Differences over talks

 

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday suffered a huge setback after a powerful faction of the Mehsud militants parted ways with the mainstream Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and formed their own independent organisation.
“It is unfortunate that the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban has fallen into the hands of naive persons and conspirators bringing a bad name to the Jihadi organisations in the world,” said Azam Tariq, a former Taliban spokesman and one of the leaders of the newly-formed faction.

Referring to the TTP, Azam Tariq argued that most of its people had forgotten the spirit of Jihad and were involved in kidnapping for ransom and killing of innocent people.Talking to The News on phone from somewhere in North Waziristan, he said they had used all options to save the militant network from disintegration but in vain.

“After days of thinking and discussions, we finally decided to abandon Mullah Fazlullah and the people around him. The majority members of our Taliban network have been involved in un-Islamic activities. They are engaged in the killing of innocent people, kidnapping for ransom and extortions which had never been the objectives of our slain leader Baitullah Mehsud,” said Azam Tariq, a former schoolteacher.

Azam Tariq, whose real name is Raees Khan, said his new group will operate under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan-South Waziristan Agency (TTP-SWA).He said Khalid Mehsud, whose real name is Khan Said alias Sajna, would lead the new faction of the Mehsud Taliban.

He said all the militants in Pakistan’s troubled South Waziristan would work under Khalid Mehsud’s leadership.Khalid Mehsud belongs to the Shabikhel sub-section of the Mehsud tribe. He attended a college and studied up to the intermediate level. Later, Khalid Mehsud diverted his attention towards religious education and obtained a degree in religious studies.

Azam Tariq said they would work under the leadership of Mulla Mohammad Omar, the supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban.“The prime purpose of our organisation is to fight alongside the Afghan Taliban under the leadership of Mulla Mohammad Omar against the foreign forces in Afghanistan,” he insisted.

The Taliban commander said it was on December 14, 2007 when all the militant factions in the country joined hands and formed one organisation, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and had pledged to work for the enforcement of Islamic rule in the country.

He felt that after Mullah Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Radio for running an FM radio channel and using it to impart religious teaching in Swat, became the leader of the TTP for all of Pakistan, he forgot the mission of Baitullah Mehsud and started killing innocent people and organising kidnappings for ransom.

However, Azam Tariq didn’t agree when reminded about the general impression that the tenures of Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud proved the most violent in Pakistan’s history in terms of suicide bombings and killing of fellow Muslims in the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that differences between the Pakistani Taliban leadership emerged over the recent peace talks with the government.Asked if the talks between the government and the TTP had caused a rift among them, he said they would prefer the peace talks with the government if seriousness and sincerity was shown.

“We wanted to find out a peaceful solution to the conflict and favoured the peace talks with the government. However, those Pakistani Taliban sitting in Afghanistan and running the group from across the border opposed the talks,” Azam Tariq said, adding that there were several reasons that led to differences among them.

The Taliban suffered a setback when two major factions of Mehsud tribal militants started fighting over the leadership of the organisation for South Waziristan.“One militant faction led by commander Khan Said and another by commander Sheharyar killed dozens of people from each other’s factions over the status of the Ameer or leader of the faction in South Waziristan. Fazlullah took notice and removed Khan Said and appointed Maulvi Omar Khalid Khurasani in his place. This aroused strong criticism from the Mehsud Taliban who rejected the decision,” said an insider of the militant group.

Pakistani security officials, on the other hand, felt that frequent military operations had weakened the Taliban and they had no other option now except to lay down arms.The Afghanistan-based Mullah Fazlullah and his men didn’t react to the allegations of Azam Tariq and the decision by the Khan Said Sajna group to quit the TTP.

One of his senior commanders, however, said that differences between Fazlullah and Khan Said Sajna were quite serious and there was no place for Sajna and his men in the network.“Mullah Fazlullah would have to quit if Sajna and his men weren’t expelled from the network. They were constantly violating the TTP principles despite repeated warnings,” the Taliban commander said.

Pleading anonymity, he said the TTP had already suspended four members of the Sajna group from the high council, political council, disciplinary council and justice council and sacked other people of the group from their positions.

He claimed that senior members of the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda made sincere attempts to remove the mistrust and resolve the issues among the TTP faction leaders, but it didn’t work out.

He said an emergency meeting of the TTP Shura was convened on Wednesday to consider how to respond to the serious allegations made by Azam Tariq against the Taliban leadership. “The Shura didn’t reach any conclusion and it is now expected to meet tomorrow (Thursday),” he added.