March to S Waziristan: Taliban make decision on PTI rally

TTP spokesperson says decision will be announced one day before the event.

The Pakistani Taliban announced late on Monday that the banned militant outfit has made its decision regarding Imran Khan’s party’s visit to South Waziristan — however, the decision will only be announced one day ahead of the rally.

Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) central spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan told BBC that a high-level meeting of the banned organisation was held on Saturday to decide the course of action it would take regarding Tehreek-e-Insaf’s rally in South Waziristan. The spokesperson, however, added that he cannot reveal at the moment if the decision of the TTP was in favour of Khan’s party or not, according to BBC Urdu.

While some media reports maintained the Taliban will provide security to Imran, the claims could not be verified independently.

Earlier, the TTP had criticised Khan’s statement in which he had called himself a “liberal”. The Pakistani Taliban contended that by classifying himself as a liberal, Imran Khan had proved that he was a slave of the Western powers — especially the US and Europe. The organisation held that they were not satisfied with his policies.

Some areas of the Mehsud tribe, during the military action against the Taliban in the north-western belt of the country, had become deserted but residents of some of these areas near Tank had returned to their houses during the last two years.

Reportedly, these areas are now peaceful now and Khan’s party has chosen one of these areas called Kot Kai for his rally. His party is scheduled to leave Dera Ismail Khan and will head towards Kot Kai on October 7.

During a press conference on Sunday, the PTI chief had claimed that the Mehsud, Burki and Bhittani tribes of Waziristan had assured him of providing security to participants of the rally.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2012.