Taliban Dig Up Body Of Slain Rival, Hang It In Public

And you thought I was nuts all this time in what I said about the Taliban. This is really a great report here from The Long War Journal about the lengths that the Taliban are willing to go to intimade ANY opposition. Pir Samiullah was the main opposition to the Taliban in the northwest Pakistan area of Swat who was killed along with many of his top assistants - two of his top aides were beheaded in public after the Taliban raided their village. And while Samiullah was killed in the attack, the Taliban, just to drive their point home, came back after Samiullah was buried and dug up his body...and hung it in public for all to see. Hmm....what part of the Qur'an references the okay to dig up a dead muslim brother's body and hang it?

Here's some of the details of Bill Roggio's report:

Pir Samiullah, a rival tribal and religious leader opposing Mullah Fazlullah's forces in the Matta region of Swat, and eight of his followers were killed in a Taliban assault on Dec. 16. Two of his aides were subsequently beheadeed in public, while an estimated 40 of his followers have been captured. "The Taliban also torched the houses of Samiullah and 15 elders of his group," Daily Times reported.
After Samiullah was buried, the Taliban returned, dug up his body and hanged it in public. The Taliban made an example of Samiullah and those who oppose Fazlullah rule.
Samiullah was the first tribal leader in Swat to raise a lashkar, or tribal army, to oppose the Taliban. He claimed to have organized more than 10,000 tribesmen to oppose the Taliban and protect 20 villages. Samiullah and his followers are members of the Gujjar community, which is a group distinct from the dominant Pashtun tribal confederations that support the Taliban.
The Taliban targeted Samiullah and his tribal lashkar in late October. Fazlullah's forces killed seven members of Samiullah's tribal council and took more than 60 hostage after an assault on a tribal meeting.

Now, as we saw in Iraq, al Qaeda in Iraq did all they could to massacre the leaders of the awakening groups that formed and they were able to kill a number of the sheiks there that had formed those awakenings...but the key in Iraq was that the awakenings had a succession of leaders and the killings and assassinations did not stop them. This is probably why the Taliban are going to this extent, this desecretion, to try and stop the lashkar movement.

I'm sure this example that the Taliban made of this lashkar leader will be effective for him but I also have to believe that the news of this desecretion is going to travel far - and I'd say in the long run, this is the kind of extremism that sealed the fate of al Qaeda in Iraq. The Taliban are tolerated in northwest Pakistan to an extent but to think that the people of this area are going to simply back down from this and accept it....I doubt it.

For many, many months I have pointed out here that the Taliban are the scourge of this Earth. Does anyone doubt me now?

Taliban desecrate body of slain opposing tribal leader

After Samiullah was buried, the Taliban returned, dug up his body and hanged it in public. The Taliban made an example of Samiullah and those who oppose Fazlullah rule.
Samiullah was the first tribal leader in Swat to raise a lashkar, or tribal army, to oppose the Taliban. He claimed to have organized more than 10,000 tribesmen to oppose the Taliban and protect 20 villages. Samiullah and his followers are members of the Gujjar community, which is a group distinct from the dominant Pashtun tribal confederations that support the Taliban.
The Taliban targeted Samiullah and his tribal lashkar in late October. Fazlullah's forces killed seven members of Samiullah's tribal council and took more than 60 hostage after an assault on a tribal meeting.
The Pakistani government has been courting the tribes to support the efforts to take on the Taliban in the tribal areas and in the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. Tribal lashkars have been formed in Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Buner, Bajaur, Khyber, and Arakzai. The Taliban have ruthlessly attacked tribal groups organizing resistance.
The Taliban hold an advantage over the disparate tribal groups in organization and fighters. The Taliban are organized throughout the tribal areas and the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province, whilte tribal resistance groups operate independently. The Taliban "out-number and out-gun [resisting tribal groups ] by more than 20 to 1," a senior US military intelligence offical told The Long War Journal in October. And the tribes receive little support from the government and military. In many cases, they do not want government assistance.