Finally Taliban’s Mehsuds confess killings innocent and extortion

Although analysts see Mehsud faction’s parting its ways with the banned terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) as a big blow to the proscribed outfit, one should not miss the point that in fact Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud themselves set the precedent for slaughtering innocent Muslims and extorting hefty amounts.

It was amazing that the spokesman of TTP’s Mehsud faction Azam Tariq told a press conference that the TTP’s control has fallen into the hands of invisible forces due to the presence of a gang of plotters within.

He forgot to recall that since Abdullah Mehsud to Baitullah and Hakimullah Mehsuds, Taliban terrorists massacred innocent people and Pakistani security officials. They butchered people like animals. Who funded them since their formal announcement of launching in 2007 to date? Had they not extorted amount from Pakistani traders and wealthy people after kidnapping them or threatening them to kill?

So, Azam Tariq’s press conference was tantamount to confession of the Taliban terrorists. Who he wanted to befool through that presser? It means that there are those in Taliban who have not given Azam Tariq’s Mehsud group their share in the extorted money!

On the other hand, former diplomat and member of Taliban negotiation committee, Rustam Shah Mohmand said that the separation would prompt Mehsud group to engage in separate talks with the government and try to secure a peace accord.

Expert of tribal areas and Afghan affairs, Rahimullah Yousafzai terms the separation as breaking of the backbone of the Taliban. This may lead to further disintegration of the outlawed TTP, he added.

He said that the controversy over sect, cult and ideology has given rise to mistrust and misgivings among other factions of the TTP.

“We tried our best for reforms and unity within the TTP, but the gang of plotters seemed to have succeeded,” said Azam Tariq who is also the member of TTP’s central shura.

However, the analysts have warned that Mehsud group’s links with ‘Punjabi Taliban’ and al-Qaeda may be dangerous.