ISLAMABAD: Notwithstanding the appointment of Mullah Fazlullah as the new chief of the banned organisation Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Deputy Ameer of TTP Sheikh Khalid Haqqani is expected to lead operations in Pakistan as its functional head, said a report published in The News International on Thursday.

In the wake of former TTP supremo Hakeemullah Mehsud's death and the absence of new chief Fazlullah, who is currently in Afghanistan, Khalid Sheikh Haqqani would be calling the shots, the report stated.

Haqqani hails from the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Prior to joining the TTP, he was heading his own militant faction known as the Haqqani Taliban. He is touted to be a hardliner and a ruthless commander.

Tribal circles have brushed off rumours of Fazlullah’s return to Fata after being elected as the new TTP chief. According to them, Fazlullah is eager to return to Waziristan but has been advised against it in view of the high ratio of US drone strikes in the region as compared to Afghanistan.

With the appointments of Fazlullah and Khalid, the TTP’s command has been transferred from the tribal region to the settled districts of KP.

Haqqani was once described by TTP’s media wing as a close associate of Hakimullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain Mehsud. Both TTP leaders were killed in US drone strikes on November 1, 2013 and October 7, 2010 respectively.

Haqqani holds a track record of participating in three suicide operations and several terrorist attacks of which the most horrific remains the attack on the Frontier Corps Headquarters on May 13 2011, in the Shabqadar area of KP, in which 80 soldiers, recruits and civilians were killed.

Haqqani also participated in a failed terror plot targeting Awami National Party (ANP) president Asfandyar Wali Khan in Charsadda in 2008.

He is said to be the mastermind behind the December 22, 2012 suicide bombing which resulted in the death of ANP leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour.