Pakistan Taliban reject Daesh leader’s claim to be ‘caliph’

Dera Ismail Khan: Pakistan’s Taliban have rejected Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s claim to be the global leader of all Muslims, the movement said in a statement on Saturday.

The Pakistani Taliban’s statement comes after a similar rejection by the Afghan Taliban following pledges of allegiance from low-level commanders of both Islamist movements to the Middle East-based Daesh.

Last year, Daesh, an Al Qaida offshoot, proclaimed its leader as “caliph” — the head of state. Al Baghdadi aspires to establish a global caliphate with himself at its head.

The latest statement from the Pakistani Taliban comes amid speculation that the movement’s leadership, whose goal is to topple the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif and set up a Sharia state, is actually wary of Daesh, which is driven by different ambitions that have little to do with South Asia.

“Baghdadi is not Khalifa [caliph] because in Islam, Khalifa means that he has command over all the Muslim world, while Baghdadi has no such command; he has command over a specific people and territory,” the Pakistan Taliban said in a statement.

“Baghdadi is not an Islamic Khalifa because his selection is not according to Islamic rules,” the statement said, adding that the Daesh leader had little control in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban operate separately from the Afghan insurgents of the same name, but are loosely aligned with them.

Late last year, a few breakaway factions of the Pakistani Taliban declared allegiance to Daesh and ordered militants across the region to join its campaign to set up a global Islamic caliphate.

Pakistani authorities say Daesh has no financial ties with any Pakistani group. But there are concerns about further turmoil in the region as US-led foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan, with groups such as the Haqqani network and Daesh likely to exploit the security vacuum.

The entry of Daesh, while its numbers remain small, will also complicate Pakistan’s fight against indigenous Islamist militants fighting to overthrow the government.

The Pakistani Taliban have been beset by bitter internal rivalries in the recent past, with the influential Mehsud tribal faction of the group refusing to accept the authority of Mullah Fazlullah, who came to power in late 2013.

Daesh, in an effort to extend its global reach, could exploit these rivalries to its advantage, wading into a region ripe with fierce anti-Western ideology and full of young unemployed men ready to take up guns and fight for Islam.

In its latest statement, the Pakistani Taliban, like the Afghan Taliban, also condemn the ‘barbarity’ of Daesh’s rule.

“Baghdadi’s caliphate is not Islamic because in a real caliphate you provide real justice while Baghdadi’s men kill many innocent mujahideen [fighters] of other groups,” the statement said.

Earlier this year, the Afghan Taliban sent a letter to Al Baghdadi to stop recruiting in Afghanistan, saying there is room for only “one flag, one leadership” in their fight to re-establish strict Islamist rule.