Transcript: The Post-Baitullah Pakistani Taliban Leadership Greets the World

By Evan Kohlmann

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a videotaped press conference featuring Waliur Rehman, Emir of Mehsud Taliban in South Waziristan Agency, and Hakimullah Mehsud, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader. The statements appear to be aimed at legitimizing Rehman as the new leader of the South Waziristan chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and possibly one of the most important powerbrokers within the Mehsud-led TTP. The video recording itself was produced and released by Al-Qaida's As-Sahab Media Foundation.

Of particular note to CT Blog readers -- Hakimullah Mehsud repeatedly drew attention to the cause of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently awaiting trial on federal charges in the Southern District of New York. Acccording to Hakimullah, "The Jihad becomes an individual duty in several cases, and there is a Fatwa, agreed by the scholars that if a single meter of the lands of the Muslims is conquered, the Jihad becomes an individual duty. So what would we say, when today we do not speak about one meter, but about the entire Islamic world that has come to be at the grip of the enemies of Islam – Afghanistan, Kashmir, Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya! The Muslims from big to small, men and women, are prisoners of the infidels – much like Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is our sister in Islam, is in prison in the USA, bound with chains... We are not enemies of Pakistan or the people of Pakistan; this is an unjust and oppressing regime, and an illegitimate and infidel regime. It is the same regime that has sold Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to the Americans for a handful of dollars."

The complete transcript can be viewed on the NEFA Foundation website.