Mehsud threatens to send militants to fight India

NEW DELHI: India is the next stop for Taliban fighters after they are done with creating an Islamic state in Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has told an international news channel. ���We want an Islamic state. If we get that (in Pakistan), they we will go to the borders and help fight the Indians,��� Mehsud was shown telling the British Sky News channel in a recently aired footage.

Hakimullah, who has claimed responsibility for the series of attacks in Pakistan over the past week, including the terrorist strike on Pakistan Army���s headquarters in Rawalpindi, told Islamabad to stop cooperating with the US in its war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. ���We are fighting the Pakistani military, police and militia because they are following American orders. If they stop following their orders, we will stop fighting them,��� said Hakimullah.

The simultaneous offer of helping Islamabad ���fight the Indians��� is being seen as a last-ditch attempt by the Tehreek-e-Taliban to prevent Pakistan Army���s march into their stronghold of Waziristan. Hakimullah was named the new chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan in August. Hakimullah recently met several reporters from the Mehsud clan to dispel reports that he had died in fighting with a rival militant faction.

Sky News also reported that the Pakistani Taliban had bolstered their finances through the sale and manufacture of drugs like heroin. The Taliban were also extorting protection money from businesses in Afghanistan, it reported. Recent intelligence flowing into the Union home ministry had indicated that Pakistan was planning to push in as many as 60 surrendered Taliban.

��� mostly Punjabi Taliban fighters affiliated to outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed ��� across the LoC into J&K. The fighters, all hardcore elements fully trained in asymmetrical warfare, guerrilla tactics and sabotage, were being sent with the mission of creating fresh trouble in J&K.