Militant group allegiance resurfaces rifts within Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
On 11 July 2025, the spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Muhammad Khorasani, issued a statement announcing the merger of a militant faction from the Charsadda district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This development has once again brought to the fore longstanding internal divisions within the TTP. According to Khorasani, the group, led by Abu Marwan Shah Sahib and identified as the Qari Shakeel Karwan faction, has joined the TTP. The members of this group were described as close associates of the late senior TTP commander, Qari Muhammad Shakeel Haqqani.
The Oxus Watch notes that Qari Shakeel Haqqani was a founding and prominent figure within the TTP who held significant positions, including that of acting executive emir. However, in 2014, he parted ways with the TTP to form a separate faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), alongside close aide Abdul Wali Mohmand aka Umar Khalid Khorasani. In March 2015, Qari Shakeel was killed under mysterious circumstances in the border village of Chiknawr in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, adjacent to Pakistan’s Mohmand district. His associates attributed his death to a covert plot of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. Subsequently, in August 2020, Abdul Wali Mohmand announced the dissolution of JuA and the reintegration of all its militants into the TTP.
Nonetheless, the announcement regarding the Qari Shakeel Karwan faction’s integration was met with considerable criticism by Ghazi Media, a platform affiliated with JuA. The outlet challenged the veracity of the claim, asserting that there was no known close associate of Qari Shakeel by the name of Abu Marwan, thus casting doubt on the authenticity of the merger. In an Urdu-language statement, Ghazi Media emphasized that Qari Shakeel had been a senior leader of JuA and that, following the group’s merger into the TTP, all of his associates had already become part of the TTP. Consequently, the rationale for announcing such a merger was questioned. Ghazi Media categorically denied the existence of any individual named Abu Marwan as a known associate of Qari Shakeel and dismissed the claim as fabricated.
The Oxus Watch highlights that this is not the first instance in which internal disputes within the TTP have emerged as a result of tensions related to the JuA faction. Such disagreements first surfaced publicly following the death of JuA’s founder, Umar Khalid Khorasani, in a mysterious attack in August 2022 in the Barmal district of Afghanistan’s Paktika province. These tensions escalated throughout 2023. In March 2024, TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani announced a reconciliation between the TTP leadership and the JuA faction, assigning its members key responsibilities within the organization. However, in February 2025, internal divisions resurfaced when senior JuA commander Sarbakaf Mohmand issued an audio statement containing allegations against the TTP leadership.
