Lahore, June 18: In what may be seen as a probable fissure in the Taliban’s leadership, a commander of the outlawed organisation, Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, has blamed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for all the terror strikes in Pakistan.
Mehsud said he was not in favour of carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, as it was against Islam.
Mehsud told a private television channel that he and many other insurgents had sided with the TTP chief against non-Muslims, and not for carrying out attacks inside the country.
The TTP commander, Hafiz Saeed, has rejected Mehsud’s statements, saying the former was not a part of their organisation, and hence not designated to speak for the Taliban.
“He does not belong to the TTP and is working at the behest of the government,” The Daily Times quoted Saeed, as saying.
Meanwhile, another former close aide of Baitullah Mehsud, Qari Turkistan has also charged Mehsud of being the biggest enemy of Islam.
Attacking Mehsud for carrying out terror strikes on mosques and madrassas, Turkistan said that the US, India and Israel were backing the TTP chief.
“Mehsud attacked mosques and madrassas, ordered explosions in markets and the slaughtering of religious scholars and troops, it is not Islam,” he added.
He expressed hope that the Pakistan Army’s operation against Mehsud would succeed within a month.
Turkistan also said that ‘jihad’ was being fought in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq, but there was no such ‘jihad’ in Pakistan.
-Agencies