Has Hakimullah died of wounds?
Monday, February 01, 2010
Military spokesman says checking reports; TTP denies
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Military authorities and government functionaries were not yet ready to confirm reports about the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud even though news started circulating again on Sunday that he had succumbed to injuries suffered in a US drone attack in South Waziristan on January 14.
Major Gen Athar Abbas, military spokesman and Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said efforts were being made to check the reports about Hakimullahs death. We neither confirm nor deny these reports, he told The News.
Government functionaries in Peshawar, Islamabad and in the tribal areas were also reluctant to make a categorical statement about this sensitive issue. In fact, most were following the intense media coverage on the Hakimullah issue.
The Taliban again denied allthe reports and insisted that Hakimullah was alive. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told reporters from an undisclosed location on Sunday that this was part of the propaganda against the Taliban. He reminded that Hakimullah, on two occasions after the January 14 drone strike by the US in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, recorded his voice and sent the audio-tapes to the media to prove that he was alive.
The reports about Hakimullahs death on Sunday started circulating when the state-run TV channel flashed the news without citing any sources that the Taliban commander had succumbed to his injuries in the Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency and had been buried in the village of his father-in-law in that area. As the state TV channel was running the news, it was felt this must have been cleared and confirmed by the government. However, neither the government nor the military was willing to confirm the news.
Certain other TV channels also carried the news, but most quoted the official TV channel for the story. The news was also carried by international wire services and newspapers.
It may be added that some US officials have been privately saying that they believed Hakimullah had died. But they too didnt want to publicly confirm the news.
The unconfirmed reports stated that Hakimullah was injured in the neck, chest and legs in the US drone attack on a compound in Shaktoi on January 14 and was brought to Tajaka village in the Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency for treatment at the house of his father-in-law. A doctor was reportedly summoned from Hangu to treat him. Another report said he was taken to two private hospitals where doctors said the injured man would not survive. This report claimed Hakimullah went into coma and may have died on January 26. To make these reports credible, those convinced that Hakimullah is dead maintain that villagers in Orakzai Agency were warned by the Taliban not to disclose this piece of information.
The problem is that none of the sources providing the above-mentioned information were willing to be quoted. Therefore, the most authentic confirmation would come when the Taliban admit as they did eventually in case of Baitullah Mehsud that Hakimullah indeed had died after succumbing to his injuries.
Hakimullah, it may be recalled, earned the wrath of the US when he was seen in a videotape sitting with the Jordanian suicide bomber Dr Human Khalil al-Malal al-Balawi, who attacked the CIA station in Khost in southern Afghanistan late last month and killed seven CIA agents and injured six others. Al-Balawi in that tape pledged to avenge the death of Baitullah Mehsud, who too was killed in a US drone strike on August 5, 2009 in South Waziristan.
Agencies add: Intelligence officials said reports indicated Hakimullah was taken to Orakzai tribal region after the drone attack on two vehicles, and that he may have been killed or wounded.
A tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsuds funeral in the Mamozai area of Orakzai on Thursday. He said Mehsud was buried in Mamozai graveyard after he died at his in-laws home. The elder spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Taliban.
Has Hakimullah died of wounds?