Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan has floated a political forum 'Tehrik-e-Tahaffuz Pakistan' and said he plans to launch a countrywide youth awakening programme ahead of the upcoming general election.
Saturday's audacious attack by Taliban militants in Rawalpindi has shocked the Pakistani establishment and society.
"Pakistan should not be compared to the rest of the Muslim world... we actually compare ourselves to India. If India can have a democratic process, if they can have 450 million people going to the polls and then have free and fair elections, so can we," he said.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for attacking a pro-government militants center over the bordering area of Hangu and Kurram Agency on Saturday that resulted in the deaths of 10 people, and injuring 20 others.
The Pakistani Taliban may include disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan and federal minster Makhdoom Amin Fahim in a list of persons who could act as guarantors for possible peace talks with the government, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Faced by an impending offensive by the Pakistan military on its stronghold of Waziristan, the Pakistani Taliban have curtailed infighting amongst them only by coming up with a leadership power-sharing formula. Under the formula, 28-year-old Hakimullah Mehsud has been chosen as chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, while his rival claimant Wali-ur Rehman would continue to control the organisation's affairs as he did in Baitullah's time, The News reported.
The Taliban rejected Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's claim that they had killed commander Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and his kin on charges of espionage, while acknowledging they were in the militants' custody.
Hakimullah Mehsud appointment would fuel suicide attacks throughout Pakistan's urban areas. During Baitullah's time he said that suicide bombers would hit twice a week in the urban areas of Pakistan.
Pakistan's Taliban leader Maulana Sufi Mohammed has indicated that Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammedi, which signed a peace deal with Pakistan government in restive Swat region, would not wage a struggle for Kashmiris.
Terming media reports 'baseless' that head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Hakimullah Mehsud has been killed in an American drone attack in North Waziristan of Pakistan, Taliban spokesperson Azam Tariq said that the TTP head is 'safe and the report is a ploy to create panic amongst the militants in the area.'
The Pakistani police are on the look out for two youths suspected of shooting 15-year-old education activist Malala Yousufzai, and the prime suspect who drove them to the scene, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
Despite differences almost all the militant factions agree that fighting inside Kashmir is the holiest jihad, reports Tahir Ali in Islamabad
The release of Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafeez Muhammad Saeed, hardcore Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdullah Aziz, and now Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed chief Sufi Mohammad has cast serious doubts over Pakistan's claims that it is seriously acting against the Taliban and other home grown terror outfits, a senior US intelligence official has said.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, in an exclusive interview to rediff.com's Tahir Ali, has said that the increase in American troops will only provide the Taliban with more opportunities to attack. It has also claimed that the Pakistani Army's operations have done no damage to its strength and that it is as strong as it was earlier.
While terming Imran Khan's rally to South Waziristan "a mere drama", the Taliban has warned Tehrik-e-Insaaf Pakistan not to go ahead with the rally or face music.
The Taliban will either attack Peshawar prison, abduct Dr Shakil Afridi and let their leaders decide his fate, or they will use an inmate in the jail kill the doctor. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday indirectly blamed the Taliban for the daring suicide attack on the Inter Services Intelligence's provincial headquarters in Lahore. "It appears to be a fall-out of the ongoing military operations in Swat, Dir and other areas of the North West Frontier Province," Malik said and warned that there would be no let up in the crackdown on these 'anti-national elements'.
Terrorists from the Taliban and other banned groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad carried out the assault on the Pakistan army headquarters with the intention of taking hostages who could be swapped for over 100 arrested militants, a military spokesman said on Monday.
Following the death of top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan members, a comparatively weakened Pakistani Taliban are ready to hold peace talks with a government that is increasingly seen at odds with the United States. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
Taliban militants on Sunday attacked the Central Jail in Bannu and freed several of their comrades, including Adnan Rashid, a convict on death row who had plotted to kill General Pervez Musharraf. Tahir Ali reports
The drone fired two missiles at Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's base at Khadezai village in a remote mountainous area of Aurakzai tribal agency, witnesses said. Local residents and witnesses told TV channels that at least 12 militants were killed and more than 15 others injured in the strike.
Vowing to take revenge over the killing of Burmese Muslims after they refused to convert to Buddhism, the Tehrik-e-Taliban has warned the Pakistan government to close down the Burmese embassy in Islamabad.
The coherent strategy of the TTP has not been matched by an equally coherent one from Pakistan Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. He has been struggling to counter the co-ordinated strategy of the TTP with a bits and pieces strategy depending on where the pressure from the TTP comes from.
The death toll in the horrific suicide attack that shook Pakistan minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at Wagah climbed to 61 on Monday. Security agencies have arrested about 20 suspects from the Indo-Pak border area.
The Al Qaeda and Taliban are unclear whether it would be in their interest to work for the defeat of Obama by stepping up acts of terrorism, says B Raman.
The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for a devastating suicide attack on a mosque in Khyber Agency that killed over 50 people, saying it was carried out in retaliation for local resistance against the militants.
IS-Khorasan was sanctioned for its links with Al Qaeda and involvement in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that killed over 150 people.
A top Taliban militant leader has been sacked as the deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, amid speculation of a deepening rift in the terror group over the peace talks with the government.
A group of about 40 Pakistani boys, who strayed into Afghanistan during a picnic to celebrate Eid have been kidnapped by Taliban militants, raising fears that they could be turned into suicide bombers.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it will continue carrying out suicide attacks and targetting Pakistani security forces despite joining other militant groups in a pledge not to kill innocent people or to resort to kidnappings for ransom.
Pakistan government is expected to confer posthumously one of the country's highest civilian awards for bravery on slain Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was lauded by President Asif Ali Zardari as a symbol of tolerance, harmony and respect for minorities.
The decision to target the Pakistani Taliban comes at a time when the UN is seeking to encourage the Afghan Taliban to pursue peace talks with the government there, a prelude to a US withdrawal from the war-ravaged country.
The suspension of US aid to Pakistan, which was announced by President Donald Trump in January 2018, remained in effect throughout 2019, the State Department said.
A top leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said that his group will seek mediation by countries like Saudi Arabia if the government offers to hold peace talks.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has condemned the release of Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis under a "blood money" deal with relatives of two men he killed and threatened to target all those who aided the US in securing his acquittal in court.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has asked the United States to target the hideouts of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and their chief Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
British two-time world champion Amir Khan arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to fulfill his promise of helping the victims who were attacked by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists in a school in Peshawar.
Hizbul Mujahideen leader Mast Gul, involved in the 1995 siege of Charar-e-Sharief shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, was behind a suicide attack on Shias in Peshawar that killed nine persons, a Pakistani Taliban commander has said.
Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed were named on Monday in the Summit declaration of the BRICS countries.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on an elite Pakistani army training centre at Mardan in the country's northwest region.The suicide bomber unleashed his lethal payload in the midst of a parade, killing 27 soldiers and wounding 40 others. TTP spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan said, "We proudly claim responsibility for the Mardan attack; we sent the Fidayeen (suicide bomber) and he successfully carried out the attack."
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