Top TTP commander Maulvi Faqir captured in Afghanistan: officials

[Sher Malang]

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces captured a top Pakistani Taliban commander during an operation in eastern Afghanistan, security officials said on Tuesday, in a move that could help improve trust between the two countries.

The arrest on Monday of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a regional commander for Pakistan's Taliban movement, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was hailed as a "big blow" to the movement by an Afghan interior ministry official.

Pakistan authorities have long demanded that Kabul take action against Pakistani insurgents who take refuge in areas of eastern Afghanistan just over the border. Kabul, in turn, says the insurgency in Afghanistan draws sustenance from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Mohammad was captured during a raid in Nangarhar province by members of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and Afghan police officers, according to officials from NDS and the Afghan interior ministry.

Mohammad has a tumultuous past with the Pakistani Taliban and last year was sacked as commander of the northern Bajaur region, after telling Pakistani media the TTP were holding peace talks with the government.

The TTP denied his claim and replaced him with another commander, Mullah Dadullah. After Dadullah was killed in a NATO air strike in Afghanistan in August last year, Mohammad resumed his role.

Mohammad was responsible for several attacks against Pakistani forces and was known for his strict implementation of Islamic law in Bajaur.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: Senior Pakistani insurgent arrested in Afghan east: officials - Courant.com

 

[Yeti]

Nice catch the afghan security forces are improving each and every day.

 

[Spring Onion]

PESHAWAR: Afghan intelligence officials on Monday claimed to have arrested the former second-in-command of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Maulvi Faqir, along with “four accomplices” while he was trying to enter Pakistan’s Tirah Valley from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.“Maulvi Faqir and his four accomplices who had entered Nangarhar from Bajaur Agency were apprehended near Basawal on Torkham Road near the border of Khyber Agency’s Tirah Valley,” an Afghan intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

“Yes I can confirm their names as they had told us. Maulvi Faqir, Shahid Umar, Maulana Hakeemullah Bajauri, Mualana Turabi and Fateh are the people who have been arrested,” he replied when asked about the identity of the arrested people.

“They were traveling in a vehicle when (we) intercepted near Basawal village of Nangarhar,” he added.

The Afghan intelligence official, who identified himself with the name Abdullah, said: “Arms and ammunition have also been seized from their vehicle. The five are in the custody of Afghan intelligence officials who are interrogating them.”

Maulvi Faqir was the deputy amir (second-in-command) of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Taliban chief in Bajaur Agency, but was later removed from his position in March 2012 on suspicions of entering into a peace deal with the Pakistani government.

Faqir Muhammad, who hails from Chopatra Village of Bajaur Agency, was first part of the Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi, and later the deputy chief of TTP until March 2012 when he announced himself as the TTP chief after the death of Baitullah Mehsud. Faqir had also publicly accepted his ties with al-Qaeda network and had been accused of a number of cross-border attacks in Bajaur Agency and the settled Lower and Upper Dir district
Former Pakistani Taliban No 2 arrested in Afghanistan: reports | World | DAWN.COM

 

[SEAL]

Good job, hang them in public.

 

[Death Rattle]

TTP may be angry and this amy adversely affect it's talks with GoP.

 

[Spring Onion]

TTP may be angry and this amy adversely affect it's talks with GoP.

fk talks. No talks with TTP.

they are killing everyone . just yesterday they attacked political agent office in Peshawar.

 

[Kompromat]

Please behead him.

 

[STEELMAN]

He wanted Sharia law, He should be punished accordingly for his deeds.

 

[MilSpec]

fk talks. No talks with TTP.

they are killing everyone . just yesterday they attacked political agent office in Peshawar.

get him extradited to pakistan, and you guys try him in your legal system!

 

[AUz]

Give him to Pakistan Army.

And find and kill Fazal Ullah too...

 

[Fahad Khan 2]

Circle is getting tight everyday for them our last two years work started during Pasha has ISI head is finally paying off.....

 

[WolfSlayer]

get him extradited to pakistan, and you guys try him in your legal system!

noooooo...
plz doant do this...
Our courts have history of releasing criminals even if they are captured with suicide jackets....claiming 'NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE'.

 

[INDIATEC2020]

get him extradited to pakistan, and you guys try him in your legal system!

this method seems good..

 

[Windjammer]

Good news, he should be handed over to Pakistani authorities for interrogation .

The sad fact is, proof if it were needed that these scum bags have safe heavens inside Afghanistan from where they carry out their heinous crimes.

 

[indushek]

Do Pakistan and Afghanistan have proper extradition treaty??

Also (please don't take this as a troll) seeing the track record of terror convictions in Pakistan may be its better if the Afghans take care of this guy? permanently.