With the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud being confirmed, it is hoped that the wave of terror gripping the country will lose strength. While Pakistani government officials are yet to give an official reaction to Mehsud’s death, the White House has said that Pakistan will be a safer place now that the country’s number one enemy is gone.
How will Mehsud’s death change the tactics in the offensive against militants in the tribal areas?
Will the ‘successful’ drone attack affect Pak-US relations in fight against the Taliban?
Will it really make Pakistan a safer place or will a new, more dangerous TTP leader emerge as Mehsud’s successor?
The views expressed in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Rather than providing intel to the American’s to perform drone attacks – why not use your substantial air force/army to eliminate these bad guys? Pretty clear that Pakistan is not committed to eliminating the Taliban.
No dead bodies ,no DNA testings, No eye witness accounts and Pakistan government started petting its own back for a remarkable success.This sound like Deja vu, remember this a few years ago, Pakistani government telling the world that Osama is dead and then president Musharraf was so adamant that a bunker buster has killed Osama in the Tora-Bora area so that America should stop looking for him. No body or DNA sample was produced even at that time. I cannot keep myself from thinking why like Sri Lanka who claimed that Prabhakaran was dead and later showed the world his dead body, before Pakistan starts petting its back, gather all the facts and produce some proof for the world that what they are saying is correct. Does any body in their FO believe that Pakistan is loosing credibility in the eyes of the world? May be pakistan government is hoping some of these baseless proclamations might come true which they need badly to pacify its people who are looking at heavens for something good to happen as their government has failed to deliver at all the fronts.
A National Black Day
The nation has been disgraced and dishonored.
Killing never solves problems except retaliation for those involved in it.
Time to hang head in shame for being a stooge nation with a dead conscience who has been labelled as the traitors that will sell their religion.
Time to mourn this state of lowness.
Baitullah was just one of the hydra headed monster that was created during the Zia era.
His death will weaken but not illiminate the enormous problem Pakistan faces within its borders with militancy. We have the same problems in Sind and Balochistan without the influence of Taliban.
An uneducated or poorly educated young man who is hungry and jobless will always be a target for any fringe group.
The government should make it clear to the tribes that keeping such elements among them will bring them more hardships.
Pakistan will have to develop these backward areas that are trapped in time and and abject poverty.
Each village that is cleared of militants, should be developed on an emergency scale to give contrast to the people. Unless better options are offered we will see a re emergence of this problem again either in the form of religious zealots or outright criminals or violent nationalists and the cycle will continue.
Keep the military operation going and not relent. Each new commander Taliban should know that he is a wanted man. He just cannot go on killing, beheading and training young boys to become suicide bombers. He will be eliminated in this fire too.
Most of these fighters are mercenaries and are allied with these groups for economic gain. If offered a better choice they will leave the movement, leaving only a handful of diehards to be defeated and eliminated.
No peace deal without total surrender.
Congratulation to all Pakistani Brothers and Sisters. Baitullah Mehsood and his murderous thugs are responsible for thousands of innocent Pakistani deaths. He was number one enemy of the state. Still there are many more, and must be dealt with.
Hullo, what’s going on? National and international newspapers are celebrating the death of Baitullah Masud and his two henchmen, Hakimullah and Waliur Rahman. Yet Reuters told us today that they aren’t dead. Are they the nosferatu, the undead, who will continue to suck the nation’s blood from beyond the grave? Or is this a horrible lapse? What happened to good old fashioned investigative journalism? Surely, the matter is too serious to be reduced to the level of mere twitter-chatter-blog.
This is real 14th August celebration especially for NWFP. It should be celebrated as Yom-e-Nijaat from Talibanization.
Never welcome them in any shape or form.
Taliban were not on true path thats why they were never welcome hapilly and no person or tribe stood with them against governement in operation. They were just creating a phobia to gain power. Now moderation with prosperity will grow.
After all this we should teach children of Swat and other places in schools, what happened? Why they were in camps? who killed their elders? and who are behind these evils. They should be thought that they should love their country and never encourage such movements in
pakistan and never become fundamentalist and be practical and objective in life.
Death of Baitullah Mehsud is not the only target of Pakistan. We need to look beyond Baitullah Mensud and his accomplices, arrest of Osama Bin Laden, his accomplices and sympathizers and all those people who wants to make Pakistan unstable.
If US think that after the death of Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan will be a safer place. If this is the conclusion of US government that US government must send travel advice to all those American Nationals to visit Pakistan, who have been kept on hold previously by US government’s travel alert for Pakistan.
It is a childish statement that after the death of one terrorist, Pakistan will become a safer place.
In my opinion, we need to look beyond the boundaries of our country that who are those people supplying arms and ammunition to the terrorists groups in Pakistan to fight a war with Pakistan’s government and to destabilize Pakistan?
Hi, Good afternoon to all. It is getting confirmed that Baituallah Mehsud is killed in the US drone attack in south Wazaristan. There are lot of Talibani people eager to take charge of the Tehrik-Pakistan. What will change big, i think, is nothing big is going to our country, because another person will fill the vaccum created by the demise of Baituallah Mehsud. As long as we are with US, Talibani people are not going to stop attacking our people. our government needs to understand the psyche of the Islamic nature. We failed to understand Islam. Therefore, fundamentalism is on rise in our region.
In my opinion the case of Baitullah Mehsud and Akbar Khan Bugti are the same. Both of them challenged the writ of the country and targeted people and assets of the country.
Why are the media and the politician differentiating between the two? In one case it is fine and acceptable and the other case (Bugti), considers as political assassination.
Baitullah or Waliur or Hakimullah – all are same.But why Pak is allowing US interferrence, This is more dangerous than Mehsuds.
Learn from Iraq or Afghan where the commoners are suffering.
George Bush for killing of hundreds of innocent Iraqis?
I think no insurgency will decrease with the death of Baitullah, but it will increase, as behind all this, foreign hand is involved as many times stated by Rehman Malik, and other Pakistani ministers.
But who are these foreigners.? why Mr. Malik and his company openly does not declare the the name of these foreign elements.-?
All miseries looting, killing, lack of law and order, assaulting and snatching mobiles, and purse on bus stop, all these misfortunes, are not due to talibans, but due to the cruel kindness of corrupt and irresponsible leaders and politicians of the country.
So everything we can not throw on talibans but we should also look in to our own collar.
I think no insergency will decrease with the death of Baitullah, but it will increase,as behind all this,foreign hand is involved as many times stated by Abdul Rehmasn Malik, and other pakistani ministers.
But who are these foreigners.? why Mr.Malik and his company openly does not declare the the name of these foreign elements.-?
All miseries looting,killing, lack of law and order, assaulting and santching mobiles, and purse on bus stop, all these misfortunes,are not due to talibans,but due to the cruel kindness of currupt,and irresponsible leaders, and politicians of the country.
So everything we can not throuw on talibans ,but we should also look in toour own collar.-Ali
“The tree of the wicked will never bear fruit.”
Its a shame how these names & characters have been created by the agencies & the press etc. to reign on terror on the poor & the oppressed.
This is apathy of the hour that an illiterate (I do not consider person with so called religious teaching as literate) man was representing Mehsud tribe. Such merciless brutes should be removed from the face of the earth.
Now the mainstream religious parties and those elements (Gen Zia’s cronies) supporting Taliban should come out with statement – these bunch of cowards have no self honour.
Quite refreshing to read all the comments here. I’d quite expected the same old lame excuses of poverty, no justice, American interests that Pakistani’s used to put forward in the past.
Seems to me, everything that Zia Ul wished for India, Pakistan got.
Hopefully, in the next decade, Ahmadees can be moslems again. Christians can be accused of tearing/burning the Koran and nobody gives a hoot.
Seriously do you think there is any chance for a non-moslem to be the president of a country that is 90% moslem? Don’t you think that is a redundant clause in your constitution? And haven’t you been in military dictatorship longer than you’ve had an elected president?
And anyway, doesn’t Islam prefer a ruler/land with justice to a ruler with faith and no justice?
I was rather sickened yesterday (08th August) to read the headlines ‘Good Riddance, Killer Baitullah’ in the Dawn.
One does not announce any person’s death in such terms, whatever he/she may have done. Baitullah was a human being, and his death was the loss of yet another human life. Whether or not he held other lives cheap, is a separate issue.
Morever, Dawn is a supposed to be our largest, oldest daily newspaper, and as such it has certain professional standards to uphold. This comment smacks of a kindergarten playground taunt and was in extreme poor taste.
Mehsud’s death is a big news. But more important achievement will be to defeat the extremist idealogy. Demise of Mehsud could be the beginning of the end of extremism. The religeous scholars must realize their responsibility. They must promote the culture of tolerance and co-existence with those who don’t agree with them.
The establishment must know it that you cannot win by pitching one section of the society against another.
We must abolish all type of quotas and base our decision purely on merit. All those who talk about democracy first must practice it within their own parties. We are the only so called democratic country where parties are run like family businesses.
Unless we change on whole, the elimination of an individual will not bring any long term good to the country.
What crime could be worst than breaking of a nation? When Pakistan was broken, no judge, no jury and no prosecutor were out there for making those people accountable who were responsible for break up of Pakistan. No one was held responsible from crime of breaking Pakistan, found guilty or punished. In that case one can assume that the people responsible for break of Pakistan were protected and provided with safe exit. This leads to wonder whose interest are being protected by our military might and the rulers. Do we really know or understand what is happening in Pakistan? I wonder if Baitullah Mehsud, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and such others were really after breaking Pakistan. In democracy we must respect opinion of all and work out difference by negotiations. Killings generate hate that will make Pakistan unsafe and unstable.
So far it is not confirm if Mr Masood is dead. Even if it is a confirm news then credit goes to US forces. So far pak army commandos had only a single achievement and that is to kill the old-aged Bhugti! Mubarak to Pak Army!!
Good riddance. I like this internal jihad.
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However, a government official in Peshawar said that both Hakeemullah and Waliur Rehman had been killed in the clash.
Next target should be Musharraf. How can a country allow a dictator free for throwing away a democratically elected government? What message that will send to the would be future dictators waiting in the wings? He should be tried in a court of law.