Summary TTP spokesman says new chief Fazlullah is against negotiations with the Pakistani government.
MIRANSHAH (AFP) - The hardline cleric elected as the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban is opposed to proposed peace talks with the government, a spokesman for the militants said Thursday.
Shahidullah Shahid, the main spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said talks with the government were a "waste of time" and new chief Maulana Fazlullah was against them.
Earlier, Mullah Fazlullah was unanimously appointed the new chief by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan s leadership council, or shura, after several days of deliberation.
Fazlullah has served as the Pakistani Taliban s leader in the northwest Swat Valley but is believed to be hiding in neighbouring Afghanistan. He rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islam, earning him the nickname "Mullah Radio."
His group began to infiltrate the valley in 2007 and spread fear among residents by beheading opponents, blowing up schools, forcing men to grow beards and preventing women from going to markets. A military offensive in 2009 pushed the group out of the valley, and Fazlullah escaped to Afghanistan.
Fazlullah and his group carried out the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in the head while on her way home from school in October 2012.
Fazlullah also claimed responsibility for the deaths of a Pakistani army general and two other soldiers in a roadside bombing near the Afghan border in September. The killings outraged the military and raised questions about whether the Taliban had any real interest in negotiating peace.
Fazlullah is the first leader of the Pakistani Taliban not to come from the Mehsud tribe based in the South Waziristan tribal area.
The group s first leader, Baitullah Mehsud, also was killed by a US drone strike in 2009.
Some Mehsud commanders were unhappy with the decision to appoint Fazlullah but eventually agreed under pressure from some of the group s senior members, said a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.
