Battle for Pakistani Taliban's
militant soul By Amir Mir
ISLAMABAD - The removal of the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's naib amir or
deputy chief because he went behind the leader's
back in peace talks with the government threatens
to spark an internal war that could splinter the
umbrella organization of 40-plus Islamic militant
groups.
Maulvi Faqeer Mohammed was fired
by Hakeemullah Mehsudameer, commander of the TTP
or Pakistani Taliban, last week with militant
insiders saying the second-in-command was seen as
growing too close to the Pakistan government and
its security agencies.
Giving his
reaction, Faqeer reiterated his support for peace
talks with the government. "I support peace talks
between the Afghan Taliban and the United States
and also between the Pakistani
Taliban and Pakistan
government as there is no other option to restore
peace in the region", he said in a satellite phone
call to a Pakistani English daily, The News, made
from somewhere in Afghanistan, adding that he
learned from the media rather than the central
shura (council) of the decision to remove
him. ''I have no idea when and where the shura
held its meeting", he said.
Well-placed
sources in militant circles said the former
naib amir had being accused of having
contacts within the country's security
establishment, without the knowledge and approval
of the TTP top brass. They said Faqeer's tone had
changed since the Pakistan government expressed
its willingness last year to hold peace talks.
They pointed out that while Hakeemullah Mehsud
simply rejected Pakistani Interior Mehsud Rehman
Malik's November 2011 offer of negotiations,
vowing to carry out more attacks, Faqeer was more
welcoming. This stance eventually led to rumors
that the TTP had declared a ceasefire with the
government to pave the way for peace talks.
The removal of Faqeer was made public on
March 4.
"The TTP shura
(consultative council) met with central amir
Hakeemullah Mehsud in the chair. It felt that the
organization no longer required Maulvi Faqeer
Mohammad as the naib amir. From today, he
will be considered a common fighter and will no
longer enjoy the status of the naid amir."
spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the BBC from an
undisclosed location. He gave no reasons for the
removal of Maulvi Faqeer, who had been a close
associate of Hakeemullah Mehsud and a prominent
figure in the TTP's anti-US jihadi agenda.
Faqeer Mohammad told The News there was no
harm in talking to the government if it was
willing to accept the militants' demands for
restoring peace in the tribal areas. He claimed
the government had almost accepted all his demands
for signing a peace accord in Bajaur, but US
pressure became a major hurdle. "Our rulers' lust
for dollars never gets satiated and that is why
they suspended talks with us. We know well that
our rulers would be begging for talks with us if
the US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan", he
argued.
Asked about the allegation that he
was holding talks with the government without the
approval of the TTP leadership, Faqeer claimed
that he had sought permission from the TTP top
brass before holding peace talks with the
government. "Negotiations are part of war. When
the Afghan Taliban can hold talks with the US why
can't we talk to the Pakistani government?" Maulvi
Faqeer said.
Since its formation in 2007,
the TTP has maintained a stronghold on territory
in the Pakistani tribal areas on the Afghan border
from which it could train fighters against US-led
forces in Afghanistan and launch strikes at the
Pakistani state. More than a decade since the
US-led war on terror was launched, Pakistan has
suffered under a onslaught of bombings by the
group, which is also known as the Students
Movement of Pakistan.
Suicide attacks are
the TTP's preferred modus operandi, especially
targeting Pakistani security forces, intelligence
agencies and other symbols of the state. In recent
years, the militants have combined forces with
al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, threatening
to grow in reach and ambition.
Maulvi
Faqeer is wanted by both Pakistani and Afghan
authorities due to his involvement in cross-border
ambushes on the US and coalition forces stationed
in Afghanistan, as well as attacks on Pakistani
border posts in the Bajaur Agency. He is also
suspected of sheltering al-Qaeda leader Dr Ayman
al-Zawahiri in 2006.
In June and July
2011, Faqeer claimed responsibility for attacks on
a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint and on several
border villages in Bajaur Agency. "Our fighters
carried out these two attacks and we will launch
more such attacks inside Afghanistan and in
Pakistan", said Maulvi Faqeer in a live radio
broadcast.
Asked if Faqeer had been
expelled from the TTP, the spokesman said: "He
will remain a part of the TTP, but will work as a
common fighter. I have been directed by our
commander Hakeemullah Mehsud to inform the media
about the development".
Ehsanullah Ehsan
said no one had been shortlisted by the TTP
leadership to become the next naid amir and
that the shura would take a decision on the
issue during its next meeting. Faqeer, who hails
from FATA's Bajaur tribal agency, has been deputy
since TTP was formed in December 2007 in Peshawar.
Baitullah Mehsud was then chosen as
central amir, while two key Taliban leaders in
North Waziristan and South Waziristan - Hafiz Gul
Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir respectively, were
appointed as deputies.
Faqeer was
appointed as third-in-command while Maulvi
Fazlullah alias Mullah Radio was made
secretary-general of the TTP and head of the Swat
chapter.
At the time, Faqeer was a serious
contender for the top position, but had to settle
for deputy head as a majority wanted to keep the
leadership within the Waziristan tribal area,
which was their major stronghold. Bajaur district
is located in the extreme north of the tribal
areas and is some distance from Waziristan.
Following the death of Baitullah Mehsud in
a US drone attack in August 2009, Faqeer swiftly
told the BBC that he would assume temporary
leadership of the TTP. However, two days later
Faqeer was forced to announce the appointment of
commander Hakeemullah Mehsud as the new amir.
"I can confirm that the TTP shura has
elected Hakeemullah Mehsud as the new chief of the
Pakistani Taliban, and it was a unanimous
decision", Faqeer told the Associated Press on
August 22, 2009. This episode suggest that Faqeer
has had an uneasy relationship with Hakeemullah
Mehsud since the latter's elevation as the TTP
amir.
The Pakistan government's offer of
peace talks to militant groups, including the TTP,
was made in accordance with a resolution adopted
jointly during an All Parties Conference on
October 18, 2011. The conference was presided over
by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and attended
by all important political parties.
Reacting to the peace offer without
waiting for his amir's counsel, Faqeer welcomed
the initiative. He set two preconditions to talks:
one, the government should reconsider its ties
with the US; and, two, enforce Sharia law in the
country.
In contrast, Hakeemullah
vigorously rejected the offer, stating that the
TTP's war on the state of Pakistan would continue
as long as it sided with the forces of the
infidel.
"We are all loyal soldiers of
Mullah Mohammad Omar (the fugitive amir of the
Afghan Taliban). He is our leader, guide and amir.
The services and sacrifices made by
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan for the Islamic Emirate
of Afghanistan have been proven over time and our
association with them will only continue to
strengthen", he said in a special message.
Media reports that the Pakistani Taliban
had declared a ceasefire with the government of
Pakistan in support of peace talks included one
ran by Agence France-Presse on November 22, 2011
which quoted an unnamed Taliban commander. The
anonymous TTP leader, claiming to be part
10-member negotiating committee, is believed to
have been Faqeer. He said that two rounds of peace
talks had already taken place.
TTP
spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had to quickly refute
that any peace talks had taken place between the
two sides. "At the moment, the chapter of peace
talks with the Pakistan government is completely
closed," he told AFP by phone from an undisclosed
location.
Faqeer again contradicted this a
few weeks later, in December 2011, saying that the
TTP and the government negotiating peace.
"Our talks are going in the right
direction," Faqeer told Reuters. "If negotiations
succeed and we are able to sign a peace agreement
in Bajaur, then the government and the Taliban of
other areas like Swat, Mohmand, Orakzai and South
Waziristan tribal region will sign an accord.
Bajaur will be a role model for other areas," he
added.
In Bajaur, Faqeer said the
government and the Taliban had ceased fighting to
enable a jirga (tribal council) comprising
notables from the tribal areas and settled
districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and some
government and security officials.
"The
government has finally shown some courage through
the All Parties Conference in Islamabad that has
helped restore the trust of the Pakistani Taliban
groups in the state institutions. The Pakistani
Taliban were earlier reluctant to seriously
consider the peace offers of the government as it
had lost its credibility by arresting some senior
Taliban commanders in Swat, who were invited for
peace talks", said Faqeer, adding that the
government had released 145 local militants as a
goodwill gesture.
However, Faqeer's
disclosure about peace talks was strongly refuted
by another Taliban commander who introduced
himself as Mullah Dadullah and who claimed to be
the Taliban leader in Bajaur Agency. He said it
was Faqeer's personal decision to enter into talks
with the government and this should not be
considered as a unanimous decision of the Bajaur
Taliban or the TTP.
Ehsanullah Ehsan had
to again deny TTP-government talks were underway,
stating that there would be no negotiations until
the government imposed Islamic law in the country.
"Talks by a handful of people with the government
cannot be deemed as the Taliban talking", he told
The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed
location.
The claims and counter claims
have led to speculation over a serious split
within the TTP, with the removal of Faqeer
unlikely to end the power struggle.
Faqeer's supporters in Bajaur Agency have
reacted strongly, threatening to form their own
group. Four important Taliban leaders of Bajaur
loyal to Maulvi Faqeer called local reporters a
day after his removal and rejected Hakeemullah's
decision to sack their commander from his post as
one-sided.
Maulana Abdul Mutalib, Fazal
Khan, Maulvi Abdullah and Liaqat Khan said the
decision was untimely and would sow discord among
Pakistani Taliban militants. "The decision of the
TTP's central shura has disappointed Bajauri
Taliban," a Pakistani English daily quoted one of
them saying.
Amir Mir is a
senior Pakistani journalist and the author of
several books on the subject of militant Islam and
terrorism, the latest being The Bhutto murder
trail: From Waziristan to GHQ.
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