Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A notorious Taliban commander, Abdul Khaliq Haqqani, along with his fighters surrendered to the security forces in North Waziristan Agency (NWA), well-placed sources said Sunday. Haqqani was one of the leading Shura Council members of former Taliban head, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan.

The surrendered fighter was once heading an offshoot group of Taliban known as Inteqam-e-Waziristan faction. Sources close to the development said that Haqqani, who had claimed credit for some high-profile terror attacks, was wanted to the security forces in a number of cases. “Abdul Khaliq Haqqani and some of his group’s fighters laid down their arms and shunned violence,” source added.

Soon with the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the North Waziristan, Haqqani had to shift to Afghanistan along with his fighters to dodge the military offensive, sources added. Before he joined militants’ ranks, Haqqani was heading ‘Gulshan-e-Ilm’, a seminary in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. In 2008, he had threatened to unleash a group of suicide bombers if American or NATO forces dare to step on the soil of tribal region.

Published in Daily Times, November 6^th 2017.