TTP in India’s service

Yet another terrorist attack in Balochistan within nine days, and this time at one of the most protected premises in Quetta— the posh Serena Hotel. Fortunately the Chinese ambassador and officials accompanying him who were supposedly the target, were not inside the hotel during the attack. Despite failing to go beyond the hotel’s parking lot, the suicide bomber had enough blasting material in his car to kill at least four and inflict injuries on at least 12 people who were inside the hotel. What one subsequently heard from the Balochistan administration was no more than empty heroics, like no one would be allowed to disturb the law and order in the province. The country’s security agencies were once gain found napping

A variety of groups is involved in terrorist attacks in Balochistan. These include the offshoots of the sectarian terrorist network Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) that mainly target the Hazara community for its Shia faith. The Indian government is deadly opposed to the CPEC in general and Gwadar port in particular. The RAW therefore aids and abets Baloch terrorist groups who oppose any development activity in the province. These groups have frequently attacked military personnel and those escorting the state-run Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDCL), besides killing several poor Punjabi and Seraiki labourers engaged in building roads or structures. About a couple of years back Baloch separatists had even launched an armed assault on the Chinese consulate in Karachi.

What is worrisome is that responsibility for the attack on Serena Hotel, apparently targeting the Chinese delegation, was claimed not by any Baloch separatist group but by the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Years ago the TTP had for months taken over control of Swat where it claimed it had established a government based on the Islamic Sharia. Evicted from Swat in military operation Rah-e-Haq, it took shelter in Afghanistan from where it has continued to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The TTP has recently strengthened itself by bringing together a number of splinter groups under its umbrella. The Serena attack corroborates the view expressed in a Pakistan dossier handed over to the UN Secretary General that the TTP is on the Indian agencies’ payroll. The security has to brush up their performance to deal with a potent threat.