The TTP's Relations with other Militant Groups

The TTP leadership has time and again taken its oath of loyalty to Mullah Omar  and has declared him its supreme leader during its foundation. However, the TTP does not share Mullah Omar’s views on Pakistan and, against his orders, attacks both government and civilian targets in Pakistan. Mullah Omar tried to install a peace agreement between the TTP and the Pakistanis through the Shura Ittehadul Mujahideen agreement in January, 2009 but that deal did not materialize into what was desired. However, it is important to note that two foreign organizations – al-Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan – are allies of the TTP.

The TTP’s relations with the other militant groups in FATA and Afghanistan are a mix of peaceful to being at war . For instance, although initially, the South Waziristan Abdullah Mehsud group of South Waziristan was a part of the TTP, Abdullah split from Baitullah with his 2,000 fighters on whether or not to engage the Pakistani army. However, the two groups never went to war. Another Mehsud group that the TTP were not at ease with was the Sheryar Mehsud group. Sheryar Mehsud claimed the leadership of the Mehsud tribe but only has 150 fighters. Although he, too, is anti-government, his differences with the TTP were never reconciled.

The TTP’s relations with the pro-Pakistan Maulvi Nazir group have also been tense. In April 2007, Maulvi Nazir, an Ahmedzai Wazir, drove more than 2,000 Uzbek fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan from North Waziristan. The fleeing fighters sought refuge with Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan and became his allies. In September 2009, Maulvi Nazir’s men came under attack from some Uzbek fighters in Salay Rogha, South Waziristan. 11 of them died in that incident. Thus far, the TTP has refused to hand over the perpetrators to Maulvi Nazir, thereby straining relations between the Mehsuds and the Ahmadzai Wazirs . The Haji Sharif and Noor Islam groups, two anti-Nazir groups in North Waziristan, on the other hand, share good relations with the TTP.

Another major player in the Waziristan region is the Turkistan Bhittani group. The Bhittanis are the smallest of the three main tribes of Waziristan and are pro-government. In 2008, the TTP overran Jandola, killing 30 members of a Bhittani peace committee. Ever since then, the two groups have been in a state of cold war with one another.

The Punjabi Taliban, namely Harkat-ul- Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jamiat-ul-Ansar, Jamiat-ul-Furqan, and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, are all on friendly terms with the TTP. Many members of these aforementioned groups have been given refuge in South Waziristan, albeit against the wishes of the local populace .