TALIBAN HIT BUT NOT ROUTED

In the agenda for the recent bilateral talks between President Obama and Nawaz Sharif, some points remained almost untouched due to the unbending attitude of the either side. One of such unresolved issues was stoppage of Drone attacks on Pakistan by the US and bringing Hafiz Sayeed to book by Pakistan. Neither Obama accepted to stop Drone attacks nor Sharif was ready to press Hafiz to face law. Thus Drone operation is going on unabated and Hafiz is also involved in organising anti-India terrorist activities as usual.

In one of such pin-pointed Drone attacks on Nov 1, 2013 at a target in North-West Waziristan tribal region, six Talibans including its chief Hakimullah Mahsood were killed. It was a great loss to the Pakistani Taliban. But being a hardcore outfit, it did not get demoralized and tried to show the world that they were unfazed even after this shocking anti-Taliban operaration of the USA. They declared that the attack would be adequately revenged.

Without any loss of time, a secret meeting of the the Tehriq-e-Taliban Pakistan Council was organized locally and Khan Syed Mahsood @ Sajna was elected the new chief.There were also some other aspirants including the Swat Taliban chief Faizulla, but ultimately Sajna won the race. His election, in the backdrop of his highly violent track record, has rightly caused a great concern in the mind of the peaceloving people. 36 yr old Sajna was involved in an attack on a naval base. He is also accused of the jail-break in Bannoo town of North-West in which 400 prisoners escaped. People know that even though he lacks formal education, but has some practical knowledge of warfare based on experiences acquired in Afghanistan disturbances.

The Talibani leaders accuse that even Pakistan Govt is in collusion with the US in this Drone attack. They claim to know their enemies and have threatened to go for an unprecedented retaliation in due course. Even Obama administration has taken this threat seriously and definitely will keep the developments under a close observation.