Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan), Sep.15 (ANI): Pro-government militias in the Dera Ismail Khan area of Pakistan wear their hair and beards long, Taleban style, and support attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan, but are tolerated by Pakistan because they share a common enemy - the Pakistan Taliban, reports The Scotsman.
According to the paper, these militias know the enemy and the terrain, need no motivation and their willingness to fight means fewer army casualties.
But critics say Pakistan risks creating a monster by linking up with them and other militias.
Western powers are particularly concerned with the militia in Dera Ismail Khan because it still espouses militant Islam.
The group's logo proclaims the need for war in the name of God.
These fighters operate openly in the city. Toting automatic weapons, they travel the streets in battered pickups and keep a makeshift prison in their headquarters
"(Baitullah] Mehsud's fighters are killing the common men," The Scotsman quotes Baz Mohammed, a top commander flanked by heavily armed fighters, as saying.
"Where people are suffering from oppression, we have to fight. That is God's order," Mohammed said.
One fighter, Abdullah Haq, said he used to belong to the Pakistani Taleban but left last year in a disagreement over attacks on targets inside Pakistan.
On his mobile phone, he keeps pictures of captured Baitullah men - including two bound and gagged prisoners he said the group had executed last week after taking them to the tribal regions.
Pakistani army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas denied the military had any links with the Abdullah militia. (ANI)
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