Baitullah Mehsud (Pashto/Urdu: بیت اللہ محسود born ca. 1974– August 23, 2009) was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which he formed from an alliance of about five pro-Taliban groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S. military analysts to have commanded up to 5,000 fighters and to have been behind numerous attacks in Pakistan including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
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Background
Baitullah Mehsud was born in the early 1974 in Landi Dhok village in the Bannu District of the NWFP, which lies some distance from the Mehsud tribe's base in the South Waziristan Agency. He hails from the Broomikhel side of the Shabikhel sub-tribe of the Mehsud and is one of five brothers. He has never finished formal schooling although he has received some instruction in a madrassa.
As a young madrassa student, Baitullah would often travel into Afghanistan to assist the Taliban in its implementation of Sharia.
He emerged as a major tribal leader soon after the 2004 death of Nek Mohammad. In a ceremony attended by five leading Taliban commanders, including Mullah Dadullah, Baitullah was appointed Mullah Omar's governor of the Mehsud area. By 2006, Baitullah Mehsud's growing influence in South Waziristan led some to label him as "South Waziristan's Unofficial Amir".
An official in the Northwest Frontier Constabulary described his army: "Baitullah's lashkar (army) is very organised. He has divided it into various units and assigned particular tasks to each unit. One of the units been tasked to kill people who are pro-government and pro-US or who support the US occupation of Afghanistan. The last person to be killed was Malik Arsallah Khan, chief of the Khuniakhel Wazir tribe, who was killed on 22 February in Wana (in South Waziristan)."
Ceasefire Agreements
Mehsud entered into a ceasefire with Pakistani authorities on 8 February 2005. During the meeting at Sargodha, the Pakistani military agreed to withdraw its troops from areas under Baitullah's control. The removal did not include the paramilitary Frontier Corps, who consist mostly of fellow Pashtuns. In exchange, Baitalluh's followers would not attack government officials, impede development projects or allow foreign militants to operate within their territory.
Mehsud was offered US$20 million for his cooperation in the ceasefire. He declined the money and told Pakistani authorities that they should use the pay-out to "compensate families who had suffered during the military operation".
So the money was given to him in suitcases for him to "compensate the families who had suffered during the military operation."
However, according to the official reports by the Pakistan Army's military operations chief in the region, Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, the government paid Rs. 32 million($540,000) to help four former wanted tribal militants in South Waziristan settle debts with al-Qaeda. While a sum of Rs. 20 million which was offered Baitullah Mehsud was rejected by him1 The four militants who recieved 32 million rupees were:
- Haji Sharif received Rs. 15 million;
- Maulvi Abbas received 15m rupees;
- Maulvi Javed received Rs. 1 million; and
- Haji Mohammad Omar received one million rupees.
Soon after Baitullah Mehsud broke the ceasefire agreement (July 2005) when after accusing the government of reneging on the deal, Baitullah resumed attacks on security forces.
Dawn News reported in June 2006 that the Waziri tribes allied with the Taliban were negotiating another ceasefire with Pakistani forces.
In February 2008, Mehsud announced that he had agreed to another ceasefire with the government of Pakistan. The Pakistani military has officially claimed that military operations against Mehsud are continuing. The New York Times, however, reported that anonymous high-level officials in the Pakistani government confirmed the deal.
In July 2008, Baitullah issued a statement that threatened to take action against the government if the NWFP leaders did not step down within five days. The NWFP parliamentary leaders promptly refused.
2007
In a January 2007 interview with the BBC Urdu Service, Baitullah extolled the virtues of jihad against foreigners and advocated taking the fight to the U.S. and to Britain.
Relationship with Abdullah Mehsud
Abdullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader turned CIA agent who was among the first captives set free from Guantanamo, is sometimes described as Baitullah's brother.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
In December 2007, Mehsud was declared the first leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto Assassination
On 28 December 2007 the Pakistan government claimed that it had strong evidence regarding Baitullah Mehsud as the man behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007. The Pakistani government released a transcript it asserted was from a conversation between Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Sahib (literally "Mr. Cleric"). According to the transcript Maulvi Sahib claimed credit for the attack, Baitullah Mehsud asked who carried it out, and was told, "There were Saeed, the second was Badarwala Bilal and Ikramullah was also there."
The translation released from Agence France Presse differed slightly from the translation from the Associated Press. According to the transcripts Baitullah Mehsud says he is at, "Anwar Shah's house", in Makeen or Makin. The Agence France Presse transcript identifies Makeen as a town in South Waziristan. Subsequently, both Agence France Presse and NDTV released an official denial by Mehsud's spokesman in which he said that Mehsud had no involvement in the attack, that the transcript was "a drama", that it would have been "impossible" for militants to penetrate the security cordon around Bhutto, and that her death was a "tragedy" which had left Mehsud "shocked". Mehsud's spokesman was quoted as saying: "I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs. We don't strike women."
In an address to the nation on 2 January 2008, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said that he believed Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud were prime suspects in the assassination of Bhutto.
On Jan. 18, 2008, The Washington Post reported that the CIA has concluded that Mehsud was behind the Bhutto assassination. "Offering the most definitive public assessment by a U.S. intelligence official, [Michael V.] Hayden said Bhutto was killed by fighters allied with Mehsud, a tribal leader in northwestern Pakistan, with support from al-Qaeda's terrorist network." U.S. President George W. Bush then placed Mr. Mehsud on "a classified list of militant leaders whom the C.I.A. and American commandos were authorized to capture or kill."
2008
Rumors and Death
CNN and various other media sources reported the death of Baithullah Mehsud on 30 September 2008. His "death", at the age of 34, was reportedly due to kidney failure preceded by a short sickness. According to breaking news of ARY One World TV of Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud died on 1 October 2008. He is estimated to have died at around midnight. Baitullah Mehsud has been in ill health for several months and has been suffering from high blood pressure and kidney disease.
2009
Leadership Dispute
On March 27, 2009, Pakistan's Daily Times reported that Baitullah Mehsud's group was engaged in a dispute with a group lead by Qari Zainuddin Mehsud for control of South Waziristan. The Daily Times described Qari Zainuddin Mehsud as the "self-appointed successor of Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud." Both groups had distributed pamphlets leveling accusations against the other groups' leader. Qari Zainuddin stated that Baitullah's group was not practicing jihad because Islam forbids suicide attacks. Baitullah's pamphlet claimed that Qari Zainuddin was a government puppet and a traitor to Islam and to the Mehsud tribe. Qari Zainuddin was reported to have the support of Maulvi Nazir, a senior Taliban leader, and to have allied with the Bhittani tribe.
Voice of America Interview
In June 2009 Voice of America's Deewa Radio broadcasted Baitullah Mehsud's interview which further cemented the belief that he is supported by CIA.
Splinter within TTP
Turkistan Bittani, defected from Baitullah Mehsud in June 2009, calling him a foreign agent and working against Islam and Pakistan. He called Baitullah Mehsud 'an American agent,' arguing
Baitullah Mehsud was never targeted in the dozens of US drone attacks inside Pakistan's tribal region.2
At the same time Qari Zainuddin Mehsud of his own tribe also left him calling him a foreign agent. Qari Zainuddin was assassinated a few days later.
According to Times by 23 June 2009 in all there have been THREE US drone attacks on Baitullah Mehsud and the third one after the assassination of Qari Zainuddin who along with Turkistan Bittani claimed that Baitullah Mehsud is working for other countries and one proof was no attacks of US drones on Baitullah Mehsud.3
Pakistan Dossier
On 16 July 2009 in Egypt, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani personally hands a dossier to Manmohan Singh which outlines India's alleged role in destabilising Pakistan from Afghanistan. This included funding and training Baloch militants for the separatist insurgency in Balochistan province and providing support for the Pakistani Taliban, in particular its leader Baitullah Mehsud.4
Proof of Indian Involvement
In the last week of July 2009 Pakistan handed over proof of India’s links with Baitullah Mehsud to NATO and US.5
August 2009
In the last week of July and first week of August 2009, Baitulla Mehsud "contacted the government through mediators for peace talks". The stronghold which the Pakistani Army had around him is believed to be the biggest incentive for peace talks. Although army spokesman ruled out a dialogue with Mehsud but a senior official privy to the development said the government had “told those who are negotiating with Baitullah what it wants”.6
Death
On the night of August 5, 2009, while he was staying with his second wife at his father-in-law's house, a U.S. drone attacked the premises. His death was announced on August 6, 2009 by Pakistani media based on an unofficial sources. Two of his followers, Maulana Meraj and Hakimullah Mehsud, denied the report the following day, dismissing it as "rumors" intended to negatively impact the Taliban's speed of jihad. They suggested that Baitullah had gone into hiding and isolation as a part of a strategy. Hakimullah added that meetings of Taliban officials in Dir and surroundings are proceeding as usual "to make worth of their abilities and to discuss other plans which he called 'war game plans'." These reports have been followed by several telephone conversations between AP reporters with Qari Hussain, Maulvi Umar and Hakimullah Mehsud to deny Baitullah's death7 and to claim he had been ill, perhaps gravely, for several months or had been "busy on the battlefield." Hakimullah indicated that soon a videotape would be released as a proof of his statements.
After his capture on August 18, Maulvi Omar retracted his previous statements and confirmed that Baitullah had indeed perished in the missile strike.8 On August 20, U.S. President Barack Obama stated "We took out [Baitullah] Mehsud" in a radio address.9 On August 25, both Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman confirmed to BBC and AP correspondents that Baitullah had indeed perished on 23 August from injuries sustained in the missile strike.10
The attack is part of the CIA's campaign using unmanned aerial vehicles in the region by the agency's Special Activities Division. U.S. missile strikes targeting Mehsud territory in South Waziristan became more common after June 2009 when Pakistan, while having been publicly critical of the missile strikes, declared a military offensive against Mehsud.
US Refused to Bomb Mehsud for Years
On 15 November 2009 Guardian finally published a story which stated:
the fact that for years the US mysteriously refused to kill former Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud via remote drone despite being offered his precise location by Pakistani intelligence authorities.11
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