Maulvi Fazalullah appointed new chief of Pakistani Taliban

Pakistani Taliban Thursday appointed Maulvi Fazalullah as new chief six days after their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

The Taliban spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told the media persons by the phone, that Fazalullah, was appointed at a meeting of senior commanders who met at a secret location in North Waziristan said.

Fazalullah, who headed a bloody campaign against the security forces in northwestern Swat valley in 2008-2009, later fled to Afghanistan and regrouped his fighters there.

Pakistani security officials say Fazalullah, also known as Mullah radio, is operating from Afghanistan’s Nuristan province and has carried out several attacks on Pakistani forces in the border regions.

Analysts say that appointment of Fazalullah could complicate the proposed dialogue process with the government as he is considered one of the hardliners among the Pakistani Taliban.

A tribal affairs expert Mehmood Shah said that the security forces had defeated Fazalullah in 2009 during a major operation and dialogue with him could not be held.

Pakistani government has, on several occasions, demanded of the Afghan government to hand over Fazalullah. Afghan government has never officially confirmed his presence in Nuristan.

Commanders from other tribal regions also attended the meeting presided over by Asmatullah Shaheen, head of the central council of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Taliban spokesman said.

Sheikh Khalid Haqqani was appointed as the TTP deputy chief.

The new chief appointment was delayed due to Taliban’s internal differences over the appointment of a new chief as there had been several strong aspirants for the top position. Taliban had denied differences and cited some logistic problems in the gathering of the members of the central council to elect new chief.

Taliban ruled out possibility of the long-awaited talks with the government following the death of their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. The Taliban leaders say the gov’t has “failed” to stop the U.S. drone strikes.

Pakistani government had angrily reacted to the Friday’s drone attack and termed it as a move to scuttle the peace process with the Taliban. Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, says that the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, in the U.S. drone attack has caused serious tension with Washington.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has however said his government will pursue the dialogue process with the Taliban to stop more bloodshed in the country.

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