ISLAMABAD: Five years after the assassination attempt on education activistMalala Yousafzai, only two assailants have been convicted for their rolesin the attack, while the remaining conspirators continue to evade justice.
The gunman who shot her and the hit’s mastermind — both members of theTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban — remain at largeand are believed to be hiding in eastern Afghanistan from where theycontinue to plot against Pakistan, according to experts.
Here is a rundown of who the attackers are believed to be and where theyare likely holed up:
*- Who are they? -*On October 9, 2012, TTP jihadists intercepted Malala’s school van in thePakistani town of Mingora in the Swat Valley — calling out her name beforeshooting her in the head.
On that day, “there was the man who pulled the trigger, the one who was onthe lookout, the one who was harbouring them, the one who ordered the hitand the one who planned it,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Taliban expert, toldAFP.
“It was a coordinated operation.”
The man suspected of pulling the trigger is known by authorities asAtaullah Khan.
“He’s a little guy,” or low-level operative, said former brigadier MahmoodShah, who previously oversaw security in Pakistan’s northwestern tribalbelt where the TTP was once rampant.
The mastermind of the operation was Maulana Fazlullah — the current leaderof the TTP and a long-time jihadist whose fiery radio sermons broadcastover a decade ago in Swat earned him the nickname “Mullah Radio”.
*- Where are they now? -*Khan and Fazlullah took refuge in Afghanistan after the TTP was pushed outof Pakistan following multiple offensives by the military on its safehavens, Pakistani officials say.
“They cannot return to Pakistan,” explained Shah, saying their sanctuarieshad been eliminated.
The military launched an operation in 2009 to push militants out of theSwat Valley, which at the time was overrun by Fazlullah’s faction of theTaliban.
The operation was followed by another major offensive in the nearby tribaldistricts in 2013, forcing the lion’s share of militants into neighbouringAfghanistan.
Fazlullah and Khan are likely “between Kunar and Nuristan” — two rugged,militant-infested Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan, said Yusufzai.
However, the vice appears to be tightening around the TTP. A suspected USdrone strike killed the organisation’s second-in-command, Khalid Mehsud, inFebruary, and the US offered a $5-million bounty for Fazlullah earlier thismonth.
*- What has Pakistan done? -*In September 2014, the Pakistan Army announced the arrest of 10 men linkedto the shooting of Malala following an anti-Taliban operation conductedjointly by the police and intelligence services.
However, human rights groups offered doubts about their role and eight ofthe 10 were acquitted in 2015.
The remaining two were sentenced to life imprisonment for “attemptedmurder”, as well as an additional 10-year sentence for using a firearm,said prosecutor Saeed Naeem. – APP/AFP