[BBC.CO.UK] Pakistan's interior minister has said the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed the country's nascent peace process.Somehow my caremeter just isn't sparkin'...
The official Rantburg Sympathy Meter™ didn't budge so much as 0.1 givashits...
"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.
it's the size of the poop we give about your peace process.
Pakistan's security forces have been put on high alert following the US drone strike on Friday.
Insert horse, barn door analogy...
It came a day before a government delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Mehsud.
That meeting's cancelled...
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had pledged to talk with the Taliban to try to end its campaign of violence, which has left thousands dead in bombings and shootings across the country.
Hakimullah's campaign of violence has ceased. Somebody else's campaign will now commence. Talk to him.
Militants have in the past carried out retaliatory attacks after the killings of other Taliban commanders.
They keep carrying out "retaliatory attacks" whether we've whacked anybody or not. It's their nature.
Mehsud was killed along with four other people - including two of his bodyguards - when four missiles struck their vehicle in the north-western region of North Waziristan, a senior Taliban official told the BBC.Such is the destiny of all Pak Taliban leaders, though not, so far, of Afghan Taliban leaders. That fact raises a few interesting questions.
Pakistani media say Mehsud's funeral has taken place at an unknown location in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
"Is that his thumb?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Toss it in."
The Taliban's ruling council met on Saturday to choose a new leader. Unconfirmed reports say regional commander Khan Said Sajna has been elected to the top job.
The premium on his life insurance policy just jumped dramatically.
As well as Mehsud, the previous Pakistan Taliban leader was killed in a drone strike, in 2009.
And the one before him.
Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the US president's National Security Council, would not comment on any US government involvement or confirm the death but said it would be a serious loss for the group.
"Coulda been anybody, y'know. We ain't the only ones that didn't like him..."
The Pakistan government has strongly condemned the drone attack as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.They always do, don't they? Like clockwork.
Mehsud's death is seen as another setback for the militant group after the recent capture of a senior commander by US forces in Afghanistan.
We concentrate on Wazoo because that's where the al-Qaeda leadership lives, and where the Haqqanis rule.
Mehsud, who led the insurgency from North Waziristan, had a $5m (£3.1m) FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
I'm sure he only shot a few of them personally.
He came to prominence in 2007 as a commander under the militant group's founder Baitullah Mehsud, with the capture of 300 Pakistani soldiers adding to his prestige among the militants.
"Ugh! Hakimullah count many coup!"
His second-in-command, Waliur Rehman, was killed in a similar drone strike in May.
That was a violation of Pak sovereignty, too.
But BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says that however weakened the Taliban may be by this loss, they will fight on under a new leader.
Unless they don't, of course. Predicting the likely is easy money.
In a rare interview two weeks ago, Mehsud told the BBC he was open to "serious talks" with the government but said he had not yet been approached.
That's because the govt hadn't capitulated to all his demands yet...
Mehsud denied carrying out recent deadly attacks in public places, saying his targets were "America and its friends".
"Yeah. We're only after them danged infidels. And girls that go to school. And people who ain't devout enough..."
He had loose control over more than 30 militant groups in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Rather than maintaining lunatic asylums, Pakistain has militant groups. They have thirty of them to cater to various types of psychosis.