Updated: 19 Oct 2009 5:08 pm
Maulana Fazlullah - Amir, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
Popularly known as ‘Mullah Radio’, he’s the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Mohammed, the TNSM founder whose ultimate goal is to enforce Shariat or Islamic law in all of Pakistan. Born on March 1, 1975, Maulana Fazlullah earned the sobriquet Mullah Radio for using illegal FM channels to broadcast vituperative speeches, threatening people with dire consequences should they not adhere to Shariat and instigating the residents of Swat into taking part in jehad. His 10,000 armed volunteers established a parallel government in almost 60 towns of the Swat valley, replete with Islamic courts delivering instant justice and gun-toting men directing traffic. His reign of terror saw officials flee Swat.
He became a household name after the fierce resistance his men mounted against the Pakistan army, despatched there to dismantle the TNSM’s jehadi infrastructure following the collapse of a peace agreement between Sufi Mohammed and the government. Hundreds of security personnel lost their lives in a spate of suicide attacks masterminded by Fazlullah. And though the army reclaimed Swat, Fazlullah remains at large. Suspected of having strong links with the Al Qaeda and Taliban, he carries a reward of Rs 5 million on his head.
Hakeemullah Mehsud - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Hakeemullah, 28, has just become the TTP’s new amir following Baitullah’s death. Also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud, he led the ttp fighters in the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram agencies of FATA, attacking NATO’s supply lines and destroying more than 600 of its vehicles and shipping containers. He also took credit for a string of suicide attacks, including the March 2009 assault on the Manawan Police Training Academy, Lahore. After he was anointed the new TTP chief, interior minister Rehman Malik rubbished the news, claiming the fugitive had been killed in a shootout. But Hakeemullah is still alive—and still intent on mowing down people.
Matiur Rehman - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
He’s the chief operational commander of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) as well as Al Qaeda’s planning director. Born in 1977 in Bahawalpur district of Punjab, his reputation rests on his bomb-making skills, as also for his liaisons between the Al Qaeda and the Pakistani jehadi community. Matiur was linked with the August 2006 trans-Atlantic plot to use homemade liquid explosive devices to destroy a fleet of US-bound British aeroplanes. He’s also suspected to have been behind the devastating bombing of the elite Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. Wanted by both the FBI and FIA, he carries a bounty of Rs 10 million.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammed - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Born in 1970 in the Bajaur Agency, the deputy commander of the TTP was first mentored by Maulana Sufi Mohammed. The two were introduced in 1993 after which he became a staunch TNSM activist. Sufi Mohammed’s two sons were captured in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001 and extradited to Pakistan. But Faqir managed to escape the American dragnet. He’s wanted for his contacts with the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants (he has publicly talked of his close ties with Osama’s No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri).
Following the death of Baitullah, Faqir declared he had assumed the temporary leadership of the TTP, only to retract his claims on August 22 and announcing Hakeemullah as the TTP’s new amir. Faqir is accused of orchestrating the November 8, 2006, suicide attack on an army training centre at Dargai in NWFP, which killed 45 recruits of the Punjab Regiment Centre. He’s wanted by the FIA.
