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Fateha for the slain deputy chief of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Mufti Hazrat Deroji, also known as Qari Amjad, continued for the second consecutive day on Saturday at Mayar Jandool’s main mosque. A large number of relatives, local residents and friends from surrounding villages attended the prayers.
According to family sources, the condolence meetings will continue for three days in accordance with local customs and traditions. Qari Amjad, whose real name was Amjad Ali, was killed along with three associates in an intelligence-based operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur between Wednesday and Thursday.
Military authorities handed over his body to the family on Thursday. The following morning, his remains were transported to his ancestral village, Mayar Jandool, where funeral prayers were offered at the central cemetery. The funeral, attended by hundreds, was held in the open with the permission of security forces – an unusual move for a senior TTP leader, as such gatherings are usually restricted after the death of terror commanders.
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Family sources said Qari Amjad was the son of Muhammad Siddiq Akhunzada, a local school teacher who died 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 IED.
Qari Amjad, known in TTP ranks as Mufti Mazahim and Hazrat Mufti Deeroji, married a woman from Khanpur Tekeni in 2007 and had two sons and four daughters. The family later moved to Afghanistan, where he lived for several years. His eldest son, now 18, is studying at a religious seminary in Afghanistan, where the rest of the family still lives.
Fateha for Qari Amjad Ali underway at Mayar Jandool Mosque in Dir. Photo: Express
Two of his step-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 Qari Amjad’s emergence as a TTP figure and were held for 18 months at Blambat Scouts Fort before being cleared.
Sources said Qari Amjad rose through the ranks during his stay in Afghanistan to become the deputy of the current TTP chief, Noor Wali Mehsud. In 2022, the US designated him a global terrorist and accused him of cross-border attacks and terrorist operations, while Pakistan had put a bounty of Rs 5 million. on his head.
In a statement released on social media, the TTP described his killing as a ‘treason’, while Pakistani authorities termed it as the result of a precise intelligence-based operation.
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Conflicting reports have since emerged, with some claims suggesting he was killed inside Pakistan rather than across the border.
The villagers have a lot of respect for him because, due to his presence, the TTP spared his Mayar village and did not mix with the local people compared to the rest of the district where people were often kidnapped and killed.
Sources said he also worked as a caretaker of the same mosque where his fateha is currently being offered. His mother died during his childhood, after which his father sent him to a religious seminary for education, where he was radicalized. His clan is known as the Akunzada family and is considered educated according to local standards.
His family members believed that he was tricked into coming to Pakistan and then killed, otherwise he was a difficult target.
His first wife is a local from Lower Dir while his second wife is a Yamni woman. His eldest son is also married and settled in Afghanistan.
Pack Afghan excitement
After years of relative decline, terrorist activities have increased again since the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have been emboldened, posing a renewed threat to national security.
Following sustained terrorist attacks from across the border, security forces launched a relentless counter-terrorism campaign under the vision of Azm-e-Istihkam. Approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, the operation continued in full swing to eliminate the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have worsened as terrorist activities have increased again since the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the Taliban’s return to power. Terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have been emboldened, posing a renewed threat to national security.
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Pakistan raised concerns over Afghanistan’s continued harboring of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant outfits, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warning that any aggression from across the border would be seen as “crossing Pakistan’s red line”.
The presence of militant groups in Afghanistan under Taliban rule remains a major source of regional tension. Countries such as Russia, Iran and China – despite maintaining diplomatic relations with the Taliban – have repeatedly called on the group to prevent Afghan soil from being used for cross-border attacks. Militant attacks on security forces have continued, prompting Pakistan’s military to take decisive action to target terrorist forces across the border.
Tensions escalated last month when clashes broke out after Taliban forces opened unprovoked fire in several places in KP and Balochistan. The Pakistani army quickly responded and destroyed several Afghan positions, killing dozens of Afghan soldiers and militants.
A ceasefire was brokered late last month in talks hosted by Qatar, but tensions remain as both sides again hold dialogues in Istanbul while border trade remains suspended.
After six days of high-level talks in Istanbul, Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban reached a tentative agreement this week aimed at preventing the use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan and at taking decisive action against India-backed militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
