Jundul Hafsa, a subsidiary of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has claimed responsibility for the Sept 22 Peshawar Church attack, is led by Commander Asmatullah Muavia, who was the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban before being sacked by the TTP’s central Shura last month for unilaterally welcoming Nawaz Sharif’s offer of peace talks.
But the leadership of the Pashtun Taliban led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and the Punjabi Taliban led by Asmatullah Muavia seem to have mended fences since then, as both the groups have already welcomed the government’s quest for peace with Taliban through talks, especially after the holding of the All Parties Conference (APC) in Islamabad.
Those investigating twin suicide attacks targeting churchgoers have convincing reasons to believe that they were masterminded by the Jundul Hafsa (the fist or union of the Lal Masjid-run Jamia Hafsa for girls). Hafsa bint Umar (RA) was one of the seven wives of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The TTP has claimed responsibility for the Church attack, saying it was carried out by the Jundul Hafsa which was formed recently to kill foreigners to avenge the US drone strikes on Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in the Pakistani tribal belt. “We carried out the suicide bombings at Peshawar church and will continue to strike foreigners and non-Muslims until the American drone attacks stop,” Ahmadullah Marwat, a spokesman for the group told a foreign news agency by phone.
Marwat was quoted as saying: “The Christians are the enemies of Islam and Pakistan. Therefore, we have targeted them and we will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land,” he added.
The Jundul Hafsa had earlier claimed responsibility for killing 10 foreign climbers (on June 23, 2013) at a base camp of Nanga Parbat, the second highest mountain in Pakistan after K-2. Ten foreign mountaineers were among 11 persons killed, when terrorists who were wearing uniforms of the Gilgit Baltistan Scouts, attacked the Nanga Parbat base camp in the Bonar area of Diamer District and shot the climbers and a Pakistani guide at point-blank range.
The victims included an American national, three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, a Lithuanian and a Nepalese. The attack was claimed by the then TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying it was carried out by an affiliate of the TTP — Jundul Hafsa — which was a new wing set up by the Taliban “to attack foreigners in revenge for US drone strikes.”
Ehsanullah Ehsan, who has already been replaced by Shahidullah Shahid as the TTP spokesman, further said the attack was also meant to avenge the death of their deputy chief Waliur Rehman in a US dronestrike near the Afghan border. “One of our factions, Jundul Hafsa, did it to avenge the killing of Commander Waliur Rehman,” said Ehsan.
Waliur Rehman, who had died on May 29, 2013 in a US drone attack on a house in North Waziristan, had a $5 million US bounty on his head for masterminding a deadly suicide bombing on an American base in Khost area of Afghanistan in December 2009 that killed seven CIA agents as well as a TTP-trained suicide bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi.
The main task of the CIA personnel stationed at the base was to provide intelligence supporting drone attacks against targets in Pakistan. The bombing was the most lethal attack against the CIA in 25 years. Appearing in a video along with Balawi on January 9, 2010, TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud had stated that the CIA base attack in Khost was meant to avenge the killing of Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August 2009. Since then, the TTP leadership has become the prime target of US drone attacks along with the fugitive al-Qaeda leaders who have been hiding in the Pakistani tribal areas.
The TTP’s responsibility claim was followed by the Jundul Hafsa spokesman Ahmed Marwat’s statement, saying: “We have conducted the attack to bring the world attention towards the US drone attacks.
These foreigners are our enemies and we proudly claim responsibility for having killed them. We will continue to carry out such attacks in the future. A few weeks later, on August 6, 2013, the Jundul terrorists killed Diamer District Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Muhammad Hilal Khan, and two Army officers, Colonel Ghulam Mustafa and Captain Ashfaq Aziz, in an ambush at Rohni in the Chilas District of Gilgit Baltistan. Both were involved in the investigation of the June 23, 2013, massacre of the foreign climbers at Nanga Parbat and were returning after a meeting in Diamer.
Asmatullah Muavia, who was sacked by the central Shura of the TTP in August this year for welcoming Nawaz Sharif’s offer of talks, had in fact launched the Jundul Hafsa after discarding Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and before becoming the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban. Muavia had launched Jundul Hafsa to avenge the July 2007 killing of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his followers in the infamous ‘Operation Silence’, carried out by Pakistan Army against the fanatic clerics of the Lal Masjid in the heart of Islamabad.
The prime aim of the Jundul was to target the military and the intelligence agencies and their headquarters, foreign dignitaries as well as the Shia community. Aqeel alias Dr Usman, the ring leader of the ten TTP fidayeen attackers who had stormed the GHQ in Rawalpindi in 2009, was a close aide to Asmatullah Muavia whose execution has been postponed recently by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as demanded by the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban.
Besides being the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban, Muavia also serves as one of several al-Qaeda “company” commanders. In fact, Atiyah Abdul Rehman and Abu Yayha Al Libi, two top aides to Osama bin Laden who have since been killed in US drone strikes in Waziristan, had mentioned the existence of these companies in a December 2010 letter addressed to TTP ameer Hakeemullah Mehsud.
Muavia had appeared in a propaganda video (released in February 2013) on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum and praised Ajmal Kasab of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Afzal Guru of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who were hanged for their involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attack and the Indian Parliament building attack. Muavia said their executions would only strengthen the jehadis’ resolve to attack India and liberate Jammu & Kashmir. Muavia also threatened that attacks in India will increase in future as jehadis shift their focus from Afghanistan to India and Kashmir after the United States withdraws from the region.
Muavia’s threat of terrorist attacks in India came two months after he had extended in December 2012 a conditional ceasefire offer to the PPP government which envisaged an end to Islamabad’s participation in the Afghan war and the reshaping of the 1973 Constitution and foreign policy according to the Quran and Sunnah. The ceasefire offer was made through a letter endorsed by the TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying it had the full backing of the TTP leadership.
After assuming power, Nawaz Sharif had subsequently extended an olive branch to the Taliban besides holding an APC, which had endorsed his quest for peace through talks.However, following the recent assassination of the General Officer Commanding of Swat by the Pashtun Taliban and the dastardly Peshawar Church bombings by the Punjabi Taliban, Prime Minister Sharif sounds least keen on negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.
A visibly upset Sharif announced in London on Sunday his government could no longer move ahead with the APC-endorsed plan for talks with the Taliban following the twin bombings in a Peshawar church. “We had proposed peace talks with the Taliban in good faith, and with the consent of all political parties... but unfortunately, because of the latest attack, the government is unable to move forward on what it had envisaged, on what it had wished for,” he added.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Pakistan: Muavia-led Punjabi Taliban behind church bombing
Jundul Hafsa, a subsidiary of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has claimed responsibility for the Sept 22 Peshawar Church attack, is led by Commander Asmatullah Muavia, who was the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban before being sacked by the TTP’s central Shura last month for unilaterally welcoming Nawaz Sharif’s offer of peace talks.
But the leadership of the Pashtun Taliban led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and the Punjabi Taliban led by Asmatullah Muavia seem to have mended fences since then, as both the groups have already welcomed the government’s quest for peace with Taliban through talks, especially after the holding of the All Parties Conference (APC) in Islamabad.
Those investigating twin suicide attacks targeting churchgoers have convincing reasons to believe that they were masterminded by the Jundul Hafsa (the fist or union of the Lal Masjid-run Jamia Hafsa for girls). Hafsa bint Umar (RA) was one of the seven wives of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The TTP has claimed responsibility for the Church attack, saying it was carried out by the Jundul Hafsa which was formed recently to kill foreigners to avenge the US drone strikes on Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in the Pakistani tribal belt. “We carried out the suicide bombings at Peshawar church and will continue to strike foreigners and non-Muslims until the American drone attacks stop,” Ahmadullah Marwat, a spokesman for the group told a foreign news agency by phone.
Marwat was quoted as saying: “The Christians are the enemies of Islam and Pakistan. Therefore, we have targeted them and we will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land,” he added.
The Jundul Hafsa had earlier claimed responsibility for killing 10 foreign climbers (on June 23, 2013) at a base camp of Nanga Parbat, the second highest mountain in Pakistan after K-2. Ten foreign mountaineers were among 11 persons killed, when terrorists who were wearing uniforms of the Gilgit Baltistan Scouts, attacked the Nanga Parbat base camp in the Bonar area of Diamer District and shot the climbers and a Pakistani guide at point-blank range.
The victims included an American national, three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, a Lithuanian and a Nepalese. The attack was claimed by the then TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying it was carried out by an affiliate of the TTP — Jundul Hafsa — which was a new wing set up by the Taliban “to attack foreigners in revenge for US drone strikes.”
Ehsanullah Ehsan, who has already been replaced by Shahidullah Shahid as the TTP spokesman, further said the attack was also meant to avenge the death of their deputy chief Waliur Rehman in a US dronestrike near the Afghan border. “One of our factions, Jundul Hafsa, did it to avenge the killing of Commander Waliur Rehman,” said Ehsan.
Waliur Rehman, who had died on May 29, 2013 in a US drone attack on a house in North Waziristan, had a $5 million US bounty on his head for masterminding a deadly suicide bombing on an American base in Khost area of Afghanistan in December 2009 that killed seven CIA agents as well as a TTP-trained suicide bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi.
The main task of the CIA personnel stationed at the base was to provide intelligence supporting drone attacks against targets in Pakistan. The bombing was the most lethal attack against the CIA in 25 years. Appearing in a video along with Balawi on January 9, 2010, TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud had stated that the CIA base attack in Khost was meant to avenge the killing of Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August 2009. Since then, the TTP leadership has become the prime target of US drone attacks along with the fugitive al-Qaeda leaders who have been hiding in the Pakistani tribal areas.
The TTP’s responsibility claim was followed by the Jundul Hafsa spokesman Ahmed Marwat’s statement, saying: “We have conducted the attack to bring the world attention towards the US drone attacks.
These foreigners are our enemies and we proudly claim responsibility for having killed them. We will continue to carry out such attacks in the future. A few weeks later, on August 6, 2013, the Jundul terrorists killed Diamer District Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Muhammad Hilal Khan, and two Army officers, Colonel Ghulam Mustafa and Captain Ashfaq Aziz, in an ambush at Rohni in the Chilas District of Gilgit Baltistan. Both were involved in the investigation of the June 23, 2013, massacre of the foreign climbers at Nanga Parbat and were returning after a meeting in Diamer.
Asmatullah Muavia, who was sacked by the central Shura of the TTP in August this year for welcoming Nawaz Sharif’s offer of talks, had in fact launched the Jundul Hafsa after discarding Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and before becoming the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban. Muavia had launched Jundul Hafsa to avenge the July 2007 killing of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his followers in the infamous ‘Operation Silence’, carried out by Pakistan Army against the fanatic clerics of the Lal Masjid in the heart of Islamabad.
The prime aim of the Jundul was to target the military and the intelligence agencies and their headquarters, foreign dignitaries as well as the Shia community. Aqeel alias Dr Usman, the ring leader of the ten TTP fidayeen attackers who had stormed the GHQ in Rawalpindi in 2009, was a close aide to Asmatullah Muavia whose execution has been postponed recently by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as demanded by the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban.
Besides being the ameer of the Punjabi Taliban, Muavia also serves as one of several al-Qaeda “company” commanders. In fact, Atiyah Abdul Rehman and Abu Yayha Al Libi, two top aides to Osama bin Laden who have since been killed in US drone strikes in Waziristan, had mentioned the existence of these companies in a December 2010 letter addressed to TTP ameer Hakeemullah Mehsud.
Muavia had appeared in a propaganda video (released in February 2013) on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum and praised Ajmal Kasab of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Afzal Guru of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who were hanged for their involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attack and the Indian Parliament building attack. Muavia said their executions would only strengthen the jehadis’ resolve to attack India and liberate Jammu & Kashmir. Muavia also threatened that attacks in India will increase in future as jehadis shift their focus from Afghanistan to India and Kashmir after the United States withdraws from the region.
Muavia’s threat of terrorist attacks in India came two months after he had extended in December 2012 a conditional ceasefire offer to the PPP government which envisaged an end to Islamabad’s participation in the Afghan war and the reshaping of the 1973 Constitution and foreign policy according to the Quran and Sunnah. The ceasefire offer was made through a letter endorsed by the TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying it had the full backing of the TTP leadership.
After assuming power, Nawaz Sharif had subsequently extended an olive branch to the Taliban besides holding an APC, which had endorsed his quest for peace through talks.However, following the recent assassination of the General Officer Commanding of Swat by the Pashtun Taliban and the dastardly Peshawar Church bombings by the Punjabi Taliban, Prime Minister Sharif sounds least keen on negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.
A visibly upset Sharif announced in London on Sunday his government could no longer move ahead with the APC-endorsed plan for talks with the Taliban following the twin bombings in a Peshawar church. “We had proposed peace talks with the Taliban in good faith, and with the consent of all political parties... but unfortunately, because of the latest attack, the government is unable to move forward on what it had envisaged, on what it had wished for,” he added.
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