' or Islamic scholars from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Aziz said he stayed in Makeen area of South Waziristan, a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, for three days to convince Mehsud but the militant commander was not ready to accept the delegation's views.

Mehsud finally agreed to back the government in case of any offensive by India when Aziz and the delegation rejected his offer to join him for a meal.

"It is a tradition of Pashtuns that they do not make their guests angry at a meal," Aziz said.

Following this, Mehsud issued statements to international media organisations like CNN and BBC and the Pakistani media that his Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan would fight alongside the Pakistan Army against Indian forces in spite of its differences with the military and the government.

Courtesy:ibnlive.com

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