Taliban leader Mullah Mansour's killing major embarrassment for Pakistan

Osama bin Laden, the backbone of al Qaeda was found and killed in Pakistan. The leader of Taliban Mullah Mohammed Omar is believed to have lived and died in Pakistan. And Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour who replaced Mullah Omar was killed in US air strike in Pakistan on May 21, 2016.

"The strike on Mansour makes it crystal clear that Pakistanis continue to distinguish between good and bad militants," said Michael Kugelman (columnist and senior associate for south and southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Centre.

"Mansour was not a fugitive or in hiding. The Pakistanis, for their own strategic reasons, chose to leave him alone. This is very different from the genuine efforts Pakistan has made to go after anti-State militants in the country. Mansour was an asset, pure and simple. And you do not turn on your assets. I think Pakistan is not quite sure how to respond. If it resorts to the sovereignty violation line, it would come across as weak. If it praises the strike, it would anger the hardliners. It needs to take time to think how to strike a certain balance in its response," he added.

Also read: What the death of Taliban chief means for Pakistan

Scholar and veteran columnist, Ayesha Siddiqua, on the other hand, felt that the air strike indicated that relations between Pakistan and the US were going lower and lower. "Mullah Mansour had the support of the army and his presence in Balochistan proved the presence of the Quetta Shura. Was his presence there likely to increase violence more than what there was already?"

She added that Pakistan was caught yet again and so prime minister Nawaz Sharif's reaction that the air strike was a violation of sovereignty was expected. "What comment can you expect when Nawaz Sharif is worried about saving his neck?" 

Mullah Mansour's killing has proved that Quetta Shura is actively working in Balochistan and the Taliban has been strengthening itself in the region to reduce the strength of Baloch nationalist movement, according to scholar and columnist Mohammad Ali Talpur.

He added that the Taliban, especially Haqqani network, has a stronghold in Peshwar and Quetta, which couldn't have happened without the support of the armed forces.

According to Talpur, the Balochistan, Iran and Afghanistan borders are connected, which allows the Taliban to move in this region freely, which explains Mullah Mansour's killing in Balochistan.

He pointed out that the Taliban, moreover, have easy access to Pakistan identity documents.

Also read: Why Mullah Omar's death means little to India

The National Action Plan is not against the Taliban, it is against the Baloch people, Talpur said, adding that if the NAP was against the Taliban, no terrorist could have moved around so easily. The minister of Balochistan had revealed that around nine thousand local citizens had been arrested in the light of NAP.

"Killing of another most wanted terrorist leader in Pakistan shows terrorists continue to use Pakistani soil as a safe haven for their activities. The policy of differentiation between the good, bad and ugly Taliban is intact despite commitments under the NAP that action would be taken against all terrorists," said Buhsra Gohar the senior vice-president of the Awami National Party.

"Why was Mullah Mansour travelling on a Pakistani passport? Who issued it? How could he easily travel around? The OBL (Osama bin Laden) commission report has yet to be presented in the Parliament for debate. Despite billions spent on operations, a million families are displaced, their houses and livelihoods destroyed, thousands of innocent citizens brutally killed, and the Taliban continues to find a safe have inside Pakistan and use her soil for its brutal attacks," Gohar said.

"The killing of yet another Taliban leader inside Pakistan shows there is no change in the self-destructive strategic depth policy. Parliament's joint session should be called to debate the killing of Mullah Mansour. Accountability of operations against terrorism and extremism should held under the NAP. It is time for Parliament to debate defence and foreign policies.

On the question of the Pakistani state showing another name - Wali Mohammad - instead of Mullha Mansour, the foreign ministry should not have waited for over 24 hours to issue a statement. The confirmations have come from all sources and it is best for the government not to create distractions," Gohar added.

"In the Chaman area, thousands of people have had their CNICs (computerised national identity cards) sealed and people have not found it easy to get CNICs. If Mullah Mansour's CNIC has the address of Karachi, I doubt it was issued from Karachi. We should remember that Taliban Leader Mullah Omar lived there," said a source.

"Why is everyone surprised to see Mullah Mansour in Balochistan? Bin Laden was living near the capital Islamabad. In the Helmand area, the Taliban has been fighting for a month and easily moving there. Everyone knows this and supports them! Common citizens need peace on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. They cannot afford an undeclared war," the source added.

On the relations between Pakistan and the US, Siddiqua feels that Pakistan's embarrassment works in favour of India and it is bound to be played up by New Delhi. It gives the impression to the Taliban that the State is ignorant."

Kugelman said, "Looming over all this is Pakistan's worsening relations with the US. It knows aid and military hardware transfers could be in jeopardy, and it does not want to further inflame its relations with the US. So there is a lot at play here. I am not sure how the US will proceed from there. It's unclear if the US will use this as a precedent and launch future strikes in Balochistan against Taliban leaders. As for laws, the US has already sent a strong statement with its recent legislation tying future military aid to Pakistan on making progress against the Haqqani network."