Pak Taliban chief the jailed jihadi in Jadhav swap talk?

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Ever since Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif's claim that the Afghan NSA had offered a terrorist involved in the 2014 attack on Army Public School, Peshawar, Proposal made to swap Kulbhushan Jadhav for terrorist: Pak minister arrested in Pakistan for alleged espionage, speculation has grown about the identity of the terrorist.

Speaking at the Asia Society in New York, Khawaja said on Wednesday, "The (Afghan) national security adviser told me we can exchange him (Peshawar attacker) for the terrorist you have, which is Kulbhushan Jadhav," Asif said. It was not immediately clear when the Afghan NSA made the offer.

According to some media reports, Afghan forces have captured Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah. A source said the Afghan NSA could have been hinting at swapping Fazlullah, wanted in Pakistan, in exchange for Jadhav+ .

An analyst said if the proposal for such a swap was confirmed by authorities in Kabul, it would mean a big success for Pakistan's narrative about an alleged India-Afghanistan nexus to destabilise Pakistan+ . India and Afghanistan have dismissed the allegation. However, with sources in the ministry of external affairs claiming no knowledge about the identity of the terrorist, there is a view that Khawaja could be tossing up a red herring. Besides, the alleged perpetrators of the attack have been accounted for, according to Pakistan.

Two days after the Peshawar school massacre that killed more than 150 people+ , including 132 children, a video was released by TTP on its website, with a group commander, Umar Mansoor, claiming to have planned the attack.

Pakistani officials had then stated that the attack was planned by Saddam Jan, the commander of a Taliban faction, and that he was instructed by Mansoor on behalf of TTP chief Fazlullah. In December 2014, Jan was killed in a shoot-out with Pakistani forces. In July 2016, the Pakistan army's media wing and Pentagon confirmed Mansoor was killed in a US drone attack in Afghanistan.

In December 2015, Pakistan had hanged four militants involved in the APS attack, while two terrorists linked with it were executed this year. Six other attackers were killed as well.