JANUARY2007

Taliban walk right in, sit right down ...
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Jan 5th 2007
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IA05Df04.html

Abdul Jalil serves as a shining example of how the Taliban move around right under the eyes of officials.

A life without borders
With his light-brown skin, long black beard and a white cap, it took me some seconds to recognize Jalil standing in the bustling Lea Market of Karachi. He looked just like any other Pashtun selling goods, but he is a Taliban commander.

I had met him recently in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and now, after a formal exchange of greetings, we sat in one of the hotels near the market to chat over a cup of green tea.

Lea Market, not far from downtown Karachi, is severely congested, with flashy new Japanese cars jostling for space with pedestrians and camel-drawn carts. People of all backgrounds work here, from Gujaratis (originally from Indian Gujarat 200 years back) to Pashtuns, operating diverse businesses ranging from selling fruit on pushcarts to peddling the latest electronic gadgetry.

It is common knowledge that the narrow streets around Lea Market provide a safe haven for people wanted by the government, from Baloch insurgents to members of outlawed sectarian organizations. Thus such outfits as the Intelligence Bureau and the Police Intelligence Department maintain a strong proxy network in the area.

Nevertheless, Jalil seemed quite content to be seen in public, and to talk with me. The reason is simply that Jalil, a native of Kandahar, does not have a price on his head and he has no record to make the security agencies suspicious. In his appearance, language and mannerisms, he is much like the more than 1.5 million other Pashtuns living in Karachi.

Yet appearances could not be more deceptive as Jalil is one of the main cogs in the Taliban-led insurgency in the Punjwai district of Kandahar.

When I met him in November in the city of Kandahar, he came across as well balanced and completely at home in his environment. Then, he was roaming the markets, buying commodities as part of his responsibilities as a logistics official for the Taliban. In addition, Jalil coordinates with pro-Taliban elements in the Afghan establishment, and he happens to be an expert in making improvised weapons, especially by using unexploded US bombs.

Jalil explained that he did not even have to cross the border illegally between Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach Karachi; he simply crossed at the regular Chaman border post, passing through all checkpoints like Pashtuns from both sides of the Durand Line that separates the countries. He can do this because he is not yet a marked man.

Meeting Jalil reminded me of the many Pashtun Taliban commanders I have met over the years who on the face of it seems ordinary folk, sons of the soil, moving freely around in such places as Spin Boldek, Chaman, Kandahar and Karachi.