OnIslam & News Agencies
Monday, 15 September 2014 00:00
The group’s decision has been widely welcomed by analysts as weakening TTP.
PESHAWAR – The Punjab chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), widely known as the Punjabi Taliban, has renounced military work in Pakistan, vowing to continue with preaching and charity work to help people in flood-hit areas of the country.
“The group had already been engaged (by government) before launching the North Waziristan onslaught, to shun violence,” Amir Rana, an Islamabad-based security analyst, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday, September 14.
“The announcement is the outcome of that continuous engagement.”
The Punjabi Taliban announcement was made last Saturday by Ismatullah Moawiah, a purported spokesman for the group deemed one of the key components of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the mother network of different insurgent groups in Pakistan.
In a video message, he said that the group had decided to surrender and renounce militant activities.
He did not elaborate if or when members of his group would hand over their arms to security forces.
Moawiah said that after consulting other Muslim leaders, the organization would now limit its use of force to “infidel forces” and would focus on promoting Shari`ah law.
He added that Punjabi Taliban would continue to operate in Afghanistan but would focus on “Dawat Tablig” preaching and called on other Taliban factions to abandon their insurgencies in Pakistan.
“Peace is the need of the hour to foil conspiracies against Pakistan and its people,” he said.
Dropping arms, the Punjabi Taliban would take part in relief activities to help nearly two million people affected by huge floods which have inundated 21 districts in the northeastern Punjab province.
Praise
The group’s decision has been widely welcomed by analysts as weakening TTP, which has already lost much of its influence due to the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan Agency.
The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan umbrella group broke into three factions earlier this month after a group of commanders, mainly Mehsud and Wazir tribesmen from North Waziristan, announced they had broken away to form their own group.
“This is a very important group which had been committed to attacks and terrorism, they have been very effective in the past. This [announcement] will demoralize the others,” retired Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, a leading strategic analyst, told The Telegraph.
“It shows the military operation in North Waziristan is having an effect. It would be very unfortunate though if Pakistan allows them to go to Afghanistan – we have to make sure they don't use their energies in Afghanistan.”
However, others referred the group’s decision to behind-the-scenes talks between the group and government negotiators.
The army launched a full-scale operation in North Waziristan on June 15 to root out Pakistani Taliban’s mother coalition, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after peace talks between the two sides collapsed in April last following an end to a 40-day long ceasefire between the security forces and the Taliban.
Some 1000 “militants” have been killed in army air strikes, while 85 troops have also been killed since June 15.
According to FATA (federally administered tribal areas) disaster management authority, some 200,000 out of total 800,000 population of North Waziristan have already moved to other parts of the country, including neighboring Afghanistan.
The authority expects that the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) may reach at 500,000 in coming days.
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