MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Pakistan’s North-West Frontier, remote, inaccessible and home to a revitalised and increasingly brutal Taliban.
Four Corners has gained exclusive access into these forbidden zones
(Excerpt of footage of men shooting machine guns into the air, roadside bombs exploding)
We’ll investigate how the Taliban have busted out of their mountain strongholds to unleash a wave of violence to bring down the state of Pakistan.
(End of Excerpt)
MAJOR GENERAL ATHAR ABBAS, PAKISTAN MILITARY SPOKESMAN: It could lead to anarchy in this area.
SAMINA AHMEND, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, PAKISTAN: Unless the Pakistani state takes on these terrorists then the state itself is deeply and gravely threatened.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: If they succeed the consequences will be dire not just for Pakistan but for the world.
Tonight on Four Corners ‘Pakistan on the Brink’.
(On Screen Text: Pakistan on the Brink, Reporter: Matthew Carney)
The highway west of Islamabad is Pakistan’s finest. It’s designed so the military can move fast.
A capability that may soon be tested.
We are on our way to Peshawar, it’s about 200 kilometres from the capital Islamabad. Many people are calling Peshawar the new frontline in the war on terrorism.
Most of the city is surrounded by the Taliban so we are going to go there and investigate and just see how bad the situation is.
(On Screen graphics: Map of Pakistan)
Peshawar is the gateway to the Taliban heartlands of the North-West Frontier and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
The Taliban are gunning for Peshawar, if they take this city the rest of the country is seriously under threat.
Foreign journalists don’t come here anymore and the only way I can get around is with a police patrol.
It’s the police who are the first line of defence here. They put on a brave face but some refuse to serve, just in the last week the Taliban has bombed two of their checkpoints.
MALIK NAVEED, CHIEF OF POLICE NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE: We don't have the resources, our country is a poor country, and then our province is one of the poorest provinces in this country. Basically we need bulletproof jackets, we need transport, mobility, proper wireless systems, and equipment for collection of intelligence.
Tracking of mobile phones, tracking of vehicles and aerial surveillance, so that we know what is happening in and around the cities and in the peripheries.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: It’s easy for the Taliban to infiltrate the city and once inside they resort to killing or kidnapping.
In the last several months we’ve seen a US diplomat narrowly escape assassination, an American aid worker was killed, Afghani and Iranian diplomats were kidnapped. In the last year the Taliban and its associated groups have kidnapped 140 people.
It’s dangerous to move alone so I joined up with Shaukat Khattak, a senior local journalist. He’s watched his hometown become a war zone.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: Even the army was called in and they have conducted a huge offensive to combat against such elements which are posing threats to Peshawar.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Our visit downtown will be short. No more than 15 minutes in any one place to avoid kidnap or attack.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to Shaukat Khattak): So where are we going to go?
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: It’s called Qissa Khawani Bazaar, one of the historic bazaar of Peshawar.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Two years ago a foreigner could spend the evenings taking tea and haggling with the local rug merchants, now there are merchants of a very different kind.
(Excerpt of footage of bombings, people shouting)
Last December the Taliban blew the Qissa Khawani Bazaar sky high, the target was Shiite businesses, heretics to the hardline Sunni Taliban.
Shaukat Khattak was first on the scene.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of Shaukat Khattak walking through the damaged bazaar)
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: This is place where the suicide attack took place some months ago and all the shops were burnt and you can see still the demolition. About 40...
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: How many people were killed?
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: Forty people killed in this blast.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The locals are doing their best to repair the damage, but the shopkeepers fear more attacks.
BAZAAR SHOPKEEPER (subtitled): We can’t gather together here, we’re scared, because it's a very dangerous time, my friend.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: At moment I am very much you know disheartened about the situation which is developing across Pakistan, my opinion is that it is going worsened every day, every next day and I’m not that much optimistic about the situation.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Shaukat Khattak and his colleagues are not exempt from the conflict, fall foul of the Taliban and you may die, tell the world the militants are winning and you’ll face the wrath of Pakistan’s security forces.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: How many of your colleagues have been killed?
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: About nine journalists were killed after this the war on terror. I think...
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Some of your closest friends?
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: Yes my closest friend, Hayatalla was my close friend who was killed in North Waziristan.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Why do you keep on doing it if it’s so dangerous?
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST: You know it’s a profession, though there are serious threats but it’s my aim that I’ll continue this profession because it is in my blood.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Despite the dangers, Shaukat Khattak agreed to venture inside the Taliban badlands for Four Corners.
Just outside of Peshawar, Shaukat Khattak makes his first contact with the Taliban. Foreigner reporters are absolutely forbidden.
A truckload of militants take him deeper and deeper into Taliban territory, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas known as FATA.
(On Screen Graphic: Map of Federally Administered Tribal Areas)
(Excerpt of footage of Jalaluddin Haqqani speaking)
(End of Excerpt)
For more than 20 years the FATA has been dominated by this man, Jalaluddin Haqqani, godfather to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. He is credited with revitalising the Taliban movement, and the man who brought suicide bombings to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(Excerpt of footage of truck driving into compound, followed by explosion)
(End of Excerpt)
His skills were forged fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, now stricken with Parkinson’s disease he’s passed the mantle on to the next generation and another holy war.
(Excerpt of footage of Jalaluddin Haqqani speaking)
JALALUDDIN HAQQANI, AFGHAN MILITARY LEADER (subtitled): Congratulations on your successful jihad, with the help of Allah, you are winning, God willing.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of Hakimullah Mehsud arriving at press conference)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Hakimullah Mehsud is one of those successors and the very visible face of the new Taliban.
Shaukat Khattak and other local reporters are brought to meet Mehsud and other commanders who have united to form a stronger and deadlier Taliban.
Their aim, to bring down the state of Pakistan.
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD, TALIBAN LEADER (subtitled): If the government had changed their policy we would not have attacked Peshawar and the tribal territory. Because of the harsh policy of the Pakistan government and the Pakistan army we have had to attack Peshawar, Hangu, and every corner of Pakistan, we will do our best, God willing.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Mehsud says the Pakistan government and the army are to be destroyed for joining the American fight to wipe out the Taliban in Pakistan.
(Excerpt continued)
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD, TALIBAN LEADER (subtitled): These people are with the Americans, they are with the American program, these people have reached an agreement with the United States of America. That agreement is to break Pakistan into pieces.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Mehsud’s threats are no idle boast. Nearby, Shaukat Khattak is taken to witness hundreds of tribesmen being recruited into the new Talban.
(Excerpt of footage of mean firing guns into the air)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: With more men, and more weapons, Hakimullah Mehsud has started to shake Pakistan to its core. Last year they crippled the country with 60 suicide bombers.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of The Marriot Hotel)
The Marriot Hotel in the heart of Islamabad was destroyed with 1000 kilograms of explosives. It was the biggest blast the country and the region had ever seen.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of Benazir Bhutto assassination)
Then, they derailed the democratic process by assassinating the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto on her comeback trial. The West wanted her to lead the country to some stability, the Taliban put an end to that.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of fires burning at NATO storage facility)
Last December there was an even more fearful development. Mehsud lead about 300 militants into the heart of Peshawar to a NATO storage facility. For hours and totally unhindered they destroyed about a hundred trucks and Humvees. The carnage forced the closure of NATO’s main supply route into Afghanistan.
The attack showed just how capable the Taliban have become as a military force.
(End of Excerpt)
Pakistan is now more deadly than Iraq and it’s not going to stop.
(Excerpt of footage from Taliban press conference)
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST (subtitled): With regard to the current fighting how long will it continue and which regions of Pakistan do you think it will extend to?
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD, TALIBAN LEADER (subtitled): Prophet Mohammad said the Jihad will continue until the day of judgement. Our future attacks will be fast and severe, God willing.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Hakimullah Mehsud is so confident he turns up to his own press conference in a stolen Humvee. But Mehsud has a bolder announcement for Shaukat Khattak, he’s proclaimed as new emir of the central provinces of FATA.
(Excerpt continued)
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD, TALIBAN LEADER (subtitled): The Prophet says, we are always with the sword, so we will never put down our weapons.
TALIBAN CROWD (subtitled): God is great, God is great. We will fight, we will fight.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: With the Agencies of Orakzai, Kurram and Khyber under Mehsud’s control, this completes the Taliban domination of FATA. They’ve declared an Islamic Taliban state.
For Shaukat Khattak it was big news, but as he returned to Peshawar he was intercepted by Pakistan Intelligence who tried to confiscate his tapes to stop the news of the Taliban’s latest success getting out.
The Pakistan military is just as controlling with foreign media.
Since 2004, the Pakistan army has launched repeated attacks against the Taliban in the tribal areas, with little effect.
The only place I am allowed to visit is a tiny area of army control in Taliban territory.
(On Screen Graphic: Map of Federally Administered Tribal Areas)
It’s called Bajaur, nestled at the very top of the now Taliban dominated FATA.
Flying in it’s easy to see why the Pakistan army has had little success in rooting out the Taliban and Al Qaeda from their mountain bases. The terrain is a nightmare for a conventionally trained army.
In the ravines and mountain tops, the army is not fighting terrorism but a full blown insurgency.
The Pakistan army has been bogged down here for six months. It’s no surprise my stay in Bajaur will be limited to just three hours. First stop is a former Taliban base. It was here that the army discovered they were not fighting a ragtag militia.
MAJOR KAMMAL, PAKISTAN ARMY: This was actually their main headquarter and the most interesting thing we came to know about this compound was these tunnels, actually you can see this one is about 14 feet deep and then there is a room where I am standing. The miscreants would use it as their hide and you would throw anything on them it would not affect them.
(Excerpt of footage of tunnels under Taliban base)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: An extensive network of tunnels was uncovered across the entire area.
It’s pretty flaky as you can hear. These tunnels are tiny, literally you know, you’ve got to really squeeze to get through, they crisscross all of Bajaur. It’s where the militants used to come and hide and move around and store their arms.
It really demonstrates that the military is going to have a big problem flushing out the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the North West of Pakistan.
It made fighting the Taliban near impossible here because they could vanish and resurface anywhere.
MAJOR KAMMAL, PAKISTAN ARMY: They would come from that tunnel get inside these compounds, fight the army, and then once they were attacked they would vanish.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: So it was harder to flush them out because of this?
MAJOR KAMMAL, PAKISTAN ARMY: Yes, definitely we have not seen this anywhere in our country.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Would you say it’s quite sophisticated the way they've done it?
MAJOR KAMMAL, PAKISTAN ARMY: Yes, you can see it yourself, it is quite sophisticated and you know it took them a long time to dig these tunnels.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The senior Taliban leadership that operated at this base escaped to the mountains.
The Pakistan army controls this main road and the surrounding plains but they can claim little else.
(Excerpt of footage of army battalion headquarters in Bajaur)
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALI, PAKISTAN ARMY: So these are battalion headquarters, battalion tactical headquarters. These are shell proof bunkers where we can remain safe against shellings, enemy rockets, mortars, so that is part of the whole routine.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The army is still having trouble clearing the Taliban from this area.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to Lieutenant Colonel Ali): And they are all around?
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALI, PAKISTAN ARMY: Yeah all around, yep north side, out towards west, south, east.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: So you are still cleaning them out?
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALI, PAKISTAN ARMY: Yes so these are suspected miscreant positions.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: And will it be sometime before you clean out these positions do you think?
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALI, PAKISTAN ARMY: No, peace has been established, we have secured the area, there is no problem, no not much.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of Pakistan Army training exercise)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The Bajaur campaign was supposed to be over in a month but since last September they’ve made little headway. It’s been a costly campaign. The Pakistanis have lost more men here than NATO did in Afghanistan during same period.
On the ground the army admits they weren’t properly prepared when they first attacked.
MAJOR SIAD AYAZ, PAKISTAN ARMY: We never had any idea in fact as to the situation would be like this, but as...
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER; Why, what were you surprised about tell me?
MAJOR SIAD AYAZ, PAKISTAN ARMY: Because they are better prepared, we never estimated them to be that well prepared. The amount of weapons that has gone into the complete event, the way they have handled us, the complete trained army.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: These men are training for their next and more dangerous phase, soon they’ll move to take on the Taliban in their mountain strongholds.
It’ll be a crucial fight both for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bajaur is the Jihadi highway between the two battlefields.
(Excerpt of footage of destroyed city of Loe Sum)
But the fight so far could prove counterproductive. To get a foothold into Bajaur the army destroyed it. This was the capital Loe Sum, about 8,000 people lived here. All the shops and houses have been completely raised. There’s not a living soul here.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to Captain Khan): Why was there so much destruction here?
CAPTAIN KHAN, PAKISTAN ARMY: Well this place is known as Loe Sum and this was the main headquarters of the Taliban, and each and every house was a militant house, we faced resistance from each and every compound. So we have to take this action as the government wanted to clear it off.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: So the whole area was cleared of houses, shops?
CAPTAIN KHAN, PAKISTAN ARMY: Well we used force also infantry, army, we had to use air also at this place and then at later stage we used bulldozers to clean this area.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Civilians did die here, but the army won’t allow any investigation to determine how many. Thousands also fled for their lives. The danger is these scorched earth tactics may create more support for the Taliban.
(Excerpt of footage of refugee camp)
On the outskirts of Peshawar I tracked down many of the civilians who escaped from the fighting in Bajaur. They’re now living in this refugee camp bewildered, angry. The conflict in Bajaur has displaced 300,000 people.
Mohammad Zahir and his family are lucky to be alive. They fled just before a Pakistani missile demolished their house.
MOHAMMED ZAHIR, BAJAUR RESIDENT (subtitled): When the Taliban attacked, the government harassed the civilians. They started with the fighter bombers and helicopters, and from the ground, heavy artillery and tanks were shelling everywhere, houses were destroyed, women, children were injured and killed. Everyone was terrified and ran away from the area.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Today is a good day for Mohammad Zahir, he received his rations. He can feed his nine children, other days they go hungry.
The rage at this camp is not directed against the Taliban but the Pakistan army. Mohammad says it’s easy to understand why civilians become terrorists when they have lost homes and livelihoods
MOHAMMED ZAHIR, BAJAUR RESIDENT (subtitled): In our village, there was my neighbour Haji, a good man. He, his wife, daughter and grandchild were all killed by an airstrike. Two months later they found the ear of the grandchild in the rubble, the whole family, the entire village gathered to look at this ear. They were crying and grieving.
When people see these things, they are more than upset, they think about becoming suicide bombers.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Having consolidated their rule in the FATA the Taliban are reaching deeper into Pakistan proper.
They’ve taken over the province of Swat. Shaukat Khattak heard horror stories from people fleeing. He wanted to investigate so we sent him in. Like FATA it’s a no go zone for foreign reporters.
Swat is another sizable chunk of the nation that’s fallen to the Taliban, it’s also the militant’s furthest advance yet to the capital Islamabad.
Swat was famous for its river valleys, fruit orchids and rose gardens. The Pakistani’s call it their Switzerland. The Taliban rule here is particularly brutal.
(Excerpt of footage of school destroyed by Taliban)
The Taliban want to raise Swat to the ground and begin again. To start with they’ve destroyed 187 schools. Under the Taliban, girls’ education is forbidden.
This school was demolished the day before Shaukat Khattak arrived, people are still picking over the ruins of what was one of the biggest schools in Swat.
Eighty-thousand girls are now confined to their homes. One was brave enough to speak to Shaukat Khattak.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of young girl speaking, her face pixelated to hide her identity)
SWAT GIRL (subtitled): We will not to go school again, even if there is more security because we are scared. The Taliban are warning us they will bomb and destroy our school. The Taliban are very angry, the situation is getting worse every day.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Mohammad Ali runs one of the few schools left open in Swat’s capital, Mingaora. He closed down his girls section but he’s determined to keep the boys educated. It’s been his life’s work. The school is run by a charity and most of the boys are orphans.
But Mohammad Ali is running out of money as most of the patrons have left town.
MOHAMMED ALI, HEAD OF MINGAORA SCHOOL (subtitled): We believe there is no government. It is completely lost.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST (subtitled): Why have the Taliban become so powerful? Despite the military operations are they getting stronger by the day?
MOHAMMED ALI, HEAD OF MINGAORA SCHOOL (subtitled): This is beyond anyone’s imagination. Nobody can explain what’s happening.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The Taliban seize power by killing all rivals, tribal leaders, political opposition, police, anyone. They create a power vacuum and move in.
At Swat they’ve taken this to a new level. Every morning at the town square they leave their latest victims for all to see.
(Excerpt of footage of Swat town square, and dead body)
This morning it’s a decapitated body of a policeman. Eventually his colleagues pick up his corpse.
This gruesome ritual has been going on for six months. It’s an effective way to terrorise people into submission. No one knows who’s going to be next.
MOHAMMED ALI, HEAD OF MINGAORA SCHOOL (subtitled): Almost 100 per cent of the people are psychologically damaged. All of them are distressed. If you did a survey, everyone would tell you there is no hope. Nobody knows when the situation in Swat will return to normal. Everyone is traumatised and in total fear.
(Excerpt of footage of Swat, many shops closed)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The Taliban has silenced dissent and also crippled the local economy. The latest edict is that women are not allowed to go the markets.
Only a few venture here now, so shopkeepers are closing down their businesses. On Shaukat Khattak’s trip most were reluctant to talk with him on camera. The shopkeepers know to openly criticise the Taliban means death.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST (subtitled): Why are people so scared that with just one announcement?
SWAT SHOPKEEPER (subtitled): No.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST (subtitled): People are scared?
SWAT SHOPKEEPER (subtitled): I can’t say anything, I can’t say anything.
SHAUKAT KHATTAK, JOURNALIST (subtitled): Why can’t you?
SWAT SHOPKEEPER (subtitled): I can’t say anything. Enough. You know and I know why.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of masked Taliban leading two butchers into square to be denounced and flogged)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: To heighten the fear the Taliban hide their identities. They now control 1.3-million people in Swat, collecting taxes, patrolling their territory and meting out justice in the mosque.
Their local leader Mullah Fazlullah is never seen, he issues decrees over the radio and on billboards, his loyal henchmen enforce the orders.
MASKED TALIBAN MILITANT (subtitled): Allah has given us rules and instructions, which means in our daily life everything has to be decided by those rules.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Taliban justice is applied at all levels, from brutal beheadings to the seemingly benign.
These two butchers are being punished today because they were caught selling meat that was not prepared in the Islamic way.
(Vision of butcher being flogged and crying in pain)
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Last week Taliban rule in Swat received another boost, the Pakistan government struck a peace deal that suspends military action and allows Sharia law here.
Those who can have fled, the elite, the educated, the professional, like this family. For their safety we won’t reveal their identity or location.
Like most in Swat they can’t understand why the government seems so powerless. All this little girl can do is write a plea for help in the hope that someone listens and acts.
SWAT GIRL (subtitled): In Swat our future will be very dark. No one will be educated, there will be no female doctors. If we don’t go to school we will not be able to do anything for ourselves or others. Some of our lady teachers are often the only breadwinners for their families.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: I came back to Islamabad to get some answers but the nation’s capital reminds me of Baghdad, a city under siege. To protect itself from constant Taliban attacks the government has fortified the city with checkpoints and barricades.
Samina Ahmed is head of the International Crisis Group in Pakistan.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to Samina Ahmed): Has this city changed?
SAMINA AHMEND, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, PAKISTAN: It looks like it’s a battle ground, you have armed guards, everybody’s homes, you have paramilitary police, barricades.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: It's like a war zone?
SAMINA AHMEND, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, PAKISTAN: It is like a war zone and that in a year’s time.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: She’s warning there’s worse to come.
SAMINA AHMEND, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, PAKISTAN: It’s very fragile at the moment because they are, there’s not just one set of challenges, they are multiple challenges. They’re political challenges, they’re security challenges, they’re economic challenges and they’ve all come together at once.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Walled up behind security barriers many see the government as being out of touch and ineffective.
(Excerpt of footage of Pakistan President being sworn in)
ASIF ALI ZARDARI, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: I Asif Ali Zardari do solemnly swear that I will bear due faith and allegiance to Pakistan.
(End of Excerpt)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The new civilian government lead by President Zardari is struggling to establish itself after nine years of military dictatorship under General Musharraf.
Farzana Raja is a government spokesperson and protégé of Benazir Bhutto. Remarkably she claims progress is being made against the Taliban in the North West.
FARZANA RAJA, SECRETARY OF INFORMATION, PAKISTAN PEOPLE PARTY: So now the situation is different, we have adopted ‘Three Ds’ policies. ‘Three Ds’ means, number one is dialogue. Number two is development and number three is deterrence. So we have to have dialogue with the people who are living there who are the natives, who are the tribals, and who wants peace.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The militants whether you like it or not are firmly in control in the FATA and in Swat in particular. There is no government there. That the government in fact has gone, it’s crumbled, that the State doesn’t exist there.
FARZANA RAJA, SECRETARY OF INFORMATION, PAKISTAN PEOPLE PARTY: No, it’s not like that the State is not there. The State is there to protect them. I can tell you...
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: But how are they protecting them?
FARZANA RAJA, SECRETARY OF INFORMATION, PAKISTAN PEOPLE PARTY: I tell you one thing, of course the protection, security agencies are there. Police forces are there. We understand to fight, to have a fight with terrorists and terrorism it’s not an easy task. But of course we should not, we don’t have to surrender before them. We have to fight back. And the policy now we have adopted I think you will see the difference within a month.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The military for its part blames the government for the lack of success. They say there’s been no civilian program backing the military operations in Bajaur and Swat.
MAJOR GENERAL ATHAR ABBAS, PAKISTAN MILITARY SPOKESMAN: the enemy is very elusive and victory is not an event it is a process and this process also includes more than military effort, it includes civilian effort. So therefore as I said that unless and until the civilian effort is on the heels of military operation, a military can only bring security situation to a level where it stabilises temporarily but then unless and until the civilian effort is on the heels, the success of chances are very low in this.
SAMINA AHMEND, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, PAKISTAN: If there is a sustained democratic transition then this country could be a real asset a country of 170 million Muslims which is a stable democracy, but it hangs in the balance right now, no way of telling which way it will go.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: While Islamabad plays the blame game, the Taliban are opening up a second front in their assault on Pakistan.
(On Screen Graphic: Map of Pakistan and Karachi)
Karachi, deep in the south of the country is a giant sprawling city of about 15-million on the Arabian Sea.
Just as the mountains of the North West have proved impenetrable to the Pakistan army, whole sections of this city are now no-go zones.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to fixer): So where are we going now?
FIXER: Banaris, in the Pashtun area, Banaris is a Pashtun area where the Pashtuns are from the North-West Waziristan, from the NWFP, from North West part of Pakistan.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: There are more than a million Pashtuns from the FATA and North West Frontier here, creating Taliban cells is all too easy, they blend in and the state has little if no presence here.
Of late the Taliban presence has been bolstered, Pakistan and US attacks in the north have seen hard core Taliban make Karachi their new sanctuary.
(Excerpt of footage of Matthew Carney and fixer in car)
We’re just waiting for our contact to come, so we can be secure and he can show us around.
Initially our contact says filming will be no problem
FIXER: He’s telling you don’t feel insecure (laughs).
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: It’s no problem as long as we stay in the car, in the end we are limited to a 10 minute drive-by in the city’s slums.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of footage of Police press conference showing seized weapons)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The Taliban may prove elusive but their weaponry is on show for all to see. In the centre of town the police display an arsenal confiscated from an arms dealer. His client, Karachi based Taliban.
KARACHI POLICEMAN (subtitled): He didn’t say he was he was supplying it for political parties. In fact he was providing it to the terrorists.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: For the police it’s a minor victory but they can’t stop the flow, this is the third haul in a week.
KARACHI POLICEMAN 2 (subtitled): In the weapons cache there seven AK rifles, 44 ball rifles, 28 MM’s, two TT pistols, 11 hand grenades and more than 5,000 bullets.
(End of Excerpt)
(Excerpt of shots of Mumbai attack terrorists)
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: It enough weaponry for a major terrorist attack. Indeed the militants who left the shores of this city three months ago to terrorise Mumbai, killing more than 170 people, had a similar sized arsenal.
(End of Excerpt)
And this is what is worrying the Head of Police intelligence Jawed Bukhari. He manages 500 men with an extensive network of informers. He says the Taliban and other extremist groups like the Lashkar e Toiba and Lashkar Jhangvi are now joining forces for more attacks.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER (to Jawad Bukhari): Is there any co-ordination, cooperation between these groups?
JAWAD BUKHARI, HEAD OF POLICE INTELLIGENCE, KARACHI: Yes, yes as I said they rather complement and supplement each other.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: And how do they do that exactly, would they go on a combined mission together, or what would they do exactly?
JAWAD BUKHARI, HEAD OF POLICE INTELLIGENCE, KARACHI: You see they work in compartments like any other such organisations, like someone is raising funds, someone is planning, someone is preparing suicide bombers, and someone is dispatching suicide bombers, like someone is monitoring those activities. So they do get foot soldiers, there are a lot of lot of foot soldiers, those who act as the terrorist suicide bombers.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Karachi is not only providing the weapons but the mentality for violent Jihad.
Foreigners are not usually allowed inside Madrassas or Islamic schools but today we have been given rare access to visit the Jamia Binoria Madrassa.
They do little else here but learn and study the Koran.
There are about 4,000 students here from 29 countries. Like most, this Madrassa is a self contained community that feeds, clothes and accommodates its students. Many are poor who couldn’t afford an education elsewhere.
There are more than 2,000 Madrassas in Karachi far out of the reach of government control. And some do indoctrinate their students with violent Jihad.
Mufti Naeem is in charge and watches over his flock with 20 security cameras. His Madrassa he claims is a moderate one.
MUFTI NAEEM, HEAD OF JAMIA BINORIA MADRASSA (subtitled): The allegation that people are saying we are producing terrorists is a lie. I can only talk about my school and Karachi and nothing is happening like this. I have no knowledge about what the others are doing.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Saud Nadim is one of the foreign students from Saudi Arabia. He says his mission is to spread Islam and create a society governed by the Holy Koran.
SAUD NADIM, MADRASSA STUDENT: I wish that we had, like you know, we have the law according to the Sharia and according to what Allah (inaudible) wants. Because this is the main purpose of humanity. This is the main purpose of being a Muslim and of the humanity all of them.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: What do you think about the Taliban, their system, say in Afghanistan?
MADRASSA MINDER (interrupting): Sir, please don’t ask these questions from the students.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: But when I started to ask Saud questions about Jihad and his support of the Taliban my visit was terminated by the minder. He told me if I didn’t leave my tapes would be crushed.
So I headed for the Binori Town Madrassa, an institute known for its radicalism, but it didn’t get any better. Known as the University of Holy War, I only managed to film it for about 10 seconds.
From here Fatwas or Islamic laws have been delivered that justify violent Jihad and suicide bombings.
We just had to leave the area. My local contact was told by the Madrassa staff that foreigners with cameras are forbidden.
What is known about the Binori Town Madrassa is that most of the senior Taliban leadership were schooled and mentored there. In fact it seems almost every extremist Islamic group operating in South Asia has some ideological roots there.
On my last day of filming in Pakistan I travelled with a police crew at Sohrab Goth in Karachi.
They’re a pretty ragtag bunch, but they know the slums of the city are the new urban Taliban badlands.
This is where the Mehsud clan live, they take their orders directly from Hakimullah Mehsud, the new Taliban leader we filmed in the FATA.
Last month the police busted open a Taliban cell of 35 at this compound. A gun fight followed and Commander Hadi Bex lost two of his men.
HADI BEX, COMMANDER KARACHI POLICE (subtitled): We’re not going to back off and we are going to find them and fight them because they’re not friends of our country.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: Hadi Bex and his men probably saved the city from a major terrorist attack. The Taliban fled but inside their hide-out they found large stockpiles of weapons and chemicals.
HADI BEX, COMMANDER KARACHI POLICE (subtitled): These people are not loyal to the country or its people. They are dangerous to Karachi, Pakistan, to all Muslims and to the whole world. We will fight them to the very end.
MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: The police commander’s confidence is little more than a brave face, from the FATA, to the North West Frontier and to Karachi, Pakistan, the democratic state is teetering.
End of transcript