Mullah Fazlullah and Malala Yousafzai

Miranshah/Peshawar, Nov. 7 (Reuters): The Pakistani Taliban rejected the idea of peace talks with the government today after electing hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah, whose men shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year, as their new leader today.

The rise of Fazlullah, known for his fierce Islamist views, by the Taliban Shura council follows the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader or ameer, in a US drone strike on November 1.

Mehsud and his allies had been tentatively open to the concept of ceasefire talks with the government, but Fazlullah’s emergence as the new chief changes that picture.

“There will be no more talks as Mullah Fazlullah is already against negotiations with the Pakistan government,” Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“All governments play double games with us. In the name of peace talks, they deceived us and killed our people. We are one hundred percent sure that Pakistan fully supports the United States in its drone strikes.”

The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and impose Sharia law in the nuclear-armed nation. Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May promising a negotiated end to violence.

Nicknamed Mullah Radio for his fiery Islamist radio broadcasts in the Swat Valley, Fazlullah is considered hardline even within the Pakistani Taliban movement itself.

Born in 1976, he gained prominence in 2004 when he set up an underground FM radio station in the deeply conservative Swat Valley to promote fundamentalist and anti-western ideas. He and his fighters took over the valley in 2009 and imposed strict Islamic rule. Fazlullah opposes polio vaccinations which he has described as a Jewish and Christian conspiracy to harm Muslims.