Are cracks appearing in the Tehrik-i-Taliban?

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Mullah Fazulullah, leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, has refused t

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Mullah Fazulullah, leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, has refused to accept Khan Said Sajna as the new Chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP). The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan is a Taliban movement of Pakistan, often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, and is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the northwestern federally-administered tribal areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan.

According to sources, Mullah Fazlullah has categorically refused to accept any Mehsud as the new Chief of TTP, stating that TTP must have come out from one family or one clan and other people should also be given a chance to lead the group. Sources confirmed that Fazlullah has indicated support of Arab, Chechen, and Tajik splinter groups that are no more part of Taliban Afghanistan and are living in restive areas of the tribal belt of Pakistan.

TTP Majlis-e-Shura (the Central Advisory Committee) met at an undisclosed location in the North Waziristan tribal area on Saturday and placed Khan Said, alias Sajna, as the new Chief of TTP who received 43 out of 60 votes of the members of the TTP Shura. However, other groups of TTP, including the Bajur group, refused to accept this development and helped a meeting in Kunar, a province of Afghanistan, and decided to install Mullah Fazlullah as the new chief of TTP.

Afghan war experts believe that the TTP decision to install another Mehsud as Chief confirms that the TTP has become a political party instead of a guerrilla warfare outfit. All previous chiefs were one family and one clan from the Mehsud tribe.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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