DIR:
The fateha of the slain deputy chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Mufti Hazrat Deroji, also known as Qari Amjad, continued for the second consecutive day on Saturday at the main mosque of Mayar Jandool. A large number of family members, local residents and friends from surrounding villages participated in the prayers.
According to family sources, the condolence meetings will last for three days, respecting local customs and traditions. Qari Amjad, whose real name was Amjad Ali, was killed along with three associates in an intelligence operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
Military authorities handed over his body to the family on Thursday. The next morning, his remains were transported to his ancestral village, Mayar Jandool, where the funeral prayer was offered at the central cemetery. The funeral, attended by hundreds of people, was held openly with the permission of security forces, an unusual move for a senior TTP leader as such gatherings are normally restricted following the deaths of terrorist commanders.
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Family sources said Qari Amjad was the son of Muhammad Siddiq Akhunzada, a local school teacher who passed away in 2001. Qari Amjad received his early religious education at a madrassa in Shahpur, Shangla, and later completed a Mufti course in Karachi. He, along with his younger brother Wajid Ali, joined the banned TTP in 2007. Wajid was killed in 2010 during a clash with security forces in Samar Bagh after planting an improvised explosive device.
Known within the ranks of the TTP as Mufti Mazahim and Hazrat Mufti Deeroji, Qari Amjad married a woman from Khanpur Tekeni in 2007 and had two sons and four daughters. The family later moved to Afghanistan, where they lived for several years. Their eldest son, now 18, studies at a religious seminary in Afghanistan, where the rest of the family still resides.
Fateha for Qari Amjad Ali marching at Mayar Jandool Mosque in Dir. Photo: Express
Two of his half-brothers, Abdul Majid and Muhammad Farooq, live in Mayar Jandool. Majid works as a school teacher. Two uncles, Muhammad Saleem and Ghulam Nasir Akhunzada, were detained by security forces in 2010 following the emergence of Qari Amjad as a TTP figure and were held for 18 months at the Blambat Scouts Fort before being acquitted.
Sources said Qari Amjad rose through the ranks during his stay in Afghanistan to become the deputy of current TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud. In 2022, the United States designated him a global terrorist, accusing him of cross-border attacks and terrorist operations, while Pakistan had offered a bounty of Rs 5 million on his head.
In a statement posted on social media, the TTP described his assassination as a “betrayal”, while Pakistani authorities called it the result of a precise operation based on intelligence information.
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Conflicting reports have since emerged, with some claims suggesting he was killed inside Pakistan and not across the border.
The villagers have great respect for him because due to his presence, TTP saved their Mayar village and did not interfere with the locals compared to the rest of the district where people were frequently kidnapped and killed.
Sources said he also worked as a caretaker of the same mosque where his fatha is currently being offered. His mother died during his childhood, after which his father sent him to a religious seminary for education, where he became radicalized. Their clan is known as the Akunzada family and they are considered educated by local standards.
His family members believed that he was tricked into coming to Pakistan and then killed, otherwise he would be a difficult target.
His first wife is a local from Lower Dir, while his second wife is a Yamni women. His eldest son is also married and living in Afghanistan.
Pakistani Afghan tension
After years of relative decline, terrorist activities have increased again since the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. Terrorist groups, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have become emboldened, posing a new threat to national security.
Following continuous terror attacks across the border, security forces launched a relentless anti-terror campaign under the vision of Azm-e-Istihkam. Approved by the Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan, the operation continued at full pace to eliminate the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated as terrorist activities have increased again since the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the return of the Taliban to power. Terrorist groups, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have become emboldened, posing a new threat to national security.
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Pakistan expressed concern over Afghanistan’s continued safe harbor for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warning that any aggression from across the border would be considered “crossing Pakistan’s red line”.
The presence of militant groups in Afghanistan under Taliban rule remains a key source of regional tension. Countries such as Russia, Iran and China, despite maintaining diplomatic relations with the Taliban, have repeatedly urged the group to prevent Afghan soil from being used for cross-border attacks. Militant attacks on security forces have persisted, prompting the Pakistan Army to take decisive action and attack terrorist strongholds across the border.
Tensions rose last month when clashes broke out after Taliban forces opened unprovoked fire in multiple locations in KP and Balochistan. The Pakistan army responded quickly, destroying several Afghan posts and killing dozens of Afghan soldiers and militants.
A ceasefire was negotiated late last month in talks hosted by Qatar, but tensions persist as both sides hold talks again in Istanbul, while border trade remains suspended.
After six days of high-level talks in Istanbul, Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban this week reached a provisional understanding aimed at preventing the use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan and taking decisive action against Indian-backed militant groups, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
