Turkestan Bhittani is the militant leader of a pro-government

Government of Pakistan

The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...

 Taliban faction based in the town of Tank

Tank (Pakistan)

Tank or Tonk , is the capital city of Tank District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The city's location near Waziristan.- Location :It is located at 32º13' N. and 70º32' E and is situated to the north-west of the Indus River and close to the Takht-i-Sulaiman Range. Tank is hot and humid in summer...

 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. He is notable for his opposition to Baitullah Mehsud

Baitullah Mehsud

Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...

's Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...

 (TTP). Turkistan belongs to Bhittani

Bhittani

The Bhittani/Bettani is a Pashtun tribe located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The Bettanis reside in a territory that is a buffer zone separating Tank District from the Mahsud tribe of South Waziristan Region. The Bettani tribe live in the Frontier Region of Tank District...

 tribe (the historic rivals of Mehsud tribe).

Background

During his teens, Bhittani joined in the anti-Soviet jihad

Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...

 in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

.

Later, Turkestan served in the Frontier Corps

Frontier Corps

The Frontier Corps is a federally-controlled paramilitary force of Pakistan, recruited mostly from the tribal areas along the western borders and led by officers from the Pakistan Army...

 until his retirement in 1998. He then joined the Taliban in the Afghan Civil War and remained in 2001 to fight against U.S.-led forces.

Challenge to the TTP

Although at one time he was allied to Baitullah Mehsud, Turkestan Bhittani disapproved of Baitullah's violent attacks against Pakistani citizens and security forces. After he lost about 40 of his men in clashes with Baitullah's forces in 2008, Turkestan joined anti-TTP forces. With the implicit support of the Pakistani military, he allied himself with Qari Zainuddin Mehsud to openly challenge Baitullah. On 8 June 2009 Zainuddin and Turkestan held a jirga

Jirga

A jirga is a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus, particularly among the Pashtun people but also in other ethnic groups near them; they are most common in Afghanistan and among the Pashtuns in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan...

 of Mehsud tribal elders during which Turkestan condemned Baitullah's methods and urged the elders to fight against the leader of the TTP if he did not end his attacks against civilians and begin negotiations with the government.

After Zainuddin's death on 23 June 2009, Turkestan proclaimed willingness to work with the Pakistani army and American forces to combat the TTP.