He appears to have not consulted any other commander or faction leader. ‘Being deputy leader of the TTP, I have the right to replace Baitullah when he is unable to work’, he told the media on Wednesday saying that Baitullah is alive but incapacitated for the moment. In the same breath he added ‘even if Baitullah Mehsud is martyred, it will not affect the Taliban movement’. He maintained ‘My take over of TTP is only a temporary’ and thereby conceded that internal power struggle continued unabated.

A give away to the power struggle is his remark that the Taliban Shura was not convened to elect him. It is said that Taliban had called a meeting of its Shura in Orakzai Agency two days back but postponed the session as several Shura members were unable to reach. The former TTP spokesman, Maulvi Omer, was held in Mohmand Agency while going to participate in the Shura meeting.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed in December 2007 with the coming together of some 13 militant organizations operating in seven tribal regions, frontier regions and settled districts of NWFP. All chiefs of different factions and other top commanders are represented in the Shura. And its membership is put at 32.

At least two close aides of Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman have reportedly not accepted the Maulvi’s take over.