Home Tags Posts tagged with "Hakimullah Mehsud"
Hakimullah Mehsud
Protesters in Pakistan have blocked the main supply route for provisions destined for NATO troops in Afghanistan to protest against US drone strikes.
Opposition politician Imran Khan called for the action and said it would continue until American drone attacks in north-west Pakistan came to an end.
He blames the drones for causing civilian deaths and for crushing any chance of peace with the Taliban.
But the timing of the campaign has led many to accuse him of appeasement.
Protesters in Pakistan have blocked the main supply route for provisions destined for NATO troops in Afghanistan to protest against US drone strikes
It comes almost a month after Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike at a compound in North Waziristan.
Hakimullah Mehsud had given some indications he might be prepared to talk but his death reportedly came just a day before a team of mediators was due to meet him.
His successor Mullah Fazlullah – a militant with a savage reputation – appears to have rejected any peace initiative.
This blockade is centered on a road in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is used to ferry goods to and from Afghanistan and has been building since the weekend.
Protesters have taken the law into their own hands deciding who can pass and go on to Afghanistan, and who can’t.
They have been harassing truck drivers and turning back vehicles carrying NATO provisions.
Pakistan says it is committed to allowing supplies through, but as yet has done nothing to stop the vigilante action, which is causing such huge disruption.
There are two crossings in Pakistan used to take NATO troop supplies to and from Afghanistan – the other crossing in south-west Balochistan province has not been affected by a blockade.
[youtube ZE5UH8fX9Rk 650]
Mullah Fazlullah has been named as Pakistan’s Taliban new leader, after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack, a spokesman has said.
Mullah Fazlullah is a particularly hardline commander whose men shot the schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai.
Hakimullah Mehsud was killed when missiles struck his vehicle in the North Waziristan region on 1 November.
Pakistan’s government accused the US of destroying its attempts to start peace talks with the Taliban.
Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan said that the drone strike was “not just the killing of one person, it’s the death of all peace efforts”.
The announcement of the new leader was made by the Taliban’s caretaker leader Asmatullah Shaheen at a news conference at an undisclosed location.
Mullah Fazlullah has been named as Pakistan’s Taliban new leader, after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack
When the news was announced, there was reportedly heavy celebratory gunfire in the area around Miranshah, the main town in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
Mullah Fazlullah led a brutal campaign in Swat between 2008 and 2009, enforcing hardline Islamic law that included burning schools, and public floggings and beheadings.
A military operation was launched to retake the area.
Mullah Fazlullah fled over the border into Afghanistan but Islamabad says he has continued to orchestrate attacks in Pakistan.
He was accused of being behind a roadside bomb in September that killed Major General Sanaullah Niazi, the top commander in Swat, along with two other military personnel.
Mullah Fazlullah was known for his radio broadcasts calling for strict Islamic laws and earning him the nickname “Mullah Radio”.
The shooting of Malala Yousafzai in October 2012 sparked outrage in Pakistan and across the globe.
The teenager had spoken out against the Taliban’s restrictions on girls’ education.
The Pakistani government said a delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to discuss peace talks with Hakimullah Mehsud but he was killed in the drone strike the day before.
There had been some hope the new leader of the Taliban would be more open to the peace initiative.
Regional Taliban commander Khan Said Sajna, said to favor such a move, had been touted as a favorite before the latest announcement.
[youtube XCsQ3GM1Rj8 650]
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said the death of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed the country’s nascent peace process.
“This is not just the killing of one person, it’s the death of all peace efforts,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.
Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador to protest over Friday’s drone strike that killed Hakimullah Mehsud.
The move came a day before a Pakistani delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Hakimullah Mehsud.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan accused the US of “scuttling” efforts to begin peace talks, and said “every aspect” of Pakistan’s co-operation with Washington would be reviewed.
Information Minister Pervez Rashid said: “The US has tried to attack the peace talks with this drone but we will not let them fail.”
Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador to protest over Friday’s drone strike that killed Hakimullah Mehsud
Pakistani PM 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 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 confirmed.
Pakistani media say Hakimullah Mehsud’s funeral has taken place at an unknown location in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Azam Tariq, vowed revenge, as Pakistan’s security forces were put on high alert.
“Every drop of Hakimullah’s blood will turn into a suicide bomber,” he said.
“America and their friends shouldn’t be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr’s blood.”
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.
As well as Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous Pakistan Taliban leader was killed in a drone strike, in 2009.
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.
The Pakistan government has strongly condemned the drone attack as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Hakimullah 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.
Hakimullah Mehsud, who led the insurgency from North Waziristan, had a $5 million FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
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.
Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has been killed in a drone strike.
The strike targeted a vehicle used by Hakimullah Mehsud with four missiles in the north-western region of North Waziristan.
Four other people were killed in the strike, including two of Hakimullah Mehsud’s bodyguards, intelligence sources say.
Several previous claims of his death, made by US and Pakistani intelligence sources, have proven untrue.
Pakistan’s government has issued a statement strongly condemning the drone attack, saying such strikes were a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Friday’s strike targeted Hakimullah Mehsud’s vehicle in the Dande Darpakhel, some 3 miles north of the region’s main town, Miranshah.
A senior US intelligence official told the Associated Press that the US received positive confirmation on Friday morning that he had been killed.
Hakimullah Mehsud had a $5 million FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people
Hakimullah Mehsud had come 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.
In January 2010 Hakimullah Mehsud gained further notoriety when he appeared in a video alongside a Jordanian who is said to have blown himself up, killing seven CIA agents in Afghanistan to avenge Baitullah Mehsud’s death.
Hakimullah Mehsud had a $5 million FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
He became leader of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009, aged 30, after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud died in a US drone strike at his father-in-law’s residence in South Waziristan.
The strike against Baitullah Mehsud reportedly came after repeated complaints by Pakistani officials that the Americans were not hitting militant groups who attacked targets in Pakistan.
Waliur Rehman, his second-in-command, died in a drone strike in May.
The attack targeting him comes on the same day that the Pakistani government announced it was about to send a delegation to North Waziristan to try to get peace negotiations with the Taliban under way.
Pakistani PM 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.
[youtube 7tsBfVLdu5c 650]
