The split is between two rival groups
from the powerful Mehsud tribe which provides the Taliban the bulk of
their money and fighters from its base in the South Waziristan region.
The breakaway group is in favour of
peace talks with the government while the main insurgency has announced
that it will continue attacks against government and security targets.
“The (Taliban’s) present leadership and
fighters have become a band of paid killers involved in un-Islamic
activities like killings, robberies, extortion and kidnappings for
ransom,” Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the breakaway faction, told
Reuters.
The Taliban leadership could not be reached for comment.
The Pakistani Taliban – separate to but
allied with the Afghan Taliban – is already fractured, a loose union of
groups who often fight with each other.
The latest split diminishes hopes the
government can find a negotiated peace deal with the insurgents deeply
divided over whether to talk to the government.
All Pakistani Taliban leaders have been
Mehsuds except for the current chief who took power in a bitterly
contested struggle last year.
On one side is a commander called Khan
“Sajna” Said, who supports peace talks with the government of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif, Taliban commanders said.
His rival, Shehryar Mehsud, is against
the tentative talks that began in February, and one of his commanders
said attacks on the government would go on regardless.
Both Afghan and Pakistani insurgent
leaders have issued a series of urgent appeals for unity in recent weeks
after clashes between rival commanders killed scores of Taliban
fighters.
Senior Taliban commanders in Pakistan
and Afghanistan said on Wednesday that they had called a meeting of the
leadership council to discuss the latest split.
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