Manghopir no more believed to be home to Taliban militants

Salahuddin*, a Mehsud tribal elder who has been living in the impoverished Sultanabad locality of Manghopir since the late 1990s, believes that his area is no longer a prime hideout of Taliban militants in the city.

He still shudders while recalling the days when the Taliban were present there. He told The News that he peacefully ran a transport business in Manghopir until the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) overran the area in mid-2011.

“Every night a group of Taliban militants, calling themselves ‘Tora Spha’ (black night), roamed around on motorbikes, killing, injuring or panicking residents by hurling hand grenades at their houses, and calling them to demand extortion,” described Salahuddin. He was also forced several times to pay extortion to the TTP’s local leadership.

Also, after gaining a foothold in the neighbourhood, the terror outfit had set up offices, forcing residents, especially Mehsud tribesmen, not to resolve their monetary or family disputes in court and private jirgas, asking them to visit the organisation’s offices instead.

Salahuddin said he breathed a sigh of relief in September 2013 when the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) launched a crackdown on Taliban militants and killed several of them in his neighbourhood.

Since then Manghopir remained the main focus of the LEAs, who considered it a central sanctuary of Taliban militants. From there they used to run their networks in large portions of the city and carried out subversive attacks.

TTP network dismantled

The crackdown on the militants in Manghopir was not an easy task for law enforcement officials. Sultanabad was considered a key hideout of militants associated with the TTP Mehsud chapter’s Waliur Rehman-led faction, said a paramilitary official who oversees Manghopir. “The neighbourhood was strategically very important for the TTP. From there they were shuttling between Ittehad Town and Sohrab Goth.”

In the beginning all of the Mehsud militants were united. Soon after, though, violent clashes erupted among its factions in the locality on leadership, finances and turf issues.

Mufti Noor Wali, a Taliban commander and Sultanabad resident, led the Waliur Rehman group during 2010-11, and was soon after replaced by Abid Mehsud, alias Mucharh, according to information gathered from Rangers and tribal sources.

The group began collecting extortion money and was also involved in target killings and kidnappings for ransom. Their area of influence was Naka Chungi and its surrounding areas. The Rangers killed Mucharh in a shoot-out in Musharraf Colony on the third day of the Peshawar Army Public School massacre in December 2014.

The Sher Zaman group was another key faction operating out of Manghopir. It was mainly active in MPR Colony and some parts of Kunwari Colony. To fight back against the LEAs, the group’s militants had established several posts on Manghopir’s mountains.

Fakharuddin, popularly known as Fakhru, led the Khan Said, alias Sajna, faction of the TTP in Manghopir. Abid, alias Gutka, and Ehsanullah, alias Khum, were also key leaders of the group in the area. The group was active in carrying out subversive attacks in interior Sindh and other parts of Karachi.

Sher Khan, another key Taliban commander in Manghopir, headed the Baitullah Mehsud group, which was formed in 2007 in Korangi but later extended its influence to Manghopir. Khan was also close to Hakeemullah Mehsud and was killed during infighting with the Sajna faction in August 2013.

Continuing raids in Manghopir since the operation’s launch, the Rangers have so far have killed or arrested a number of commanders and members of all of the factions.

The outfit’s top Manghopir commanders who were killed include Fakhru, Abid, alias Chhota, Hakeemullah, Abidullah, Mohsan, Rehan, Abdul Rehman, Javed Hussain, Saeedullah, Aziz, Zohaib, Nasirullah, Gutka, Ehsanullah and Lala. Three top militants – Javed Khan, alias Musa, Samiullah and Khan Badshah – have been arrested.

However, Zawwel Mehsud, another key commander, is still alive and the LEAs have been unable to trace him. “Zawwel is not in the city. After the killing of most of his comrades, he fled to Afghanistan,” said the paramilitary official.

Now in Manghopir the Rangers man checkpoints, carry out patrolling and run an effective intelligence network with the support of the community leaders.

How TTP gained foothold

Around Manghopir, renowned for Sufi saint Pir Mangho’s shrine, the settlements of Sultanabad, Pashtunabad and Afridi Goth were established in the 1980s and the 1990s.

A large number of Mehsud tribesmen, who were displaced from South Waziristan after the launch of a military operation targeting the Taliban in October 2009, migrated to these neighbourhoods to inhabit inexpensive and impoverished localities.

It was the time when the TTP’s Waliur Rehman chapter had started organising its network in the area, as a number of militants, under the guise of internally displaced persons, had arrived in the city, according to security officials and locals.

In the beginning the TTP factions exerted their influence over Mehsud tribesmen, recruiting their youth for the outfit. Then they forged working arrangements with local criminals to expand their funding resources through extortions, bank heists and kidnappings for ransom.

“The locals who joined the TTP were regularly paid, properly fed and armed and trained with modern weapons,” said the paramilitary official. After gaining a foothold in the locality the Taliban developed multipurpose offices and appointed an ameer (chief) for each office, he added.

During their reign until September 2013 the Taliban militants killed a number of policemen and workers of the Awami National Party, as well as dozens of people who refused to pay extortion. Their continuous attacks even forced the Manghopir police station to close down.

Development and security experts believe that the government needs to pay attention to the uplift needs of the neighbourhood because the locals supported the LEAs in their operation against the terrorists in the locality.

Abubakkar Yousafzai, a development professional, told The News that uplift in the locality was essential for ensuring sustainable peace there. “The LEAs, especially the Rangers, have done their job by clearing the area of terrorists. Now it is the duty of the civilian administration to start some development projects there.”

Honestly, he added, Manghopir was an ideal locality for militants. “It is an ignored area. There hasn’t been any development work: the roads are still broken and commuting is difficult.”

* Name changed to protect identity