PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — An Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani warlord accused of masterminding the slaying of Benazir Bhutto has issued a letter ordering an end to attacks on security forces, witnesses said Thursday.
Baitullah Mehsud, who was named by Pakistan's Taliban movement last year as its chieftain and was alleged by the government to have links to Osama bin Laden's network, issued the order amid peace talks with the government.
The typed letter distributed Wednesday in the tribal region of Waziristan and in parts of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan warned that those who violated the order would be punished severely.
"Violators of the order will be publicly hanged upside down in main bazaars," added Mehsud, known to be one of the top militant commanders in the rugged region.
"The order is final and there will be no leniency."
A senior Taliban source confirmed the contents. "We have issued the letter," he said requesting anonymity.
The letter emerged came a day after officials said that the new government, which defeated allies of President Pervez Musharraf in elections in February, had drafted a peace agreement with Taliban in the tribal belt.
It also follows the release of a senior pro-Taliban Pakistani militant, Sufi Mohammad, earlier this week after his banned hardline group, Tahreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, pledged to renounce violence.
The government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a close aide of former premier and opposition leader Bhutto, announced he would launch talks with any rebels who would renounce violence soon after winning the elections.
The previous pro-Musharraf government and the United States Central Intelligence Agency both blamed Mehsud for Bhutto's killing in a suicide attack at an election rally in December. Mehsud has denied involvement.
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