Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among six militants killed in a US drone strike on Friday in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
'First they claimed the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike followed by Qari Hussain's killing. Such news has become a daily affair and no one believes such reports.'
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.'
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's Shura (the supreme council) has decided that Hakimullah Mehsud will not directly meet the media as it would help spy agencies locate him.
The release of Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan was part of a deal between the government and the local Taliban, under which they will swap about 330 prisoners after signing a formal peace agreement in the restive northwest tribal areas. The Taliban wanted 250 militants, currently in the government's custody, to be swapped with 80 soldiers and government officials, who had been taken hostage by the rebels. Azizuddin was handed over by militants to authorities at Razmak.
Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts, a media report said.
Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India to face the law of the land for carrying out serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which scores of people were killed and injured.
