Even when Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has surprised many by promptly choosing Fazlullah as its new leader, no less significantly it also suggests that the sudden departure of Hakimullah Mehsud brought the movement to a crossroads and its future may well be a different ballgame. Fazlullah is no Mehsud, nor is he a Wazir and; he is, therefore, virtually denuded of the ownership of 'safe havens' that Baitullah and his successor could provide to the runaways from across the country in an effective and meaningful manner. He is presently ensconced in Afghanistan as a fugitive and even when he has the foot soldiers to carry out murderous forays across the border in Pakistan it would not be easy for him to run the TTP from outside Pakistan. Also, the kind of 'legendary' history of defiance that stands at the back of the Mehsuds is not there for this man from the Swat Valley. Though there is a perception that he is a compromise choice dictated by a revered Mulla Omar, there is not much in public to say so. Opinions differ over whether he will stand by his instant rejection of peace process and shun meeting government interlocutors for long enough time.
Given that he had had contacts with the government in the past and even squeezed some important concessions like promulgation of "Nizam-i-Adl" in Swat in late 90s when he held sway, and that he was also a part of the latest peace process, he may go for this option - but not in the near future. For the present, his message is that not only will the fight against the government and its allies continue it will be also become more brutal. He proudly owned the killing of Major General Sanaullah Niazi despite the two sides having agreed to talk peace and disengagement; his attempt at assassinating Malala Yousufzai and the glee on his face as he paraded the severed bodies of 15 unarmed captive soldiers testament to his cruelty much above the cut.
But at the end of the day Fazlullah would like to sit with the government and talk. But he is grievously handicapped. His cruelty-prone persona does not cast him in the image of a brave leader fighting for a just cause, the kind of image his predecessors had come to have among their followers. And his constituency is limited both in terms of public support and constraints dictated by time and space. Also, given his track record he fails the test of credibility. So, even if the government is keen on picking up the threads and re-starting the peace talks with Taliban, Fazlullah is not the one who should be talked to. He cannot deliver on his words, mainly because his commitments may not be acceptable to others in the TTP. On the other hand, the government should call his bluff and defeat him on the battlefront. Then how can you talk with the person tagged with your offer of Rs 50-million head-money? He may have been a great preacher of religion in the past - ironically, during his two-year virtual rule of Swat Valley he did just the opposite of what he preached - but as of now he is an enemy agent, working as cat's paw of anti-Pakistan foreign powers. Therefore, instead of launching another peace talks initiative the government should reach the people in Swat and buttress their resolve and determination to keep this curse away from them. It is Swat he would like to come back to and re-impose his retrogressive dictate - by setting on fire girl schools and outlawing polio vaccination of children. At the same time, the government is expected to take up with the Karzai government its apparent connivance in letting him launch attacks inside Pakistan from Afghan soil. Some intriguing disclosures made by the TTP leader Latifullah Mehsud about the Swati Taliban being used as pawns by others in the region also need to be revisited - to make some sense of the fact how for so long Fazlullah has eluded the watchful eyes of the CIA-operated drones. And if he wants no talks with Pakistan government let him have his say and stand by it.