Even after news of his death, Baitullah Mehsud continues to haunt. A report in Dawn on August 10 aimed to put speculation about the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief to rest: “Ambiguities about the death of Baitullah Mehsud will be over after DNA tests in two to three days, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said. Experts will match the DNA of Baitullah with that of his brother. He said the test could be conducted without exhuming the body.” Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has challenged the Taliban to “prove that the group’s leaders are still alive, in the wake of reports that Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud have been killed,” as reported by Daily Times on August 10.

Dawn quoted from US National Security Advisor General James Jones’ interview to NBC’s Meet the Press programme: “We think so (that Mehsud is dead). We put it in the 90 per cent category,” he said. The Daily Times of August 11 said: “TTP confirmed Baitullah Mehsud had been killed, and announced a 15-day mourning period, reported a private TV channel. Newly-appointed TTP spokesman Azam Tariq told the channel the TTP would observe a ceasefire during the mourning period. He said a successor to Baitullah had not been chosen yet.”

Mehsud, reportedly, has left behind a vault of riches, arms and hundreds of devoted and trained men. The News reported on August 10: “A bloody feud that followed Baitullah Mehsud’s death involving about three-dozen best-trained Taliban fighters early on Wednesday morning was actually a battle among various Taliban warlords to control Rs 2 billion of Taliban funds and ownership of arms and ammunition worth about Rs 1 billion by grabbing the ‘Emarat’ (leadership) of the TTP.”

... contd.