Hopes of peaceful negotiations have been called off after the Pakistan Taliban announced Mullah Fazlullah as the leader to replace Hakimullah Meshud who was killed in a drone attack by the United States on Nov. 1 on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Mullah Fazlullah, who ordered his men to shoot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year, has been elected the Taliban's new ameer, diminishing any hopes from a negotiation between Pakistan and Israel, Reuters reported.
Meshud and his allies were open to negotiations, and talks of a cease fire were on the table before he was killed in a drone strike. Now, with Fazlullah in charge, peaceful negotiations are lost, according to Reuters.
"There will be no more talks as Mullah Fazlullah is already against negotiations with the Pakistan government," Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters. "All governments play double games with us. In the name of peace talks, they deceived us and killed our people. We are one hundred percent sure that Pakistan fully supports the United States in its drone strikes."
Fazlullah, who's known for setting up an underground FM radio station to denounce anti-Western ideas and promote his extreme Islamist views, was chosen by the Taliban Shura council who are now debating whether to retaliate Meshud's death with more violent attacks and bombings, Reuters reported.
The new leader has been nicknamed Mullah Radio due to his radio broadcasts in Swat Valley and is considered "hardline" even between the Pakistan Taliban movement, according to Reuters.
Currently, the Pakistan Taliban insurgency is trying to remove Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who came into power in May promising to negotiate peaceful and end violence in the area, though no moves towards those promises have taken place Reuters reported.
Since Sharif came into power, the number of attacks are rising as the Taliban tried to impose Sharia law in the nation, raising concerns of security problems that may arise with the withdrawal of most U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014 as planned, Reuters reported.
Shahid, the Taliban spokesman, told Reuters Fazlullah has come in charge of all decisions being made within the Taliban and would soon be determining whether the group will avenge Meshud's death.
Fazlullah, who opposes polio vaccines claiming it's a Jewish and Christian conspiracy to harm Muslims, took over the conservative Swat Valley in 2009 and have since imposed strict Islamic rule, according to Reuters.
In 2012, Mullah Radio ordered the closure of girls' schools when Malala began to criticize the Taliban and campaigned for women's' right to education by blogging under a pen name, later launching campaign for girls' education, Reuters reported.
Fazlullah then ordered his men to shot the 11-year-old girl, who survived and has since moved to Birmingham with her family due to death threats from the Taliban if she returns to Pakistan, Reuters reported.
After a military offensive began to control the Valley in 2009, Fazlullah's troops have disappeared into the border, dotted with mountains, and is now believed to be in the Nuristan province, Reuters reported.
