BAITULLAHS MEN UNITED NO MORE- ONE OF THE PROBABLE SUCESSOR DEAD.

SOURCE-DAWN.COM
The Pakistani government has received reports that shooting broke out between two rivals for the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, and one of them may have been killed, the interior minister said on Saturday.
Pakistani news channels were carrying unconfirmed reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the movement's most powerful commanders, had been killed at a shura, or council meeting, held to decide who would succeed slain leader Baitullah Mehsud.

'The infighting was between Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud,' Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters.

'We have information that one of them has been killed. Who was killed we will be able to say later after confirming.'

A Taliban official in South Waziristan, where the meeting took place, told Reuters the government had fabricated reports of fighting between the different factions.

Noor Said, who had been a deputy spokesman under Baitullah, said: 'There was no fighting in the shura. Both Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah are safe and sound.'

Western governments with troops in Afghanistan are watching to see if any new Pakistani Taliban leader would shift focus from fighting the Pakistani government and put the movement's weight behind the Afghan insurgency led by Mullah Mohammad Omar.

An intelligence officer in South Waziristan said he had reports that Hakimullah Mehsud died in the shooting after heated exchanges between the rivals at the meeting held around 1030 GMT.

'According to reports Wali-ur-Rehman fired and killed Hakimullah Mehsud,' the official said.

State-run Pakistan Television (PTV) said there were reports that both leaders might have been killed in a shoot-out.

The shura was called in Taliban-controlled territory in Waziristan, a northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

DRONE ATTACK

Earlier in the day Hakimullah Mehsud had telephoned journalists to deny that Baitullah Mehsud had been killed in a missile strike by US drone aircraft on Wednesday.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday the government was 'pretty certain' that Mehsud perished in the missile blitz on Wednesday that also killed his second wife, a brother, seven bodyguards and destroyed his car.

Some analysts had anticipated the Pakistani Taliban's leadership would be split over who should become the next chief and the denial aimed to buy time until a new leader was chosen.

Hakimullah, who controls fighters in the Orakzai, Kurram and Khyber tribal regions, is regarded as one of the leading contenders to replace Baitullah Mehsud, who had a $5 million US bounty on his head.

Wali-ur-Rehman is another shura member and a former spokesman for Baitullah.

Qureshi had anticipated the death of Mehsud would leave a void in the Taliban movement that could lead to divisions.

'With him gone, I think there is going to be an internal struggle and disarray in their ranks, I think it will set in demobilisation. It is a great success for the forces that are fighting extremism and terrorism in Pakistan,' Qureshi told BBC radio late on Friday

HOW A SON OF PESH-IMAM BECAME PAKISTANS MOST WANTED MAN-STORY OF BAITULLAH

SOURCE-DAWN.COM
Born in 1972, Baitullah Mehsud had to suffer an early childhood dislocation when he moved, along with his father, from his Nargosha village to Landi Dhok in Bannu, close to the South Waziristan tribal region.

His father served as a Pesh-Imam (prayer leader) in a mosque in Landi Dhok before moving to Miramshah in North Waziristan and there also he led prayers in a mosque. Baitullah got a little religious education in Miramshah’s Pepal Madressah.

And it was in Miramshah where Baitullah is believed to have come into contact with Taliban militants who persuaded him to join them in the fight against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.He fought well in Afghanistan and established himself as a fighter, a senior security officer, who himself belongs to the Mehsud tribe, recalled.

Baitullah returned to his native South Waziristan after the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime in November 2001.

He shot to prominence after the notorious Taliban commander in South Waziristan, Nek Mohammad, was killed in a missile attack in Wana in June 2004. But he keep a low profile when the one-legged former Guantanamo detainee, Abdullah Mehsud, reined supreme in the Mehsud territory.

His real chance to claim leadership came soon after Abdullah kidnapped two Chinese engineers in October 2004. Miffed that the fiery militant commander had picked up an unnecessary fight with Pakistan’s security forces, a shura of the local Taliban removed Abdullah Mehsud and handed over the command of the Taliban in South Waziristan to Baitullah.

Known for his cool-headedness, the military hailed Baitullah’s ascension, called him a soldier of peace and signed the Sara Rogha agreement with him in February 2005.

The peace agreement collapsed in a matter of months, with both sides accusing each other of violating its terms, leading to the beginning of hostilities that took a huge toll.

Baitullah proved himself a tough warrior, taking due advantage of a territory that was native and treacherous, by defeating two successive military operations.

He catapulted to the limelight when he took hundreds of Pakistani soldiers hostage in August 2007. It was perhaps because of this singular feat that militants in the length and breadth of Fata at a 20-member shura meeting chose him as leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in December 2007.

Baitullah unleashed a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan. Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani once told journalists that the TTP leader was behind almost all attacks inside Pakistan.

According to a UN report, Baitullah was behind 80 per cent of the suicide bombings in Afghanistan.

He gained in stature to the extent that The Time magazine rated him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Not to be left behind, The Newsweek described him as more dangerous than Osama bin Laden.

Accounts vary about the actual strength of his force, but intelligence agencies put the number of his fighting force at 20,000 to 30,000, including 2,000 to 3,000 foreign militants, mostly of Central Asian origin – Uzbeks and Chechens.

He ran a number of training camps, including those indoctrinating suicide bombers – a weapon – he once called his own atom bombs.

A short-stocky man, Baitullah suffered from diabetes that once prompted reports of serious illness and then death in late 2008. Much to the disappointment of many, the man bounced back to host a big feast of lamb and rice to celebrate his second marriage to a daughter of the local influential tribal leader, Malik Ikramuddin. He, however, remained issueless.

According to one account, he was also the ghost writer of a book in Urdu, Carvan-i-Baitullah Mehsud, using the pen-name of Abu Munib. In the book, he described his ideology, war strategy and details pertaining to his movement.

The United States had announced a $5 million bounty on Baitullah’s head in March this year. But it took Pakistan several months before making up its mind to declare him as Pakistan’s enemy number one and announce a reward of Rs50 million for his capture, dead or alive, in June.

Trouble began to emerge for the TTP leader when the government announced the launching of a military operation against him in June. No ground offensive was launched and the government changed its tactics to use air strikes and artillery, besides imposing an effective economic blockade to stop fuel and food supply to the area. Thousands of Mehsuds fled the area.

He was under pressure both from within his own Mehsud clan, which wanted him to ease it off with the government, and his commanders who egged him on to fight off the military. For the first time, his decision and thought-making process was shaky, an official familiar with the situation in the area said.

He wouldn’t stay in one place for two months and would constantly change places. His nerves were on edge, he remarked.

It is useless to run away. I know some day, one day they will come and get me, one senior official quoted Baitullah as telling a fellow Mehsud tribesman.

Little did the man, described by a senior security official as someone with fox-like instincts to sense danger, suspect that he was exposing himself to a missile target by relaxing with his younger wife on a roof in Zanghara, South Waziristan

Where now for Pakistan's Taliban?

SOURCE: BBC NEWS
Baitullah Mehsud, the feared militant commander in Pakistan, appears to have ended his career in much the same way as he had started - by keeping a low profile.

Speculation about whether he is dead or alive is rife across Pakistan - from the mountainous tribal territory of South Waziristan to the capital Islamabad. But the ambiguity surrounding his reported death may well persist. Nobody has as yet been willing or able to confirm his demise. We do know that the missile which struck the remote corner of South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud's tribal stronghold, killed one of his wives. But only days later did news trickle out that the Taliban commander may have perished in the attack too.

Rapid response

The Taliban have a strategy of blocking traffic to any area where missiles hit, so that the number of casualties and the identities of the dead remain unknown. They often bury the dead immediately to remove evidence. As to whether he is dead or alive, there are three possible ways of getting some clarity.


•Communication intercepts may well pick up some news from key sources
•Ground intelligence might yield clues, although the government denies it has sources on the ground
•The Taliban may announce his death and could even announce his successor
If he is gone, it will lead to a dramatic re-orientation of his Pakistani Taliban movement, Tehrik Taliban.



Security forces have targeted Baitullah Mehsud's supporters
For a year after his 2004 appointment as the chief commander of the Mehsud tribe by the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Mr Mehsud stayed away from the limelight, allowing other local commanders to hog the headlines. In the past few months, he withdrew into the hole again, severing all contact with the press and reducing his mobility to avoid missile strikes from suspected US drones. The most immediate impact would be felt by his Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is now open to all kinds of possibilities. It may be headed by one of his trusted commanders and carry on as before, or it may transform into a more mainstream Taliban organisation with a wider focus.

TTP was formed in December 2007, and marked a watershed in the recent history of militancy in the region. It decisively turned against Pakistan, a move over which both Afghani and Pakistani Taliban had reservations because they believed this would distract the TTP from fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan. But Baitullah Mehsud displayed a remarkable talent for alliance making and was able to extend the TTP's influence to distant areas like Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and Kurram. This north-eastward extension of jihad into Pakistan - and away from Afghanistan - can be explained in terms of what some analysts call Mr Mehsud's own "locational disadvantage".

The Mehsud tribe, to which he belonged, inhabits the eastern two-thirds of South Waziristan, which means that they do not share the border with Afghanistan and therefore have no direct access to the Taliban movement there. he remote Pakistani region of Waziristan borders Afghanistan
The western parts of South Waziristan, and the entire North Waziristan region are dominated by the Wazir tribe, which controls the border and with which the Mehsuds often have running tribal feuds. Apart from geography, many analysts also credit Mr Mehsud's talent for forging extra-territorial alliances in a land where ideological considerations rarely cut across tribal affinities.

Not only did he manage to become the head of several Taliban groups across the north-west, last year he also forged an out-of-TTP alliance with his rival cousins, the Wazirs, in both South and North Waziristan, led respectively by Commander Mullah Nazir and Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Analysts believe it will be difficult for these groups to treat another Mehsud tribesman with equal respect.

There is already speculation about intra-Mehsud differences over succession, and analysts say commanders from other TTP groups may jump into the fray. Most analysts close to the Pakistani army say these differences are likely to weaken the TTP substantially, and give the army an upper hand in Waziristan region.


Tribal considerations

But there are others who believe the struggle for succession is not likely to undermine the TTP completely. They point out that the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan still remains the major arbiter in settling questions of succession among the Pakistani militant groups.
*MAN IN PITURE HERE IS HAKIMULLAH MEHSOOD THE MOST PROBABLE SUCESSOR OF BAITULLAH.

Recent history suggests that this leadership has often been swift in replacing commanders, and has invariably overcome clan and tribal divisions while doing so, they say. Furthermore, the infrastructure for recruiting, training and handling of suicide bombers, for example, is intact, and it is likely that the group managing this infrastructure may rise to any leadership role that is open.

But it is equally likely that elements sympathetic to the broader Taliban agenda of focusing on Afghanistan come to the fore, giving the Pakistanis a breather.

Pakistani Taliban commander to give up violence

TIMERGARA: Maulana Shahid alias Qari Shahid, a key commander of Miadan Taliban, announced on Tuesday that his group would lay down arms, leave the area and start a new life.
Talking to local journalists by phone from an undisclosed location, Qari Shahid, tehsil amir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, said that he was leaving the violence-hit area of Maidan along with his comrades. He didn’t disclose the number of Taliban under his command.
He said that Taliban leadership had promised the former Malakand commissioner Syed Mohammad Javid that they would not fight against government.
‘Security forces violated the peace deal and started sending troops to Maidan in April this year. The targeted local Taliban and in response they (Taliban) decided to fight only a defensive war,’ Qari Shahid alleged.
He said that Maidan Taliban didn’t want to fight against the state army. ‘I have tried my best to save Maidan from becoming a battlefield but I failed,’ he added.
To a query, he refused to tell about his destination and said he would continue jihad only against the infidels not the countrymen. To another question, he said that he was responsible only for himself and could do nothing about the rest of Taliban fighters in Maidan.
‘I have decided in my own capacity and some of my comrades accompany me,’ he added.
Qari Shahid, who led Taliban in Maidan for more than two years, was believed to have offered surrender to the government during the present military operation however the authorities concerned had turned down his offer

US strike kills Baitullah wife and father-in-law

The wife and father-in-law of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban have reportedly been killed in an air raid in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.

A missile, suspected to have been fired from a US drone, reportedly hit the home of Akramud Din, the father-in-law of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, early on Wednesday.


“I confirm that the female that was killed in the strike was the wife of Baitullah Mehsud,” a relative told the reposters.

Two missiles were fired, according to a senior government official in South Waziristan. Mehsud’s whereabouts were not known at the time of the attack.
Pakistan’s military has repeatedly targeted Mehsud in recent months, saying it is preparing to launch an offensive against his fighters in the tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan
The US has also apparently carried out a number of missile attacks in North and South Waziristan, which officials say have killed a number of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives
Washington does not confirm such attacks, but the US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are the only people operating the unmanned aircraft in the region.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Taliban leader's wife killed in missile attack (ctv.ca)