A Pakistani journalist watches a newly released video of Maulana Fazlullah in Peshawar yesterday.
MIRANSHAH: The Pakistani Taliban rejected the idea of peace talks with the government after electing hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah as their new leader yesterday.
Fazlullah’s men had shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year.
The rise of Fazlullah, known for his fierce Islamist views, by the Taliban Shura Council follows the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader or ameer, in a US drone strike on November 1.
Mehsud and his allies had been open to ceasefire talks with the government.
“There will be no more talks as Mullah Fazlullah is against negotiations with the Pakistan government,” Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, said by telephone from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
“All governments play double games with us. In the name of talks, they deceived us and killed our people. We are 100 percent sure that Pakistan supports the US in its drone strikes.”
The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and impose Shariah law.
Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May promising a negotiated end to violence, a concern for global powers unnerved by possible security implications of the withdrawal of most US-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014.
No meaningful talks have taken place since Sharif’s election and Fazlullah’s rise could signal the start of a new period of uncertainty and violence in the unstable region.
Shahid said the new ameer had taken over the decision-making process within the Taliban and would soon decide whether to avenge Mehsud’s death with a new campaign of bombings and killings.
Nicknamed Mullah Radio for his Islamist radio broadcasts in the Swat valley, Fazlullah is considered hardline within the Pakistani Taliban movement.
Born in 1976, he gained prominence in 2004 when he set up an underground FM radio station in the conservative valley to promote fundamentalist and anti-Western ideas.
He and his fighters took over the valley in 2009 and imposed Islamic rule. Fazlullah opposes polio vaccinations he has described as a Jewish and Christian conspiracy to harm Muslims, and ordered the closure of girls’ schools.
Malala, who criticised the Taliban and campaigned for girls’ right to education, is a symbol of everything he has been fighting against.
Outraged by the Taliban, the then-11-year-old kept a blog under a pen name and later launched a campaign.
Fazlullah’s troops melted away across the mountainous border into Afghanistan in 2009 after a military offensive by the Pakistan army which controls the area. Fazlullah is believed to be in Nuristan province. Meanwhile, security agencies warned the government of a severe backlash from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the aftermath of Mehsud’s killing which may entail targeting the Punjab, the central PML-N leadership and the Sharif family. AGENCIES
