Islmabad, August 15: Pakistan government on Friday (August 14) said it was close to collecting material evidence about the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and will present it before the nation soon.
The Pakistani Taliban chief was reportedly killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan earlier this month, but the terrorist group has maintained that he is alive.
The government is close to collecting material evidence of Mehsud’s death, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
“The evidence may be (video) footage or DNA test. Most of the work on collecting such evidence has been completed and we will inform the nation about this soon,” he told reporters.
Malik said circumstantial evidence, ground realities and certain reports from South Waziristan indicate that Mehsud is dead. “If terrorists are claiming that Baitullah is alive, then (they should) present his voice or show his video if he is sick,” he said.
He pointed out that Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq too had acknowledged that Mehsud had been killed. Members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan who had issued threats to the state are now fighting each other over the wealth accumulated by the militants, he said.
-Agencies