The report by Tahir Ali in the Lahore daily, The Nation that the success of Pak army’s Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan Agency has forced different rival groups of militants to close ranks does not come as a surprise. Instead it reinforces the view that the militant handlers at the GHQ and ISI have messed up their job by working overtime to split the TTP in order to spite at Maulana Fazlullah.
Frankly, the recent attacks on security forces mounted by Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) and Commander Sajna’s South Waziristan based group leave no doubt that the Pak army had failed in its primary objective of weakening the TTP. These two groups had once separated from Mullah Fazlullah’s Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and have now begun to undertake joint ventures with the central TTP, as Tahrir also reports.
On Sept 20, while announcing the death of Taliban Commander Hassan Afghani in clashes with security forces in Boya area, TTP central spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid said, “Hassan was killed during a fight against Pakistan Army in Boya in North Waziristan. The (Taliban) attack was jointly carried out by local Taliban (from North Waziristan), the Mehsud Taliban (from South Waziristan) and TTP,” he said.
From this narrative flows the Tahrir hypothesis that despite their internal differences which sometimes turn into gory clashes, Taliban factions coordinate with each other when it comes to fighting against the Pakistani security forces or attacking sensitive government installations.
It is difficult to disagree with him.
Mullah Fazlullah has led the funeral prayer of Commander Muhammad Hassan Afghani. This fact alone is a testimony to the respect and goodwill the slain commander had commanded. Hasan, who hailed from Kabul, was released from an Afghan jail recently. For the Pak army his scalp was undoubtedly the first reward badly needed to give an image makeover to Zarb-i-Azb which has been underway since June 15, 2014.
12 photographs of the funeral showed Sayed Khan Sajna standing behind Fazlullah during the prayers. As pointed at the outset, Sajna, who leads his own faction of the TTP in the Mehsud area of South Waziristan, was reported to have separated from Fazlullah some time ago.
Sajna and his local rival in South Waziristan, Sheharyar Mehsud, have reportedly been made to smoke the peace pipe by Mullah Fazlullah. After his counselling, the two factions met at Dattakhel and named Sajna the interim head of the TTP in the Mehsud area for two months. After Eid-ul- Azha in early October, Fazlullah will make them sit together and select a permanent chief, according to reports.
This is bad news for the security forces. After its clashes with the Sheharyar group, Sajna had established back-channel contacts with the government and this gave rise to the prospects of his group deserting the TTP. The Sajna group has since rejoined the fight against the military.
Now cut to the Aug 15 attack on two airbases in Quetta. Both Mohmand Taliban and Mehsud Taliban said it was their attack in coordination with Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesperson of the Mohmand Taliban and Azam Tariq, the media coordinator of the Mehsud Taliban, have supported each other’s claims that “the attack was carried out by the Mehsud, the Mohmand (TTP) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), jointly”.
This is interesting because Mohmand Agency TTP had broken away from the Pakistan Taliban after its chief Omar Khalid Khurassani developed differences with Fazlullah camp. Both sides had indulged in mudslinging at each other in public.
Consider the reaction to the Army’s claim of clearing major towns like Miranshah and Mirali and killing 910 terrorists during Zarb-i-Azb.
“These are exaggerated claims and nothing but complete lies. The army wants to win this war by using the media,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan.
Shahidullah Shahid also remarked in the same vein. “We blatantly refute these claims, as our central leadership is safe and sound and we are confronting the forces. The paid media is misleading the people about truth.”
What about the death toll? The response of the two militant leaders is same: majority of the victims of army operation in North Waziristan were innocent civilians, many of them women and children.
All this means makes the writing on the wall clear from a distance. And it is that when it comes to confronting the Army, the Taliban militants are on the same page whatever be the assertions of the GHQ in Rawalpindi.
