ID :
12519
Mon, 07/14/2008 - 19:28
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/12519
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Taliban benefiting from Pakistan's marble mine: report
New York, July 14 (PTI) A white marble mine in Pakistan's tribal area has become gold mine for Taliban and enabling them to sustain their terrorists activities, a mediareport said Monday.
The quarry in the Mohmand tribal district, situated strategically between the city of Peshawar and the Afghan border, is a new effort by the Taliban to harness the abundant natural resources of a region where there are plenty of other mining operations for coal, gold, copper and chromate, the NewYork Times said.
For four years, the reports said, the quarry laydormant because of Tribal squabbles and government ineptitude.
But in April, the Taliban appeared and imposed a firm hand. They settled the feud between the tribes, demanded a fat fee up front and a tax on every truck that ferried thevaluable treasure from the quarry.
Since then, Mir Zaman, a contractor from the Masaud subtribe, which was picked by the Taliban to run the quarry, has watched contentedly as his trucks roll out of the quarry with colossal boulders bound for refining in nearby towns, thereport said.
"With the Taliban it is not a question of a request to us, but a question of force," Zaman was quoted as saying. Atleast the quarry was now operating, he said.
The takeover of the Ziarat marble quarry, a coveted national asset, is one of the boldest examples of how the Taliban have made Pakistan's tribal areas far more than a base for training camps or a launching pad for sending fightersinto Afghanistan, the Times said.
A rare unescorted visit to the region this month, during which the Taliban detained for two days a freelance reporter and a photographer working for The New York Times, revealed how the Taliban were taking over territory, using the income they exact to strengthen their hold and turn themselves into a self-sustaining fighting force. "The quarry alone has already brought Taliban tens of thousands of dollars," Zamansaid.
The seizure of the quarry, the report said, is a measure of how in recent months, as the Pakistani military has pulled back under a series of peace deals, the Pakistani Taliban have extended their reach through more of the rugged 600-mile-long territory in northern Pakistan known as theFederally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA.
"Today the Taliban not only settle disputes in their consolidated domain but they also levy taxes, smuggle drugs and other contraband, and impose their own brand of roughjustice, complete with courts and prisons," the Times said.
From the security of this border region they pivot their fighters and suicide bombers in two directions: against NATO and US forces over the border in southern Afghanistan, and against Pakistani forces — police, army and intelligenceofficials — in major Pakistani cities.
Of all the minerals in the tribal areas, the marble from Ziarat is one of the most highly prized for use in expensive floors and walls in Pakistan, and in limitedquantities abroad.
The FATA Development Authority failed over the last several years to mediate a dispute between the Masaud and Gurbaz subtribes over how the mining rights to the marble should be allocated, Pakistani government officials familiarwith the quarry told the paper.
A government's mining corporation, Pakistan Stone Development Company, offered last year to invest in modern mining machinery, but even with the lure of added value, thedevelopment authority could not sort out the feud.
The arguments were fierce because the tribes knew that the Ziarat marble was of particularly fine texture and purity, comparable to Italian Carrara marble, according to aassessment done for the FATA Development Authority.
The Taliban came eager for a share of the business.
Their reputation for brutality and the weakness of the local government allowed the Taliban to settle the dispute in shortorder.
The Taliban decided that one mountain in the Ziarat area belonged to the Masaud division of the main Safi tribe, and said that the Gurbaz subtribe would be rewarded withanother mountain, Zaman was quoted as saying.
The mountain assigned to the Masauds was divided into 30 portions, he said, and each of six villages in the area wasassigned five of the 30 portions.
Zaman said the Taliban demanded USD 1,500 commission upfront for each portions, giving the insurgents a quick USD45,000.
The Taliban also levies a tax of USD 7 on each truck load of marble. With a constant flow of trucks out of thequarry, they are now collecting up to USD 500 a day, he added.
The local tribes, the paper says, are profiting along with the Taliban. Once the trucks reach the processing plants, the government, too, collects a hefty tax, nearly double that of the Taliban, Zaman said, though, the Times added, there was no way to verify the claim. The Taliban appeared to have noproblem with the government taking a share, he said.
The quarry in the Mohmand tribal district, situated strategically between the city of Peshawar and the Afghan border, is a new effort by the Taliban to harness the abundant natural resources of a region where there are plenty of other mining operations for coal, gold, copper and chromate, the NewYork Times said.
For four years, the reports said, the quarry laydormant because of Tribal squabbles and government ineptitude.
But in April, the Taliban appeared and imposed a firm hand. They settled the feud between the tribes, demanded a fat fee up front and a tax on every truck that ferried thevaluable treasure from the quarry.
Since then, Mir Zaman, a contractor from the Masaud subtribe, which was picked by the Taliban to run the quarry, has watched contentedly as his trucks roll out of the quarry with colossal boulders bound for refining in nearby towns, thereport said.
"With the Taliban it is not a question of a request to us, but a question of force," Zaman was quoted as saying. Atleast the quarry was now operating, he said.
The takeover of the Ziarat marble quarry, a coveted national asset, is one of the boldest examples of how the Taliban have made Pakistan's tribal areas far more than a base for training camps or a launching pad for sending fightersinto Afghanistan, the Times said.
A rare unescorted visit to the region this month, during which the Taliban detained for two days a freelance reporter and a photographer working for The New York Times, revealed how the Taliban were taking over territory, using the income they exact to strengthen their hold and turn themselves into a self-sustaining fighting force. "The quarry alone has already brought Taliban tens of thousands of dollars," Zamansaid.
The seizure of the quarry, the report said, is a measure of how in recent months, as the Pakistani military has pulled back under a series of peace deals, the Pakistani Taliban have extended their reach through more of the rugged 600-mile-long territory in northern Pakistan known as theFederally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA.
"Today the Taliban not only settle disputes in their consolidated domain but they also levy taxes, smuggle drugs and other contraband, and impose their own brand of roughjustice, complete with courts and prisons," the Times said.
From the security of this border region they pivot their fighters and suicide bombers in two directions: against NATO and US forces over the border in southern Afghanistan, and against Pakistani forces — police, army and intelligenceofficials — in major Pakistani cities.
Of all the minerals in the tribal areas, the marble from Ziarat is one of the most highly prized for use in expensive floors and walls in Pakistan, and in limitedquantities abroad.
The FATA Development Authority failed over the last several years to mediate a dispute between the Masaud and Gurbaz subtribes over how the mining rights to the marble should be allocated, Pakistani government officials familiarwith the quarry told the paper.
A government's mining corporation, Pakistan Stone Development Company, offered last year to invest in modern mining machinery, but even with the lure of added value, thedevelopment authority could not sort out the feud.
The arguments were fierce because the tribes knew that the Ziarat marble was of particularly fine texture and purity, comparable to Italian Carrara marble, according to aassessment done for the FATA Development Authority.
The Taliban came eager for a share of the business.
Their reputation for brutality and the weakness of the local government allowed the Taliban to settle the dispute in shortorder.
The Taliban decided that one mountain in the Ziarat area belonged to the Masaud division of the main Safi tribe, and said that the Gurbaz subtribe would be rewarded withanother mountain, Zaman was quoted as saying.
The mountain assigned to the Masauds was divided into 30 portions, he said, and each of six villages in the area wasassigned five of the 30 portions.
Zaman said the Taliban demanded USD 1,500 commission upfront for each portions, giving the insurgents a quick USD45,000.
The Taliban also levies a tax of USD 7 on each truck load of marble. With a constant flow of trucks out of thequarry, they are now collecting up to USD 500 a day, he added.
The local tribes, the paper says, are profiting along with the Taliban. Once the trucks reach the processing plants, the government, too, collects a hefty tax, nearly double that of the Taliban, Zaman said, though, the Times added, there was no way to verify the claim. The Taliban appeared to have noproblem with the government taking a share, he said.
