Pakistan: TTP denial of attacks called 'pack of lies'

By Ashfaq Yusufzai

Hypocritical Pakistani militants have been brazen enough to say that killing the innocent violates Sharia Law, but analysts label the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's denials of involvement in terrorist acts an unpersuasive public relations stunt.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)'s ostensible condemnation of the killings of innocent Pakistanis and denial of involvement in such attacks represent nothing more than a "pack of lies," analysts say.

"The Taliban just want to present themselves as virtuous and restore their dwindling popularity," said Khadim Hussain, who is involved with the Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, adding that recent denials of guilt continue the long-standing trend of the Taliban trying to paint a rosy portrait of themselves.

The TTP has denied being behind several recent attacks, including the April 9 bombing that killed more than 20 people at an Islamabad fruit and vegetable market.

In a TTP statement, spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned the Islamabad explosion, saying that killing the innocent violated Sharia Law.

Denials broadly rejected in Pakistan

But most Pakistanis see through such statements.

"Everyone knows very well that only the TTP has the ability to carry out such terror strikes," Hussain said, adding that the militants have put spreading terror at the top of their agenda and that the Islamabad bombing bears the stamp of the TTP's deadly handiwork.

The TTP previously issued a fatwa justifying such attacks but switched to condemning them and "is hilariously making a mockery of its previous fatwa," Hussain said.

Ordinary Pakistanis see through the Taliban's pretence of considering the slaughter of innocent victims a violation of Sharia, Muhammad Haroon, a political scientist at Abdul Wali Khan University, agreed.

"The common people are mocking the Taliban for telling a lie, because it's obvious ... that the TTP introduced the culture of terrorism to Pakistan," he said.

Local clerics too scoff at the TTP's attempts to distance itself from the murder of innocent people.

"They're liars and enemies of the people," Maulana Mushtaq Ahmed, a prayer leader, said. "The Taliban will never give up militancy because they enjoy power through fear."

Barbarity, savagery and cruelties are the hallmarks of the Taliban, he said. Taliban's true colours It's easy to reject the TTP's denials because the militants have a long history of disregard for human life, Hussain said.

"There have been hundreds of attacks that have killed innocent people in markets, mosques, courts and political rallies as part of the TTP's agenda to assert its power," he said, citing an October 2009 bombing in Peshawar that killed almost 150 people, mostly women.

TTP, al-Qaeda and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) militants are largely responsible terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it doesn't really matter which group takes responsibility because they all share the same objective of terrifying society, foes of terrorism say.

"It's a socio-psychological strategy to create more fear and to cow everybody," Hussain said, calling the Taliban's denial of involvement in public attacks a "pack of lies."

The terrorists have denied their guilt before in connection with terrorist attacks, Haroon said, adding that those denials have no credibility.

"The Taliban have killed soldiers, police, women and children for no reason at all," he said. "Killing innocent people is the Taliban's agenda."

Society left to wonder about motivation of attacks The TTP's misleading denials also do nothing to help society understand why such attacks happen, senior journalist Aimal Khan told Central Asia Online.

"The basic question – why? – is what people have been asking about the killing of innocent victims in Taliban attacks since 2005," Khan, a specialist on terrorism, said.

He called on militants to admit what they do.

"We need an answer to the public's question about why innocent people have been murdered," he said.