The Mehsud tribe of the South Waziristan region had been cowed into submission by the sheer brutality of warlord Baitullah Mehsud until Qari Zainuddin stood up to Pakistan's Taliban chief.
A young, charismatic member of the Mehsuds, Zainuddin's mission was to restore the honour of his tribe and his religion, which he said had been twisted by his rival into a murderous campaign against his own country.
Zainuddin was the only tribesman brave enough to openly oppose Mehsud since he became the effective chief of the Pakistani Taliban in 2005. Zainuddin also described himself as Taliban, and was in the former's militant network. He said he was fighting for Islam but was against the conflict with Pakistan and the use of suicide bombers.
Less comforting for the west, Zainuddin insisted the Taliban should return to fighting international forces ("infidels") in Afghanistan. "Islam doesn't give permission to fight against a Muslim country," he said in an interview this month at a compound near Dera Ismail Khan, a town on the edge of his rival's Waziristan stronghold. At the secret compound, Zainuddin, 30, was protected by a couple of dozen armed guards but the security was not as strong as might be expected for someone who had taken on so violent an enemy. The danger was obvious. Baitullah had demonstrated his utter ruthlessness by killing hundreds of the Mehsud tribe's traditional elders - who might have led resistance - as he came to power. As a rising leader, Zainuddin had not yet acquired the demagogic manner of established Taliban chiefs and spoke softly but confidently. He invited anyone who turned their back on Baitullah to join him, a willingness to forgive that looks like his fatal mistake, allowing his killer to get close to him. Zainuddin vowed to foment a tribal uprising against Mehsud.
