Pakistan-based Taliban have been hit by internal rifts over attacks on civilians and consequently have begun to turn their guns on one another, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor on Monday.Last month, militant leader Qari Hussain Ahmad launched a series of violent attacks throughout Pakistan’s tribal belt that left many innocent civilians dead. On June 1, in retaliation, reigning Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud captured 17 of Ahmad’s men and threatened to kill them. “The incident highlights how the Taliban’s ideological frontiers have changed as Pakistani militants have regrouped and realigned their allegiances, leading to internecine violence throughout the tribal belt,” adds the report filed from Pakistan.
According to the experts quoted by the two correspondents who wrote the report, the Taliban’s central leadership in Pakistan is weakening and some factions have proved themselves all too willing to dispense with the ancient Pashtun codes of mercy and restraint — the kind that saw guests, women, and children as off-limits in war.
| A university professor from Peshawar told the newspaper that the Pakistani Taliban are not as organised as their Afghan counterparts. |
The writ of the Pakistan government is also absent in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), making it an attractive haven for the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
| Taliban militants have killed roughly 150 tribal elders and targeted political agents throughout FATA in recent years. |
The report says, “In their goals, Pakistan’s Taliban seem united, but in method, they sharply disagree. Two Taliban leaders — Ahmad and Mehsud — claims the report, represent a new generation of Taliban fighters who conduct their operations in Afghanistan from Pakistan and who are increasingly waging a war of militant Islam on Pakistani soil itself. Recognised as the “Amir”, in North and South Waziristan, Mehsud may seem like an unlikely poster child for moderation. Yet, at least in the public imagination, there remain certain lines not even Mehsud would cross, like killing innocent women and children. Through public acceptance and apparent benevolence, Mehsud has built a power base in the area.
Compared with Qari Hussain Ahmad, Mehsud is a “moderate”, whereas the former is said to have carried out most of the beheadings and targeted killings of tribal elders. He also launched a series of attacks against police forces in Tank in March that left many civilians dead, including women and children. His extremist views, residents add, are popular among Arabs, Uzbeks, and Afghan fighters. Mehsud has increasingly taken Ahmad to task for his indiscriminate killings, residents say. The tension finally reached a boiling point on May 31, when Ahmad’s followers attacked the Tank residence of Pir Amiruddin Shah, the political agent of Khyber Agency.
The newspaper claims that a power struggle has now ensued to decide both the leadership and the limits of the TalibanÂ’s campaign in Pakistan. Although MehsudÂ’s retaliation to the events of May 31 has been swift, tribal elders and residents say Ahmad has effectively undermined MehsudÂ’s rule. Whether Mehsud or Ahmad emerges victorious, the hostage incident is likely to determine the tone of the TalibanÂ’s activities here, a fact that has important consequences for the international community, adds the report.