Directly challenging Pakistan’s sovereignty, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced its government on Saturday, December 31. An ally of the Taliban, TTP announced its new appointments dividing the outfit into various “ministries” such as defence, judiciary, information, political affairs, economic affairs, education, a fatwa-issuing authority, intelligence, and a department for construction, sources said.
Moreover, sources said that the TTP has divided areas in its loose control or contested with Pakistan into two provinces. The Northern Province is to include Peshawar, Malkand, Mardan, and Gilgit-Baltistan while the South Province is to include Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, and Kohat.
Pakistan Interior Minister wants ‘surgical strike’ on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Surgical strike on TTP was the idea of the Interior Minister of Pakistan Rana Sanaullah, who claimed that the banned group has between 7,000 to 10,000 fighters in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area. Sanaullah also revealed that the rebels were accompanied by 25,000 members of their families.
A close aide of al-Qaeda, TTP claimed the responsibilty of bombing in an upscale residential area, in which policeman along with two suspected militants was killed and at least six others, including four policemen, were injured. The TTP has increased the attacks on security forces since November when they ended a months-long cease-fire with the Pakistan government.
“The biggest reason for this is the failure of (the) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Counter Terrorism Department (…) It is their job to stop it,” the Interior Minister said, blaming the provincial government led by ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
