Qari Hussain — terror still walks
Sources confirm that though top Taliban commander Qari was injured in a recent attack, he is still alive.
ISLAMABAD:
High-value target, Qari Hussain Ahmed Mehsud, was rumoured to have been killed in an attack in early October. However, sources confirm that though Qari was injured in the attack, he is still alive.
Qari Hussain is the second-in-command of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). If the rumours had been true, Qari’s death would have been a blow to the TTP as big as last year’s killing of its founding chief Baitullah Mehsud, who died in a drone hit.
Qari Hussain
One man that can claim credit for the most frightening techniques of terrorising the ‘enemy’— suicide attacks and beheadings — is Qari Hussain Ahmed Mehsud, a proud pupil of slain Taliban commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah.
Once a lieutenant of Pakistani Taliban’s overall commander Baitullah Mehsud, Qari now goes by the same name – Ameer Sahib – as the chief. This is how a local Taliban in Charbagh, sub-district of the Swat area, referred to him while confirming Qari’s occasional ‘professional’ trips to the valley that was once known for its serenity, but now has turned into a symbol of sadism.
Not only does Qari share the name with Baitullah, he also follows Baitullah’s ideology of using violence to achieve the objective of dominance over fellow countrymen, subordinating all to their vision of hard-line Islam.
In some ways, Qari appears to be much ahead of Baitullah with his infamous expertise of indoctrination and training of suicide bombers, a weapon that no satellite can detect and no safety wall can stop.
His treatment of war prisoners is another brutality he is famous for. Not only has he beheaded them in the past, but he has added new dimensions to the cruelty by cutting the throats of children as well. Such abilities enabled him to climb the ranks of Taliban, as well as play an important role in demoralising Pakistan paramilitary and barring journalists to travel to tribal regions.
Childhood
Little is known about the early years of the icon of terror. However, it is known that he spent a big chunk of his childhood shuttling between Tank and Waziristan with his family.
Qari comes from Ishangai clan of Ballizai, a sub-tribe of Mehsud tribe which is the largest Pakhtun tribe in Pakistan. Mehsud tribe is divided into three major sub-tribes — Ballizai, Shaman Khel, and Manzai, which was Baitullah’s tribe. Tribesmen belonging to Ishangai are known for having different habitats for summer and winter. This trend kept Qari moving between the two areas.
Possibly, this contributed in making him a very ‘active and mobile’ individual. “He travels like light,” an intelligence official in Peshawar said, while describing Qari’s movement.
However, his stories are not limited to his home in South Waziristan. Rather, they are spread all over the Pakhtun belt in Pakistan. Lately, there have been reports of Qari’s visits to Lahore as well, where it is alleged he planned an attack on a police training facility on the city’s outskirts.
Motivation
Qari took his initial training in the early 90s in camps inside the southern district of Afghanistan. Then he became associated with the banned organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
But his ascendency within Taliban ranks began when Mullah Dadullah — a feared Afghan commander of Taliban — took him as a pupil. Dadullah, who got killed in 2007, was the sole trainer of suicide bombers in Afghanistan. Qari is his only student in Pakistan.
Dadullah used to frequently visit South and North Waziristan. During one of those visits, Dadullah met Qari and took him as a student. Dadullah asked Baitullah to declare Qari as his successor, which Baitullah did out of respect for Dadullah.
Infighting
But the situation changed later. Baitullah penalised Qari for ‘mistakes’ and they had a falling out in June 2007, when Qari launched a series of attacks on police in the tribal areas.
Qari’s followers beheaded and assassinated tribal leaders in South Waziristan and Tank. Qari also attacked a political agent of Khyber Agency, which resulted in the death of the six family members and seven guests of the agent. This resulted in clashes between the two Taliban leaders as Qari had not obtained permission from Baitullah for these attacks. Baitullah retaliated by capturing 17 of Qari’s followers with threats to kill them.
However, the rift was smoothed over during the summer after the Taliban went on the offensive against the Pakistani military, government, and civilians. Qari and Baitullah attended a jirga that was formed to help free more than 300 Pakistani troops captured by the Taliban in South Waziristan.
Baitullah then replaced Qari with Hakimullah Mehsud. Both Hakimullah and Qari are distant cousins of each other.
Qari chose to join Maulvi Fazlullah or Mullah Radio in Swat, leading his group of Uzbek and Chechen fighters to the valley. This arrangement was beneficial for both Qari and Fazlullah, since Qari got a new fighting ground and Fazlullah got highly motivated fighters with a willing trainer.
Qari is back in Waziristan now and some Taliban sources say he is eyeing Baitullah’s position. But, they add, the commander is not unaware of his intentions.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.
High-value target, Qari Hussain Ahmed Mehsud, was rumoured to have been killed in an attack in early October. However, sources confirm that though Qari was injured in the attack, he is still alive.
Qari Hussain is the second-in-command of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). If the rumours had been true, Qari’s death would have been a blow to the TTP as big as last year’s killing of its founding chief Baitullah Mehsud, who died in a drone hit.
Qari Hussain
One man that can claim credit for the most frightening techniques of terrorising the ‘enemy’— suicide attacks and beheadings — is Qari Hussain Ahmed Mehsud, a proud pupil of slain Taliban commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah.
Once a lieutenant of Pakistani Taliban’s overall commander Baitullah Mehsud, Qari now goes by the same name – Ameer Sahib – as the chief. This is how a local Taliban in Charbagh, sub-district of the Swat area, referred to him while confirming Qari’s occasional ‘professional’ trips to the valley that was once known for its serenity, but now has turned into a symbol of sadism.
Not only does Qari share the name with Baitullah, he also follows Baitullah’s ideology of using violence to achieve the objective of dominance over fellow countrymen, subordinating all to their vision of hard-line Islam.
In some ways, Qari appears to be much ahead of Baitullah with his infamous expertise of indoctrination and training of suicide bombers, a weapon that no satellite can detect and no safety wall can stop.
His treatment of war prisoners is another brutality he is famous for. Not only has he beheaded them in the past, but he has added new dimensions to the cruelty by cutting the throats of children as well. Such abilities enabled him to climb the ranks of Taliban, as well as play an important role in demoralising Pakistan paramilitary and barring journalists to travel to tribal regions.
Childhood
Little is known about the early years of the icon of terror. However, it is known that he spent a big chunk of his childhood shuttling between Tank and Waziristan with his family.
Qari comes from Ishangai clan of Ballizai, a sub-tribe of Mehsud tribe which is the largest Pakhtun tribe in Pakistan. Mehsud tribe is divided into three major sub-tribes — Ballizai, Shaman Khel, and Manzai, which was Baitullah’s tribe. Tribesmen belonging to Ishangai are known for having different habitats for summer and winter. This trend kept Qari moving between the two areas.
Possibly, this contributed in making him a very ‘active and mobile’ individual. “He travels like light,” an intelligence official in Peshawar said, while describing Qari’s movement.
However, his stories are not limited to his home in South Waziristan. Rather, they are spread all over the Pakhtun belt in Pakistan. Lately, there have been reports of Qari’s visits to Lahore as well, where it is alleged he planned an attack on a police training facility on the city’s outskirts.
Motivation
Qari took his initial training in the early 90s in camps inside the southern district of Afghanistan. Then he became associated with the banned organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
But his ascendency within Taliban ranks began when Mullah Dadullah — a feared Afghan commander of Taliban — took him as a pupil. Dadullah, who got killed in 2007, was the sole trainer of suicide bombers in Afghanistan. Qari is his only student in Pakistan.
Dadullah used to frequently visit South and North Waziristan. During one of those visits, Dadullah met Qari and took him as a student. Dadullah asked Baitullah to declare Qari as his successor, which Baitullah did out of respect for Dadullah.
Infighting
But the situation changed later. Baitullah penalised Qari for ‘mistakes’ and they had a falling out in June 2007, when Qari launched a series of attacks on police in the tribal areas.
Qari’s followers beheaded and assassinated tribal leaders in South Waziristan and Tank. Qari also attacked a political agent of Khyber Agency, which resulted in the death of the six family members and seven guests of the agent. This resulted in clashes between the two Taliban leaders as Qari had not obtained permission from Baitullah for these attacks. Baitullah retaliated by capturing 17 of Qari’s followers with threats to kill them.
However, the rift was smoothed over during the summer after the Taliban went on the offensive against the Pakistani military, government, and civilians. Qari and Baitullah attended a jirga that was formed to help free more than 300 Pakistani troops captured by the Taliban in South Waziristan.
Baitullah then replaced Qari with Hakimullah Mehsud. Both Hakimullah and Qari are distant cousins of each other.
Qari chose to join Maulvi Fazlullah or Mullah Radio in Swat, leading his group of Uzbek and Chechen fighters to the valley. This arrangement was beneficial for both Qari and Fazlullah, since Qari got a new fighting ground and Fazlullah got highly motivated fighters with a willing trainer.
Qari is back in Waziristan now and some Taliban sources say he is eyeing Baitullah’s position. But, they add, the commander is not unaware of his intentions.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.