Exposing the TTP: Hijacking Islam to Serve Foreign Masters

In an era where proscribe organizations like TTP has blurred the lines between religion, terrorism, and geopolitics, clarity becomes a national imperative. That clarity came—ironically—from the very figure Pakistan has long identified as a proxy terrorists: Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Noor Wali Mehsud.

His recent statement, claiming that alliances with non-Muslim powers are “permissible under Shariah,” is not an interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence—it is the confession of a foreign-backed terrorist seeking to camouflage political terrorism under the robe of religion.

This admission confirms what Pakistan has long asserted and once again reiterated: the TTP does not work for any religious agenda, but a mercenary proxy force operating on behalf of the similar ideology driven nations most notably India—via Afghan territory, with the manifest aim of destabilizing Pakistan. But the statement by the chief of TTP isn’t just a geopolitical scandal or a strategic warning—it’s a theological fraud.

Noor Wali: The Self-Taught Mufti of Murder

Noor Wali Mehsud presents himself as a religious authority, issuing so-called “fatwas” to justify the TTP’s violent campaigns inside Pakistan. In reality, he is not a mufti—he is a self-appointed ideologue of terrorism with no formal education in Fiqh, Hadith, or Tafsir. His domestic as well as educational background rejects his credibility to issue any of these orders, one of which is widely debated, discussed, analyzed and discouraged across the region and globally. A man with zero scholarly lineage, his chain of command is not that of knowledge—it is that of violence. Credible institutions like Darul Uloom Deoband, Jamia Binoria, Jamia Farooqia, and Al-Azhar have categorically rejected his legitimacy to extend any such orders.

What sounds more astonishing is his presumed right to declare war in Islam’s name despite the fact that Noor Wali is not affiliated with any of the four Sunni madhhabs and he cannot even lead a prayer in a mosque.

His so-called religious rulings are drenched not in ink but in blood, be it the statement about alliance with India or the wicked religious ideology of killing innocent civilians—used to justify suicide bombings, attacks on mosques and madrassas, and mass murder of women and children across a span of a decade in Pakisatn. These are not acts of faith; they are acts of rebellion.

Islam in its commandments is as clear as it is about the day of judgment, “Whoever kills an innocent person… it is as if he has killed all mankind.” (Qur’an 5:32) While Noor Wali’s entire movement is built upon violating this divine commandment. The unfortunate dogma of Noor Wali and many other such Khawarijis is that they consider themselves as the supreme authority and engages in takfir, the grave sin of declaring fellow Muslims as disbelievers—freely, frequently, and falsely, branding them “halal to kill”, while themselves being the fault-lines of faith. While real scholars debate in libraries, these terrorists debate with bombs and bloodshed of innocent civilians and mass casualties. Their only diploma is engraved in terrorism.

The Religious Rebuttal: Clerics vs Criminals

Within 48 hours of Noor Wali’s admission, 16 senior Deobandi ulema issued a collective fatwa that eviscerated his claims and reaffirmed core Islamic principles: Only a sovereign Islamic state can declare jihad, not insurgent groups or self-proclaimed leaders, armed rebellion against a Muslim state is haram and qualifies as baghawat (rebellion), Pakistani soldiers who fall defending the nation are Shaheed (martyrs), their sacrifice sacred and divinely honored, ethnic, sectarian, and regional incitement is forbidden in Islam and is a tool of chaos, not of religion.

By citing the Qur’an and Hadith, these scholars made one thing clear: Noor Wali and all such elements are not defending Islam, they are dismantling it from within. Since the introduction of figures like Noor Wali in the broader terrorism ideology, Islam has not been the driving force behind these acts, but a sufferer in a world which now knows terrorism as parallel to Islam. The global perception of Islam correlated with terrorism is the benefaction of TTP, Noor Wali and all such organizations which keep using Islam to spread their malice.

TTP: A Proxy, Not a Movement

Nevertheless, Noor Wali’s statement aligns seamlessly with Pakistan’s strategic assessments. Indian intelligence agencies have long exploited Afghan territory to support the TTP’s anti-Pakistan operations, fueling attacks on civilians, religious institutions, security personnel, and critical infrastructure. The TTP’s religious justification for such operations is nothing more than an ideological smokescreen for subversion. Pakistan has maintained its clear stance upon the fact that this is a hybrid warfare in its most insidious form, where theology is repurposed as a weapon, and terrorists are masked as martyrs by terror sponsoring states like India.

The Broader Danger: From Peshawar to Paris

The damage extends far beyond Pakistan. When terror groups like the TTP claim to act in Islam’s name, they feed global Islamophobia, emboldening those who falsely conflate Islam with terrorism. Every misused fatwa, every suicide bombing cloaked in Shariah, becomes ammunition for those who seek to vilify the Muslim world.

Thus, for Pakistan, the fight against the TTP has not only been a battle for national security but is a battle for Islam’s integrity, both at home and internationally.

Reclaiming Religion from the Radicals

Pakistan has consistently been in a war on terror for decades and these claims from such identities provide the baseline for Pakistan’s diplomatic, strategic, and kinetic maneuvers against the threat of terrorism not only in its agenda against such organizations but proves its dual front struggle against terrorism alongside countering the narrative they spread globally. Therefore, TTP as a foreign-backed proxy terrorist group and weaponizing misinterpretations of Islam to wage a war of political destabilization, is the reality of today. Noor Wali Mehsud and many such figures should not be misinterpreted as mujahids; they are a mercenary ideologue cloaked in stolen religious authority.

Pakistan armed forces are undoubtedly dismantling such terrorist threats but it is imperative for Pakistan’s policy circles, religious institutions, and strategic community to confront this dual threat—the external sponsors and the internal manipulators. This means, amplifying the voices of legitimate scholars, de-legitimizing militant ideology through counter-narratives, diplomatically isolating state sponsors of terrorism and building resilience through national unity, counter-radicalization, and educational reform.

In the age of proxy warfare and state sponsored terrorism, ideas are battlegrounds. Noor Wali’s recent admission has once again revealed the long held agenda of these organizations. Pakistan being at the crossroads of the dilemma of terrorism and hybrid warfare, thanks to India, needs to ensure that the battlefield of belief is reclaimed from terrorists and returned to the scholars, citizens, and soldiers who defend both the nation and the faith.