New America Foundation

Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper

The Battle for Pakistan

Militancy and Conflict in Dir
Manzoor Ali, September 2010

As early as 2007, while the Taliban were making inroads into Dir, fighters fled there from Swat,
Bajaur and Waziristan to escape Pakistani military operations. The area became a hub of militant
activities due to its proximity to Swat and Bajaur, and received thousands of internally displaced
people seeking refuge from Pakistani military operations and militant activities.

Spread over 2,040 square miles in Pakistan’s North-West
Frontier Province (NWFP), Dir is fertile and picturesque,
producing wheat, barley, and fruits and covered in fir, pine,
and walnut trees.1 However, the terrain is craggy and
inhospitable, and most of the population lives in the remote
valleys and mountains that dot the district.
neighboring Swat, Dir was a “princely state” until 1969,
when the district was formally merged into the NWFP.2
Formerly a single district within the NWFP, Dir was
divided into two districts -- Upper and Lower Dir -- in
1996.3 Upper Dir is divided into five administrative units,
or tehsils, called Dir, Barawal, Kohistan, Wari and Khall,
while Lower Dir is divided into six: Timergarah, Balambat,
Lalqila, Adenzai, Munda and Samarbagh.4 The population
of Upper Dir is about 575,000, while the population of
Lower Dir is approximately 720,000, according to a 1998
census.5 The districts have seven seats in the provincial
assembly and two in the national assembly.
History of Dir: the forest and the trees
Dir and the neighboring districts of Chitral and Swat
formed the NWFP’s Malakand Division, which was created
in the 1970s and for the first time introduced federal
Like governance to the area, replacing the traditional system of
justice. In 1976, a legal dispute erupted between the nawab,
or prince of Dir, who had previously controlled all the
royalties from Dir’s forests and timber production, and the
federal government, which had formed a corporation to
harvest the forests. Timber merchants went on strike and
killed two policemen in the Sharingal area of Dir. People in
Karo, Nehag, and Usherai Darra also revolted against the
state and demanded the abolition of the government’s
corporation. Police and paramilitary scouts in Dir were not
able to control the situation, and the Pakistani army was
called in to to restore order.6 Later the same year, the
government reduced its share of felled timber to 20 percent
and ceded the rest to the traditional owners of the forests.7

***** In 1970, Malakand Division was designated a “Provincially

Administered Tribal Area,” as enacted by the 1975 PATA

Manzoor Ali is a Peshawar based journalist with the Express Tribune newspaper. He has worked with Pakistan’s Daily Times and also
contributed to Himal South Asian, Dawn, and the Friday Times.
new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net page 2
Regulation.89 The regulation, akin to the Frontier Crimes Kifayatullah, was killed during military operations in May
Regulations in Pakistan’s tribal areas, was viewed by 2009 in Dir.15 One of Sufi Muhammad’s daughters is
residents of the Malakand as oppressive. Local journalist married to the leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulana
Mohabbat Shah said that “the PATA administrator acted as Fazlullah, who spent several years in Maidan as a student.
10
complainant, executioner, and attorney at the same time.”
This sense of injustice contributed to the rise of Islamist
fundamentalism in the Maidan area of the district. Demand
This sense of injustice contributed to the rise
for reforms in the judicial system, coupled with the locals’ of Islamist fundamentalism in the Maidan
mood in a place where two armed rebellions had occurred
in less than two decades, made “getting the attention of the
area of the district.
state through violence [and] armed conflict…an unhealthy
precedent.”11
A frequent complaint of residents of Dir was the
inefficiency and corruption of local legal processes, which
The rise of the TNSM and Sufi
Sufi Muhammad promised would improve under the rule
Muhammad in Malakand
of the TNSM. In February 1990, the Peshawar High Court
rendered some of the PATA Regulation unconstitutional,16
Unlike those in neighboring Swat and Chitral, the local
and after the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld the High
rulers in Dir were displaced from power after the merger of
Court’s decision, the TNSM increased its calls for sharia to
the Malakand into Pakistan proper, losing any effective role
fill the legal void. On May 11, 1994, about 40,000 of Sufi
in the area’s politics.
Muhammad’s armed supporters blocked the Grand Trunk
Road by the Malakand Pass and clashed with the provincial
In the late 1980s, a disaffected Jamaat-e-Islami activist from
and federal governments, and a week later the Pakistan
Dir’s Maidan area named Sufi Muhammad formed the
People’s Party (PPP) announced the introduction of sharia
Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), or the
courts in Peshawar and across the Malakand.17
Movement for the Enforcement of the Law of Muhammad,
which began agitating for the enforcement of Islamic law,
The new legislation, called the Nifaz-e-Nizam-e-Sharia
or sharia, across the Malakand.12 Belonging to a Tajik tribe,
Regulation of 1994, provided that laws which are in
Sufi Muhammad’s ancestors migrated from Afghanistan to
consonance with the injunctions of Islam and are necessary
the Malakand in the early 18th century, and lived in Korai
for the proper enforcement of sharia, but which had not so
village near Timergarah as prayer leaders. Sufi Muhammad
far been applied, would be applicable to the Malakand
was born in Korai in the 1940s and went to Swat for formal
Division. However, local residents and members of the
education after being schooled by his father.13 Sufi
TNSM complained that the new regulation seemed
Muhammad completed his education at Darul Uloom
subservient to the procedural law laid down by the British
Haqqania, Saidu Sharif in 1959.14 Then he returned to
in colonial times.18 Sufi Muhammad rejected the sharia
Lower Dir and became a prayer leader in Galgot village,
courts, saying that the qazis (judges of Islamic law), who
then Daro, then Kumbar, where a local elder allotted him
had been appointed by the government, did not meet the
land to start a seminary.
sharia criteria either from their appearance or deeds.

Sufi Muhammad has married twice and has 14 sons and six
In November 1994, clashes erupted as Sufi’s followers
daughters, as well as a stepbrother living somewhere in
demanded the enforcement of sharia law in Malakand, and
Mardan. One of Sufi Muhammad’s sons, Maulana
a PPP member was killed. Sufi Muhammad’s followers laid

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siege to the Kabal police station in Swat, the Swat airport
and sessions courts, and Sufi Muhammad and his
companions were arrested and detained in Dir. Pakistan’s
Frontier Corps started an operation against the TNSM
under Maj. Gen. Fazl Ghafoor and then took Sufi
Muhammad into his confidence, as a type of ‘carrot and
stick’ strategy. Together with the local civil administrators,
Sufi Muhammad visited different areas of Dir and
persuaded his followers to put down their arms.

In 1995, the TNSM started protests against the

government’s writ in Swat, and Sufi Muhammad and Malik
Mahmood Jan, onetime a close aide of the TNSM chief,
were arrested, leading to low-level unrest across the
Malakand.In 1998, Sufi Muhammad set up a protest camp
at Kufar Darra (later called the Islam Darra area of Maidan)
for two months, urging enforcement of sharia. The
Pakistani government again announced the
implementation of sharia in the Malakand in 1998, but Sufi
was quick to reject it again on the grounds that it was not
strict enough.19

The TNSM again assembled a camp of protesters in Jan. 31,

Sufi Muhammad at a sit-in in Malakand, May 16, 1994. AFP/Getty Images
1998, at Timergarah area of Dir for 12 days and launched a
boycot of the courts that continued for several months. In
2001, Sufi Muhammad set up another protest camp from followers of Sufi Muhammad died while fighting for the

April 26 to May 15, in the Walikandao area of Dir.20 Taliban ,and thousands of others were taken prisoners by
Afghan warlords and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.23

On Oct. 27, 2001, after the United States and its allies
mounted a military campaign against the Taliban in Sufi Muhammad was arrested upon his return to Pakistan

Afghanistan, Sufi Muhammad led a lashkar (tribal militia) in early 2002 for defying government orders and sentenced

of about 10,000 fighters into Afghanistan, armed with to a seven-year term on April 4, 2002, for illegally entering

weaponry ranging from locally made guns and swords to Afghanistan; later, the TNSM was banned by the

AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns, and hand government.24 Sufi Muhammad was released in April 2008

grenades. The activists, riding in some 300 vehicles, left as part of a peace accord between the Pakistani government

Maidan for Bajaur, from where they entered Afghanistan.21 and the TNSM. The TNSM agreed to renounce militancy

According to journalist Zahid Hussain, Pakistani “security and condemned extremists involved in attacks on state

forces turned a blind eye towards the hordes of volunteers institutions such as schools, hospitals, and police stations,

crossing the border,” and an Interior Ministry spokesman while the government agreed to withdraw all cases pending

commented, “They should go to Afghanistan rather than against Sufi Muhammad and commute his prison term.25

disrupting civil life here.”22 Thousands of Pakistani While the father of the TNSM had been imprisoned, Sufi’s

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Muhammad’s most militant followers had gradually joined
the nascent Taliban movement in the Malakand, rallying
behind Maulana Fazlullah in Swat and Maulvi Faqir
Muhammad in Bajaur.26 27 Following the government-
TNSM peace deal, the Swat Taliban announced their own
unilateral 10-day cease-fire.
Sufi Muhammad again came into focus when he set up a
camp in Timergarah on October 9, 2008, to protest the
Pakistani military’s operations against militants in Swat.
The TNSM closed the camp on February 15, 2009, after the
government of the NWFP agreed to allow the
implementation of sharia in the areas that made up
Malakand division in a peace deal that was widely viewed as
a Pakistani government concession to the militants.28 Sufi
Muhammad shifted to the Matta area of Swat after
marching in Swat’s capital, Mingora, on February 17.
However, Sufi Muhammad was not able to prevail over the
Swat militants, who continually violated the peace deal
despite declaring an indefinite cease-fire on February 23.
Adding to the confusion, Sufi gave the government a March
15 deadline for the appointment of qazis and the release of
TNSM prisoners, while the militants continued to violate
the cease-fire.29 On March 24, Sufi threatened to close his
peace camp and move to more violent measures in Swat if
the government failed to enforce sharia in Swat.30
Amid accusations of militant violations of the peace deal, a
video that purportedly showed the Taliban flogging a 17-
year-old girl took the nation by storm, and militants moved
into Buner, Swat’s neighboring district, in early April. On
April 13, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed the bill
implementing sharia in Swat bill.31 Six days later, however,
Sufi Muhammad said in a speech to a large public meeting
in Mingora that democracy and superior courts were un-
Islamic. The TNSM said that Sufi Muhammad went
missing and refused to start talks in his absence. The
government launched military operations in Lower Dir on
April 26, which were later extended to Buner and Swat. The
peace deal between the TNSM and the Pakistani
government collapsed on May 5, and Sufi Muhammad was
new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net
re-arrested in July in Peshawar, where he remained in jail
for nearly a year.32 He has reportedly been transferred to an
anti-terrorism court in Mingora, where he is being charged
with sedition, conspiracy, and encouraging terrorism.33
The Panjpir Connection
Sufi Muhammad reportedly studied at a seminary in Darul
Quran Panjpir in Swabi district was established in 1939 by
Maulana Muhammad Tahir, leader of Jama’at-e-Isha’at-e-
Tauheed wa Sunnat (JITS, or Party for the Spreading of
Unity of God and and the Muslim Faithful).34 Tahir died in
1987, and the seminary is now headed by his son
Muhammad Tayyeb.
Panjpiris, as the followers of Tahir are known, follow a local
version of Wahhabi Islam, practiced primarily in Saudi
Arabia, which heavily influences the militants in Bajaur,
Khyber and the Malakand. The head of the Bajaur Taliban,
chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad, and the Khyber Agency-
based Lashkar-e-Islam’s leader, Mangal Bagh, also have
studied in Panjpir seminary, and the Swat Taliban chief,
Maulana Fazlullah, is a member of the Panjpiri sect.35 Qari
Shahid, one of the Dir Taliban leaders, was also a student at
the seminary.
The Taliban in Dir
Maidan has been the center of politics in Dir since the
revolt against the nawab in the early 1960s and the
emergence of the TNSM in late‘80s. During the Afghan-
Soviet war of the 1980s, the people of Maidan refused to
allow camps for Afghan refugees, so camps were set up in
Doog Dara, Timergarah, Samarbagh and other areas of Dir.
But as the Taliban gained popularity in neighboring Swat in
the 2000s, some residents of Maidan were won over by
their demands for sharia, long a desire of Sufi
Muhammad.. A Maidan Taliban began to emerge, led by
Kokai Khan, Maulana Shad Muhammad, Maulana Qari
Shahid and Ghayasudddin Khan – four survivors of Sufi
Muhammad’s ill-fated Afghan venture who were captured
page 5
by Afghan warlords and ransomed by Maidan residents.
However, as violence escalated in the Malakand, their
popularity waned, and now some residents feel they have
paid for the calamity visited upon them by the Maidan
36
Taliban.
As early as 2007, while the Taliban were making inroads
into Dir, fighters fled there from Swat, Bajaur and
Waziristan to escape Pakistani military operations. The area
became a hub of militant activities due to its proximity to
Swat and Bajaur, and received thousands of internally
displaced people seeking refuge from Pakistani military
operations and militant activities. However, in late 2007, a
local assembly in Maidan agreed to forbid Waziristan
Taliban from operating in their area, reflecting a bias
against non-Malakand militants.
Local Taliban continued their subversive activities, which
gained momentum during April 2008.37 Dir assumed
renewed importance in March 2009 when Lower Dir’s
district police chief, Khurshid Khan, was killed in Maidan
while trying to pursue the kidnappers of a local
councilman.38
Interviews with local residents suggest that local sentiment
had actually been tilting in favor of Taliban following the
February 2009 agreement between the government and the
TNSM that provided for the Nizam Adl Regulation, a set of
Islamic laws to govern Malakand -- a longstanding demand
of the area’s people. But Sufi Muhammad’s release from
prison following the collapse of the May 2008 peace deal
between the Swat Taliban and the Pakistani government
strengthened the militants, and some of the area’s Taliban
and TNSM circles began to refer to each other as the
military and political wings, respectively, of the same
39
movement. The situation in Lower Dir started to
deteriorate more acutely, locals say, following Sufi
Muhammad’s announcement on April 19, 2009, that
Pakistani courts were un-Islamic and that there was no
space for democracy in Islam. Residents claimed about 450
new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net
vehicles full of Sufi Muhammad’s supporters left Maidan to
participate in his meeting in Mingora, Swat.
Maidan has become a nerve center of militancy in Dir and,
according to local sources, residents on three occasions in
2008 and 2009 constituted lashkars, or militias, to oppose
the Taliban; however, they were not able to contain the
spread of militancy. An interesting case was the killing of
Malik Mahmood Jan. A resident of the Maidan area once
associated with the secular Pakistan People’s Party, Jan
joined the TNSM following its emergence in the late 1990s
and became a close confidante of Sufi Muhammad. In
October 2001, when Sufi’s volunteers marched into
Afghanistan, Jan as acted as commander. However, as the
Dir Taliban emerged and embraced violent tactics, he tried
to raise a lashkar against them; they killed their onetime
leader along with his son Shah Khalid on August 25,
2008.40
The Taliban in both Lower and Upper Dir are
led by Hafizullah, an elusive militant who has
played a key role in tightening the
relationship between militants in Dir and the
Waziristan-based leadership of the Tehrik-i-
Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Taliban in both Lower and Upper Dir are led by
Hafizullah, an elusive militant who has played a key role in
tightening the relationship between militants in Dir and the
Waziristan-based leadership of the Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP). In his late twenties, Hafizullah hails from
Kohan village in Lower Dir and was last known to live in
Timergarah in Lower Dir. He used to be affiliated with
Jaish-e-Muhammad there, where he sold jihadi literature
from his stand in Tablighi Marakaz.41 Hafizullah was once
a student of Sufi Muhammad and studied at the Panjpiri
madrassa in Swabi, and also had somewhat unclear links to
page 6
Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah.42 After joining
forces with the Taliban in the mid 2000s, he shifted to the
Kulal Dherai area of Maidan to lead operations there.
Hafizullah has offered to pay young people in the area to
participate in his activities, and used to run an illegal radio
station that preached messages of violence. Hafizullah has
claimed responsibility for most of the militancy in Upper
43
and Lower Dir over the past two years. His current
location is unknown.44
Though Hafizullah is considered the amir of the Dir
Taliban, one of his deputies reputedly has more power and
commands more respect. Qari Shahid, 28,45 studied under
Sufi Muhammad, presumably in the 1990s, and fought
with his forces against the Americans in Afghanistan in
2001. Upon his return to Pakistan, Shahid joined the
TNSM and later became affiliated with the TTP, which
made him head of its committee for the spreading of
virtues and prevention of vices for Upper and Lower Dir
districts. Shahid, the nephew of the anti-Taliban lashkar
leader Malik Mahmood Jan, was arrested in Maidan in late
46
2009.
While the Dir Taliban consider the TTP’s
founder, Baitullah Mehsud, their supreme
commander, they maintain a closer day-to-day
relationship with the nearby Swat Taliban.
The Dir Taliban used to get operational guidance from
militants in Waziristan, Swat, and Bajaur. According to a
local journalist, the connection between the Dir Taliban
fighters and the TTP is demonstrated by the fact that
militants asked journalists to “contact Muslim Khan about
media-related inquiries, as he was the regional
spokesperson of the TTP.”47 But while the Dir Taliban
consider the TTP’s founder, Baitullah Mehsud, their
supreme commander, they maintain a closer day-to-day
relationship with the nearby Swat Taliban.48 The number of
new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net
foreign fighters Dir is not clear. Locals claim there are some
Afghans and Uzbeks in the area, but in general residents of
Dir are opposed to foreigners.49 Most of the fighters in
Doog Dara are said to be Afghans mainly interested in
fighting U.S. security forces in Afghanistan.50 There are no
known operational links between the Quetta Shura, led by
Mullah Omar, and the Taliban in Dir.
Militants’ Organizational Structure in Dir
In Upper and Lower Dir, an amir (commander) governs
both the districts, and Lower Dir has a commander of its
own. The insurgents are organized as follows:
• Amir: Hafizullah
• Naib ameer: (deputy commander): Qari Shahid was the
naib ameer, but no new nomination has been announced
since his arrest.
• Tarjuman (spokesman): Mullah Mansoor
• Tehsil Amir (sub-divisional commander): The Taliban
have organizational leaders in the subdivisions of Dir
districts, but they have only publicly identified Qari
Arshad as commander in Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir.
Pakistani military operations in Dir
The area most affected by militancy in Upper Dir has been
the Doog Darra valley, close to the border of Chitral and
some 30 miles north of the town of Dir. The valley has
about 25 villages, and its population stood at about 25,000
in 1998.51 During the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s, a
refugee camp was established in the area, and during the
past three decades many Afghans have become residents
through inter-marriage with local tribesmen.
Doog Darra has been seen as a lawless valley because of its
remote location and the presence of many criminals who
use it as a mountainous hideout. Dir Taliban militants in
Doog Darra are afforded direct access to Swat, Chitral, and
Kunar province in Afghanistan.52 As a result of fighting
between the Taliban and U.S. forces in Afghanistan,
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Afghan militants began moving into Doog Darra in about
2007 and were joined by militants from Swat and other
areas. In January 2009, some 200 Dir Taliban set up an
illegal FM radio channel; however, some locals turned
against them after Akhtar Jan Kohistani, a former Afghan
government official who was kidnapped from Chitral in
November 2008, escaped in January 2009 and asked for
local help.53 The militants managed to recapture him, to the
chagrin of the locals, who kept pressing for his release. In
February 2009, the Dir Taliban and locals agreed to deal,
and militants released Kohistani in exchange for two
militants.54
In March 2009, the Dir Taliban threatened to launch
suicide attacks against villagers if they did not stop
organizing lashkars against them. Hafizullah said that they
were targeting U.S. and other NATO forces in Afghanistan
and were not involved in activities inside Pakistan.55
However, clashes continued into the spring of 2009, and
on April 26,56 Pakistani security forces launched operations
in Dir. Within a few days, the army announced the end of
the offensive and claimed 70 Taliban fighters had been
killed.57 In May, jets bombed Doog Darra area, but the
militants demonstrated their resilience when, on June 5, a
suicide attacker blew up a mosque in the Hayagai Sharqi
area, killing 30 people and injuring a dozen,.58 Villagers
responded by assembling a quick lashkar to punish the
militants; with the help of the army, they claimed to kill 167
militants over two months. The lashkar chief, Malik
Motabar Khan, said that his force started with 200 people
59
and swelled to 3,000 within several months.
Fighting continued through the summer of 2009, and by
July the army said it had killed 100 insurgents in the
Maidan area while trying to clear a handful of villages.60
Around the same time, NWFP information minister Mian
Iftihkar Hussain announced a reward of 500,000 rupees
for five militant leaders from Maidan: Hafizullah, Qari
61
Shahid, Dr. Wazir, Muftahuddin and Abdul Salam. The
last three are among the top commanders of the Dir
new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net
Taliban. Wazir, a feared leader from Lajbok village, was
arrested in 2008 in connection with a suicide attack on
army recruits in Dargai, where 45 Pakistani soldiers were
killed. He was released following the February 2009 accord
between the TNSM and the government. Wazir was the
killer of the district police officer (DPO) of Dir, Khurshid
Khan.62 Muftahuddin, also known as Shabbar, and Abdul
Salam have reportedly fled to Afghanistan following
Pakistani military operations in Dir.63
In mid-August 2009, security officials claimed Maidan had
been cleared of militants, some 570 of whom were killed
during operations there.64 Militants in some far-flung areas
of Upper Dir, including Shatkas, Panaghar, Badrakai, and
Doog Darra, agreed on Aug. 14 to surrender to authorities
on the condition that their families not be harmed by the
lashkars, and several days later, authorities paraded 22
militants who had agreed to cease their activities before the
media. They claimed that they were misled by the Dir
Taliban65 and that many of the militants in Dir had
returned to Afghanistan because they were Afghan
nationals.66
Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir -- with the major towns of
Ouch, Badwan, Khadagzai, Chakdara, Osakai, Asbanr, and
Talash along the main road in the tehsil -- is the second
area most impacted by militancy. Many militants from Swat
sought refuge in Adenzai after Pakistani military operations
there in early 2009, because it is linked by road to the
Imam Dherai and Kanju areas of the valley. Militants
blocked the Grand Trunk Road at Gul Abad close to
Chakdarra, but after a local assembly held talks with them –
-- and because of the Pakistani military’s ongoing offensive
in neighboring Swat -- they agreed to pull out of the area.67
The economy of militancy
Taliban militants in Dir fund themselves several ways.
During Sufi Muhammad’s 2001 Afghan mission, women
in the area donated vehicles full of jewelry to the TNSM.68
Criminals, including gangs of car thieves, supported him as
page 8
well, as did some of the farmers who had been given vast
tracts of land in the 1970s and were reluctant to lose their
leverage to the Pakistani government.69
The Dir Taliban, upon their arrival in Maidan in on
December 31, 2008, killed a local gangster called Katchay
and assumed some of his business ties.70 Militants also
engaged in extortion by taxing legitimate businesses in Dir,
and jobless boys joined the movement for a somewhat
regular paycheck. Businessmen paid off the Taliban to
protect their interests in the powerful timber mafia in Swat
and Dir, using the militants as an informal cavalry to
harvest more than 600 square miles of forest.71 Kidnapping
has also been a source of revenue for militants in the area,
as the Dir Taliban kidnapped two Chinese engineers in
September 2008 from the Toormang area of Khal tehsil in
Upper Dir, later shifting them to Swat.72 On October 17,
2008, the Chinese engineers made an escape attempt, and
one of them managed to make it to the authorities, while
the other was re-captured when he fell off a mountain and
fractured his leg. However, he was later released by the
militants in February 2009.
Tribes and Sub-tribes of Dir
The main tribe of Upper Dir is the Yousafzai, while the
main tribes of Lower Dir are Yousafzai, Mashwani,
Shinwari and Tajik.73
Most of the tribes in Dir opposed the local militants. The
two most influential subtribes in Upper Dir, the Sultankhel
and Paindakhel, formed somewhat effective lashkars
against Taliban. So did tribal elders in the Adenzai tehsil of
Lower Dir74 and in Khaal, taking control of the important
passes of Toormang, Nihag, and Karo, which connected
Swat and Dir, and making movement for militants
difficult.75 However, local tribesmen were not able to play
such an effective role in the Maidan area, as the killing of
Malik Mahmood Jan, a very influential man of the area,
broke the back of tribesmen.76
Grievances of the population
The population of Dir has many grievances against
Pakistan’s local and federal governments. Though gifted
with beauty and bounty of nature, as well as being one of
NWFP’s settled areas, Dir is underdeveloped . Water is the
area’s foremost problem, with drinking and irrigation water
in short supply despite the fact that both parts of the valley
are situated on banks of River Panjkora.77 Dir’s lack of
health facilities is a second common complaint, as
residents of remote mountainous areas have to bring
patients to Timergarah, while those from Timergarah are
referred to Peshawar, a six-hour drive away.78
Unemployment is also high due to limited economic
opportunities. Many of those who swelled Taliban ranks
were unemployed youths, according to local residents.79

Tribe Subtribes *****

Yousafzai Sultankhel
Paindakhel
Osikhel
Nasrudinkehel
Utmakhel Ismailzai
Mandal
Alizai
Paghozai
Wardak/Mashwani
Shinwari

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1. Lt. Col. Holmes. A.L’E, Gazetteer of NWFP: From Bajaur and Indus Kohistan on 23 Zahid Hussain, Frontline Pakistan, The struggle with militant Islam, (Vanguard

the North to the Mari Hills on the South. (Government Centre Branch Press, Simla Books, London 2007), 47.

1887), 508; 24 Imtiaz Ali, “Militant or Peace Broker?”

2 The NWFP is being renamed Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa. A ‘princely state’ is a remnant 25 Ibid

of British rule over the area in which a territory was not directly administered by the 26 A local elder, interview by author, Timergarah, June 5, 2010

British, but ruled through local leaders. 27 Local elder, interview by author, Timergarah June 5, 2010,.

3 http://www.paiman.org.pk/resources/DHPs/DP_UpperDir.pdf 28 “Sharia-based system tied to peace in peace in Swat,” Dawn, February, 17, 2009

4 http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/admin_unit/admin_list_tehsil.html 29 “Swat peace deal comes under pressure: Sufi gives March 15 deadline,” Dawn,

5 http://nwfp.gov.pk/nwfpgov/Departments/BOS/nwfp-ind-popu-tab-43.php March 2, 2009

6 Muhammad Nawaz, The Guardians of Frontier, the Frontier Corps NWFP ( FC 30 “Sufi threatens to close Swat peace camp,” Dawn, March, 25, 2009

NWFP. 1994), 384 31 “Sharia for Malakand as Zardari signs bill,” Dawn, April 13, 2009

7 Nawaz, The Guardians of Frontier ,p. 384. 32 “Sufi Muhammad arrested from Peshawar,” Dawn, July, 27, 2009

8 Muhammad Din Shahab, Evaluation of Legal System in Chitral in Proceedings of 33 “Maulana Sufi being produced in court today,” The News, June 29, 2010.

Third International Cultural Conference. srar ud Din, ed. (Oxford University Press, http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=29743

2008), 381 34 http://panjpir.com/history.html

9 These areas were officially merged into Pakistan under regulation 1 of the 1969 35 Abdul Kakar Hai, “Same militants, different aims,” Dawn, November 15, 2009

regulations. Pakistani courts were extended to the region and a session court was 36 A local elder from Maidan, interview by author, Peshawar, October 15, 2009

created for whole of Malakand. In the interim constitution of 1972, the government 37 Halim Asad, local journalist, interview by author, Timergarah June 6, 2010,

for the first time created the PATA and included Chitral, Swat, and Dir. In 1975, the 38 “DPO among five killed in Lower Dir,” News, March 30, 2009

PATA regulations then transferred powers to executive instead of judiciary. 39 A Maidan resident, interview by author, October 15, 2009

10 Mohabbat Shah, , local journalist, interviewed by author, Timergarah, Dir June 6, 40. Kabir Roghani, Maidan based journalist, interview by author, June 14, Peshawar

2010 41 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=217239

11 Abbas Hassan, “The Black-Turbaned Brigade: The Rise of TNSM in Pakistan,” 42 “Top Dir militant finally in custody,” News, November 11, 2009

Terrorism Monitor, Volume 4 Nov 30, 2006 43 “Lower Dir peace under threat as Taliban commander still remains untraced,”

12 Abbas op. cit. News, January, January 7, 2010

13 Haleem Asad, local journalist, interview by author, November 26, 2009, Peshawar 44 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=217239

14 Imitiaz Ali, “Militant or Peace Broker? A Profile of the Swat Valley’s Maulana Sufi 45 “FC arrests Dir Taliban commander,” News, November 4, 2009

Muhammad,” Jamestown Review, March 26, 2009 46 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=207946

15 Haleem Asad, local journalist, interview by author, November 26, 2009, Peshawar, 47 Asad, Halim, local journalist, interview by author, Timergarah June 6, 2010

Pakistan. 48 Local elder, interview by author, Timergarah June 5, 2010,

16 Shahab, Evaluation of Legal System , Pp 382. The Peshawar High Court declared 49 Local elder, interview by author, Timergarah, June 5, 2010, ,

PATA Regulations numbers 1 and 2 of the 1975 regulation unconstitutional and 50 Ibid

discriminatory in nature. 51 BBC Urdu, FM station in Upper Dir

17 “Sufi Muhammad’s release,” Daily Times editorial, April 23, 2008 http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/02/090202_dir_fm.shtml

18 Shahab, Evaluation of Legal System Pp. 382-.383 52 Syed Irfan Ashraf, “Tribesmen on their own,” Dawn, 17 June, 2009

19 Mohabbat Shah interview 53 Ibid

20 Ibid 54 http://www.dawn.com/2009/02/11/local27.htm

21 “TNSM supporters head for Kabul,” Dawn, October, 2008, 2001 55 “Taliban warn of suicide attacks in Doog Darra,” Dawn, March, 2, 2009

22 Zahid Hussain, Frontline Pakistan, The struggle with militant Islam, (Vanguard 56 “Operation launched against Taliban in Dir,” Daily Times, April 27, 2009

Books, London 2007), 47. 57 “70 militants dead as Dir operation ends,” News, April, 29, 2009

new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net page 10

58 “Suicide bomber strikes at Friday prayers in Upper Dir,” Dawn, June 6, 2009 69 Ibid

59 Upper Dir lashkar claims killing 167 Taliban in two months, Dawn, August 4, 70 Local elder, interview by author, Timergarah June 5,

2009 71 Syed Ashraf Irfan, “Militancy’s black economy,” Dawn, March 22, 2009

60 “100 militants killed in Maidan,” News, July 21, 2009 72 BBC Urdu

61 Daily Aaj Peshawar, July 21, 2009, “Government announces head money for five http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2008/09/080902_taliban_engineer_zs.s

terrorists” html

62 A local elder, interview by author, Timergarah June 5, 2010, 73 Herald, Election 2008 Special Issue

63 Rehmat Khan interview 74 Ibid,

64 “Maidan declared free of militants,” Dawn, August 19, 2009 75 Mohabbat Shah, interview

65 “Militants surrender, say Taliban deceived them,” Dawn, August 17, 2009 76 Rehmat Khan interview

66 “Upper Dir militants agree to surrender,” Dawn, August 15, 2009 77 Ibid.

67 “Taliban agree to leave parts of Lower Dir,” Dawn, May 22, 2009 78 Ibid.

68 Hanifullah Khan, local journalist, interview by author, Peshawar, October 12, 79 Ibid.

2009,

new america foundation – counterterrorism.newamerica.net page 11

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