[DAWN] A key faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) announced Wednesday that it was splitting from the bad boy outfit following bloody festivities with a rival group.The break-away faction belongs to the Mehsud tribe, widely considered the most important of the various groups that comprise the umbrella TTP which has fought the Pak government since 2007.
Azam Tariq, a front man for the group, said the breakaway faction would be lead by Khalid Mehsud, famously known by the name of Khan Said alias Sajna.
"We announce our defection from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, we have chosen Khalid Mehsud as the new leader for South Wazoo," announced Tariq.
Khalid Mehsud was a key ally of former Mehsud Taliban chief and former TTP number two Waliur Rehman Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike in May last year.
Speaking in an interview at
He claimed that the present TTP regime was carrying out kabooms on public places with bogus names and money was also being extorted from madrassahs and other institutions which, he said, was unacceptable.
"The TTP leadership has fallen into the hands of a bunch of conspirators, the umbrella organization is involved in criminal activities like robbery and extortion," he said.
He said other Taliban factions were also becoming distrustful of the main umbrella organization.
Azam further said that the group had tried to reform the TTP, claiming that, despite its efforts, conniving elements in the organization had emerged successful.
The front man said that these elements had handed over management of the central organization into the hands of "shadowy forces".
Two factions of the TTP, the umbrella grouping for disparate bad boy organizations, have been locked in bloody festivities for the past several weeks.
Differences emerged in the bad boy organization after former chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a US drone in November last year and a crisis developed over the future leadership of the group.
Khalid Mehsud was a contender for the TTP's top slot after Hakimullah's death, but the post eventually was handed to Mullah Fazlullah
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
who hails from the scenic Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
valley and is the first non-Mehsud to lead the TTP.
The conflict brought those backing Khalid Mehsud against supporters of Taliban capo Sheheryar Mehsud, who claim to be the followers of the late Hakimullah Mehsud.
Infighting among the factions has also impeded and undermined what little progress had been made in peace negotiations with the government.