Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, chief of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has said that his group is “open to guidance” from Pakistan’s religious scholars if they believe “the direction of our jihad” is wrong. “If you find any problem in the jihad that we waged [against this global infidel agenda], if you believe we have changed our direction, that we have gone astray, then you’re requested to guide us. We’re always ready to listen to your arguments happily,” the TTP chief said, calling his audience “our elders, our teachers, and our religious guides”. “We held talks with Pakistan’s government through the mediation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for one year,” the TTP chief said before seeking to shift the blame for the “revenge and retaliatory attacks” of his group on the Pakistan government while insisting that they have yet not scrapped the truce. Amid the spurt in terrorist attacks, Pakistan has ratcheted up pressure on Kabul to take action against TTP’s safe havens on their soil, but the Taliban regime has been non-committal which has escalated tensions between the two neighbours.
