Experts have viewed the latest statements by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as ‘’posturing’, according to Brisbane Times on Saturday.
The TTP had said they wanted to negotiate a ceasefire, in a video statement by their leader, Hakeemullah Mehsud. Imtiaz Gul, an Islamabad-based author and expert, said the Taliban were mounting an ‘’orchestrated campaign to improve [their] image’’ following three high-profile attacks in Peshawar. This month several suicide bombers struck at the northern city’s airport, a senior provincial politician was killed in a bombing, and on Thursday 22 paramilitary forces were kidnapped. ‘’They feel they have the upper hand. They have been trying to improve their image for some time through less indiscriminate attacks on ordinary people and more targeted assassinations or attacks on the police, paramilitary [forces] or politicians,’’ Gul said.
In a letter distributed to local news media this week, another commander of the Taliban demanded that Pakistan rewrite its laws and constitution to conform with Islamic law, break its unpopular alliance with the US, stop interfering in the war in Afghanistan, and instead focus on India to seek revenge for Pakistan’s defeat in the 1971 war with its neighbour. The demands appeared designed to appeal to popular local sentiment. There is increasing evidence that the Taliban’s hold on communities along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan has weakened after the murder of elders, teachers and health workers. Their extreme violence has revolted many ordinary Pakistanis. However, senior police officials say the Taliban retain a network of active militants and supporters across much of the country, despite pressure from counter-terrorism agencies and the army and attacks from US drones. There was no immediate response from Pakistani authorities to the Taliban video. Mehsud blamed the Pakistani government for the violence along the frontier with Afghanistan, and said his movement would follow the strategic lead of the Afghan Taliban after most NATO troops withdraw from the neighbouring country in 2014.
He reaffirmed his organisation’s support for Al Qaeda, much of whose remaining senior leadership is believed to be based in Pakistan. ‘’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.’’ Western intelligence experts interviewed in recent months say the exact nature of the movement’s relationship with the group founded by Osama bin Laden in the 1980s is unclear but unlikely to be as close as Mehsud claims.
