Hakeemullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has said he was willing to sit down with the government for negotiations, but would never disarm.
The TTP chief released a 40-minute video to a British news agency on Friday, wherein he said calls for disarmament were a joke. “We believe in dialogue but it should not be frivolous,” Mehsud said. “Asking us to lay down arms is a joke.” Mehsud said by serious talks, he meant talks without any condition.
The release of the video follows three high-profile Taliban attacks in the northern city of Peshawar this month: an attack by multiple suicide bombers on the airport, the killing of a senior politician and eight others in a bombing and the abduction of 22 paramilitary forces on Thursday. The attacks iterated Taliban’s ability to strike high-profile, well-protected targets, even as the amount of territory it controls has shrunk and its leaders are picked off by US drones. In the video, Mehsud sits cradling a rifle next to his deputy, Waliur Rehman. Military officials say there has been a split between the two men but Mehsud said that was propaganda.
“Waliur Rehman is sitting with me here and we will be together until death,” said Mehsud, pointing at his companion. Pakistani officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. The Taliban said in a letter released on Thursday that they wanted Pakistan to rewrite its laws and constitution to conform with Islamic law, break its alliance with the US and stop interfering in the war in Afghanistan and focus on India instead.
Mehsud referred to the killing of the senior politician in his speech and said the political party, Awami National Party, would continue to be a target along with other politicians. “We are against the democratic system because it is un-Islamic,” Mehsud said. “Our war isn’t against any party. It is against the non-Islamic system and anyone who supports it.” Mehsud said though he was open to dialogue, the Pakistani government was to blame for the violence because it broke previous deals.
He did not clarify which. “In the past, it was the Pakistani government that broke peace agreements,” he said. “A slave of the US can’t make independent agreements, it breaks agreements according to US dictat.” The TTP chief said the Pakistani Taliban would follow the lead of the Afghan Taliban when it came to forming policy after most NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2014. “We are Afghan Taliban and Afghan Taliban are us,” he said. “We are with them and al Qaeda. We are even willing to get our heads cut off for al Qaeda.” Mehsud’s deputy Waliur Rehman dismissed any rift with the TTP chief, saying if politicians in Pakistan could unite on a one-point agenda of looting the country, the Taliban could also unite for the cause of jihad. The video was also a public debut for Ihsanullah Ihsan, the Taliban spokesman making the all-important phone calls to media houses after terror attacks to claim responsibility.
Many doubted any such person actually existed.
Pakistan Taliban ready to negotiate, not disarm
