Amir Mir
December 06, 2013
ISLAMABAD: The fugitive ameer of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mullah Fazlullah has decided to use Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the headquarters of his terrorist outfit instead of North Waziristan which has been declared insecure by his aides due to the growing intensity of the CIA-run drone attacks.
According to well-informed sources in the security agencies, Mullah Fazlullah has returned to Pakistan and settled in Dir district to spearhead the TTP, amid mounting criticism from the Mehsud militants that he has miserably failed to avenge the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in the November 1 drone attack despite repeated resolve of the Pakistani Taliban to teach a lesson to all those who had aided the American CIA (which runs the US drone programme).
Hakimullah’s death has already led to a power struggle within the TTP which was evident even during the November 7 Shura meeting of the outfit which was held in South Waziristan to elect the new ameer. A non-Mehsud from Swat was chosen to lead the TTP after heated deliberations on the advice of the ameer of Afghan Taliban Mulla Omar who wanted the Taliban to stay united and avenge Hakimullah’s death in a big way like he himself did after Baitullah Mehsud’s death by targeting the GHQ building in Rawalpindi.
Subsequently, most of the 17 Shura members of the TTP declared loyalty to Fazlullah and approved his selection. Their prime agenda was to avenge Hakimullah’s death through a fresh campaign of suicide bombings targeting high-profile government and military personalities.
“We will target the security forces, government installations, political leaders and police,” so said Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the Taliban Shura, while announcing the selection of Fazlullah as the new ameer.
Branding the Pakistani rulers as American slaves, Bhittani had ruled out parleys with the PML-N government, saying the trick of peace talks has been used to eliminate Taliban leaders one by one. Despite repeated denials by the Nawaz Sharif government, the Taliban continue to allege that the present rulers have a hand in the killing of their ameer who was “trapped” into a dialogue and then “droned” by the Americans on a tip off from the Pakistani intelligence sleuths.
A day after Fazlullah’s appointment, the TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid had stated: “We warn the enemies of Allah — the Americans and their allies in Pakistan — that the blood of our ameer Mullah Hakimullah Mehsud will not be wasted. We will take revenge for his blood at every cost. This is a promise from the mujahideen of Islam and an obligation which they will fulfil very soon. The war between you and us is a rivalry, and you will have to bear the consequences. This is the start of our crusade against the government, which is nothing more than an American puppet.”
But a month later, many of the Mehsud militants from North and South Waziristan are disappointed with Fazlullah’s performance, saying he has simply failed to avenge Hakimullah’s killing. They point out that since the November 1 killing of Hakimullah, the TTP under Fazlullah has failed to carry out even a single suicide bombing in any part of Pakistan to avenge his death.
In fact, under Hakimullah’s command, it was the Mehsud tribe which used to provide suicide bombers to carry out fidayeen operations, targeting the government and military installations. In fact, the Mehsud tribe has suffered the most in the ongoing conflict due to the Pakistani military operations and the rising American drone attacks in the Waziristan region which had killed Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud. Therefore, as things stand, it seems the Mehsuds have decided to stay away from Mullah Fazlullah, making him to prove his might without their support. Under these circumstances, it was becoming quite difficult for Fazlullah to keep running the TTP affairs while sitting across the border in Afghanistan. Hence, he finally decided to return to Pakistan to physically lead the TTP.
The TTP spokesman has already announced that Mullah Fazlullah is no longer in Afghanistan and has reached the country’s tribal areas.
Shahidullah Shahid has also dispelled the impression about differences among various Taliban groups over the appointment of Mullah Fazlullah as the new TTP chief, saying the members representing Mehsuds in the TTP Shura had fully endorsed his selection on November 7, 2013. “Mehsuds can never quit the Tehrik-e-Taliban. Mehsuds are like head of this body,” he maintained last week, insisting that Mullah Fazlullah was appointed with consensus and he still enjoys the confidence of Mehsuds.
The TTP spokesman recalled that Mehsuds had wanted the ameer of Swat chapter of the TTP to head the umbrella organisation after the death of its founding leader, Baitullah Mehsud. “How could they have been against him now,” he asked.
Denying that Fazlullah was in North or South Waziristan where the TTP’s leadership cadre has been based in the past under Hakimullah, Shahidullah Shahid said that Fazlullah is now commanding the Taliban movement at an unknown location in the tribal areas. His comments came after some television channels reported that Fazlullah had reached Waziristan. Although the TTP spokesman tried to hide Fazlullah’s location, the security agencies believe that he is most likely stationed in Dir district, in an apparent attempt to avoid being spotted by the US drones which usually focus the tribal areas, especially the Waziristan region.
In fact, Fazlullah’s base of support is rooted in the northern tribal area of Bajaur as well as in the settled districts of Swat, Dir, Shangla, Buner and Malakand. Fazlullah used to rule the roost in these areas from 2007 to 2009 after the government had cut a peace deal with him. The private militia of Fazlullah has attacked Pakistan’s border outposts in Dir several times over the past few years.
Having returned home, the TTP ameer will be relying heavily on the jihadi network of his No. 2, Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, to resume terrorist activities across Pakistan in a big way. Introducing important organisational changes, Fazlullah has already removed Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani from the position of the ameer of TTP’s central Shura.
In his place, he has appointed Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, although he is already holding the most important position in the outfit after Fazlullah. With the appointments of Fazlullah from Swat as the ameer and Khalid Haqqani from Swabi as his deputy ameer, the command of the Waziristan-based TTP has clearly been shifted from the Waziristan tribal region to the settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, terrorism experts believe that keeping in view the November 21 US drone strike that struck a seminary outside the tribal areas in Hangu district and killed several key leaders of the Haqqani network, the possibility of another US drone targeting Fazlullah’s hideout in Dir, which is outside the Pak-Afghan tribal belt, cannot be ruled out.
If the CIA wants to take out Mullah Fazlullah with a drone hit, the experts say, it will have to stray far outside of Waziristan kill box, where 95 percent of the strikes have taken place since 2004.
Of the remaining strikes, there have been three in Bajaur, two in Orakzai, four in Kurram, and five in Khyber Agency, all in Fata.
Mullah Fazlullah to operate from Dir district - thenews.com.pk
December 06, 2013
ISLAMABAD: The fugitive ameer of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mullah Fazlullah has decided to use Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the headquarters of his terrorist outfit instead of North Waziristan which has been declared insecure by his aides due to the growing intensity of the CIA-run drone attacks.
According to well-informed sources in the security agencies, Mullah Fazlullah has returned to Pakistan and settled in Dir district to spearhead the TTP, amid mounting criticism from the Mehsud militants that he has miserably failed to avenge the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in the November 1 drone attack despite repeated resolve of the Pakistani Taliban to teach a lesson to all those who had aided the American CIA (which runs the US drone programme).
Hakimullah’s death has already led to a power struggle within the TTP which was evident even during the November 7 Shura meeting of the outfit which was held in South Waziristan to elect the new ameer. A non-Mehsud from Swat was chosen to lead the TTP after heated deliberations on the advice of the ameer of Afghan Taliban Mulla Omar who wanted the Taliban to stay united and avenge Hakimullah’s death in a big way like he himself did after Baitullah Mehsud’s death by targeting the GHQ building in Rawalpindi.
Subsequently, most of the 17 Shura members of the TTP declared loyalty to Fazlullah and approved his selection. Their prime agenda was to avenge Hakimullah’s death through a fresh campaign of suicide bombings targeting high-profile government and military personalities.
“We will target the security forces, government installations, political leaders and police,” so said Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the Taliban Shura, while announcing the selection of Fazlullah as the new ameer.
Branding the Pakistani rulers as American slaves, Bhittani had ruled out parleys with the PML-N government, saying the trick of peace talks has been used to eliminate Taliban leaders one by one. Despite repeated denials by the Nawaz Sharif government, the Taliban continue to allege that the present rulers have a hand in the killing of their ameer who was “trapped” into a dialogue and then “droned” by the Americans on a tip off from the Pakistani intelligence sleuths.
A day after Fazlullah’s appointment, the TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid had stated: “We warn the enemies of Allah — the Americans and their allies in Pakistan — that the blood of our ameer Mullah Hakimullah Mehsud will not be wasted. We will take revenge for his blood at every cost. This is a promise from the mujahideen of Islam and an obligation which they will fulfil very soon. The war between you and us is a rivalry, and you will have to bear the consequences. This is the start of our crusade against the government, which is nothing more than an American puppet.”
But a month later, many of the Mehsud militants from North and South Waziristan are disappointed with Fazlullah’s performance, saying he has simply failed to avenge Hakimullah’s killing. They point out that since the November 1 killing of Hakimullah, the TTP under Fazlullah has failed to carry out even a single suicide bombing in any part of Pakistan to avenge his death.
In fact, under Hakimullah’s command, it was the Mehsud tribe which used to provide suicide bombers to carry out fidayeen operations, targeting the government and military installations. In fact, the Mehsud tribe has suffered the most in the ongoing conflict due to the Pakistani military operations and the rising American drone attacks in the Waziristan region which had killed Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud. Therefore, as things stand, it seems the Mehsuds have decided to stay away from Mullah Fazlullah, making him to prove his might without their support. Under these circumstances, it was becoming quite difficult for Fazlullah to keep running the TTP affairs while sitting across the border in Afghanistan. Hence, he finally decided to return to Pakistan to physically lead the TTP.
The TTP spokesman has already announced that Mullah Fazlullah is no longer in Afghanistan and has reached the country’s tribal areas.
Shahidullah Shahid has also dispelled the impression about differences among various Taliban groups over the appointment of Mullah Fazlullah as the new TTP chief, saying the members representing Mehsuds in the TTP Shura had fully endorsed his selection on November 7, 2013. “Mehsuds can never quit the Tehrik-e-Taliban. Mehsuds are like head of this body,” he maintained last week, insisting that Mullah Fazlullah was appointed with consensus and he still enjoys the confidence of Mehsuds.
The TTP spokesman recalled that Mehsuds had wanted the ameer of Swat chapter of the TTP to head the umbrella organisation after the death of its founding leader, Baitullah Mehsud. “How could they have been against him now,” he asked.
Denying that Fazlullah was in North or South Waziristan where the TTP’s leadership cadre has been based in the past under Hakimullah, Shahidullah Shahid said that Fazlullah is now commanding the Taliban movement at an unknown location in the tribal areas. His comments came after some television channels reported that Fazlullah had reached Waziristan. Although the TTP spokesman tried to hide Fazlullah’s location, the security agencies believe that he is most likely stationed in Dir district, in an apparent attempt to avoid being spotted by the US drones which usually focus the tribal areas, especially the Waziristan region.
In fact, Fazlullah’s base of support is rooted in the northern tribal area of Bajaur as well as in the settled districts of Swat, Dir, Shangla, Buner and Malakand. Fazlullah used to rule the roost in these areas from 2007 to 2009 after the government had cut a peace deal with him. The private militia of Fazlullah has attacked Pakistan’s border outposts in Dir several times over the past few years.
Having returned home, the TTP ameer will be relying heavily on the jihadi network of his No. 2, Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, to resume terrorist activities across Pakistan in a big way. Introducing important organisational changes, Fazlullah has already removed Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani from the position of the ameer of TTP’s central Shura.
In his place, he has appointed Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, although he is already holding the most important position in the outfit after Fazlullah. With the appointments of Fazlullah from Swat as the ameer and Khalid Haqqani from Swabi as his deputy ameer, the command of the Waziristan-based TTP has clearly been shifted from the Waziristan tribal region to the settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, terrorism experts believe that keeping in view the November 21 US drone strike that struck a seminary outside the tribal areas in Hangu district and killed several key leaders of the Haqqani network, the possibility of another US drone targeting Fazlullah’s hideout in Dir, which is outside the Pak-Afghan tribal belt, cannot be ruled out.
If the CIA wants to take out Mullah Fazlullah with a drone hit, the experts say, it will have to stray far outside of Waziristan kill box, where 95 percent of the strikes have taken place since 2004.
Of the remaining strikes, there have been three in Bajaur, two in Orakzai, four in Kurram, and five in Khyber Agency, all in Fata.
Mullah Fazlullah to operate from Dir district - thenews.com.pk
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