Daily Times

Former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) IG police and serving officer on special duty (OSD) Salahuddin Mehsud’s brother, Nasrullah Mehsud, was kidnapped and killed on Friday in Tank, a private TV channel reported.

According to details, the victim was making his way to his residence from Tank Bazaar in his vehicle after Friday prayers when assailants, waiting for him near the customs pump, opened fire on him.

Syed Amal, the gunman accompanying Nasrullah Mehsud was seriously injured. The perpetrators then proceeded to forcefully take Nasrullah. His body was later found in Manzai area.

The gunman was also reported to have succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

The police have registered a report of the incident and started an investigation.

According to the district police officer, the accused came on a motorcycle and after firing on Nasrullah’s car left the gunman injured and took the victim with them in his car. The police have since found the motorcycle of the accused, after which the scope of the investigation was being ‘widened’.

Notably, Nasrullah’s brother has served as Frontier Constabulary Commandant and IG Police in K-P and is presently an OSD.

No group has so far accepted responsibility for the attack. However, it is pertinent to mention that there has been for some months a lot of fear and panic among the people due to the consistent increase in target killings, kidnappings and other such incidents of unrest in Tank district as well as South and North Waziristan.

Such cases continue on in the context of an ongoing surge in terrorist attacks.

Speaking with tribal elders in Peshawar earlier this week, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir emphasised that Pakistan would only talk to the Afghan government, stressing there would be no talks with terrorists. “The surge in terrorism in recent past is a futile effort on the part of terrorists to get the talks re-initiated, however, there is no option for these terrorists except to submit to the writ of state of Pakistan before they are decimated, if they persist on their wrong path,” Gen Asim Munir told tribal elders.

Pakistan has abandoned the peace process after the change of army command in November last year. The statement came against the backdrop of renewed push by the Afghan Taliban, seeking talks between Pakistan and the outlawed TTP.

The country’s high-powered National Security Committee (NSC) has admitted that holding talks with the TTP was a wrong policy. But this was the first time that the army chief officially confirmed that Pakistan was no longer seeking talks with the TTP.