Terrorism has raised its head again in the land of the pure amid attacks both on civilians and security officials on and off across Pak-Afghan border and within the country. With the changed political situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan needs to re-calibrate its approach towards Tehrik-e-Taliban for its wrecking destruction, destroying the peace of public, creating law and order situation and posing a serious threat to the already beleaguered economy of the country.
It has been noticed that the Afghan Taliban are not helpful when it comes to TTP for they are their twin brothers, and also the latter is the driving inspiration from them to establish another emirate in Pakistan. Though it is a far-fetched dream, the TTP is posing a great threat to the peace and tranquility of the citizens as it has become emboldened, aggressive and belligerent in its demands, intentions and aims for the reason that it has perceived the weakness of the security establishment of Pakistan for its readiness to talk to settle the score. Pakistan, thus, has to understand that talking to the TTP would serve them, providing a space to recruit more people to attack Pakistan.
After 9/11 when Pakistan agreed to help the USA, the security situation of the country went from bad to worse with the rise of the TTP around 2004 as a terror organization. Since then Pakistan had given more than 80,000 lives to bring security back to normal. Despite Pakistan having gotten control of them by conducting various operations after the APS attack of 2014 where more than 150 kids got killed by militants, the callousness of our security establishment had given them a chance to rise to subvert the security landscape of Pakistan.
This time around the rise of TPP portends a different message, that Pakistan has yet to grapple with, as they are being helped by the Afghan Taliban not only by providing arms, money and other logistical support but also by giving them space to operate from across the border. Using the TPP, the Afghan Taliban are making the Durand line even more vulnerable which is a long standing issue between the two countries as not a single government in Afghanistan has accepted its legitimacy.
The strategic depth policy of Pakistan to help the Afghan Taliban though was a good approach to dismantle the military nexus of the USA and India in Afghanistan as they were operating without the input of Pakistan or considering its geographical interests.
It seems like Pakistan is once again at a crossroads, as its economy is tanking in addition to political instability that is halting the state from functioning properly. Given the multi-pronged crisis that the country has fallen into while the politicians are fighting over petty political disputes, terrorists are making inroads into the public arena with a threatening message of arson, killing and mayhem.
To secure itself, Pakistan thus had to keep its contact with factions in Afghanistan for it could let not India squeeze it from both the east and west borders of the country. But given the Afghan Taliban at the helm now, Pakistan needs to change its policy of counter-terrorism so that it could dismantle all terror organizations which are operating from across the border. To do that, Pakistan must give a clear message to the Afghan Taliban that it would not tolerate its evil designs against the country as it did not allow India.
The attack on the consulate of Pakistan by the IS-K chapter on the chargé d’ affaires of Pakistan should serve as a wake-up call for our military as not only the TTP has risen but also the Afghan Taliban in addition to many others to incur damage on Pakistan. The Chaman incident, where 7 Pakistanis got killed with 16 sustaining injuries as a result of unprovoked firing, has exposed the Afghan Taliban in a way that there is no doubt they are on the same page with other terror organizations who are operating from across the border in violation of the Doha Agreement.
More importantly, the audacious act of the TTP to have taken over the Counter Terrorism Department in Bannu while taking state officials as hostages was something unimaginable for the public of Pakistan. It indicates that everyone is equally vulnerable, from the public to the security institutions, and it sends an unequivocal message that Pakistan will have a tough time in dealing with the latest surge of terror activities from its western neighbor. But thanks to our SSG commandos, of whom two embraced martyrdom. The compound was cleared and the terrorists killed.
It seems like Pakistan is once again at a crossroads, as its economy is tanking in addition to political instability that is halting the state from functioning properly. Given the multi-pronged crisis that the country has fallen into while the politicians are fighting over petty political disputes, terrorists are making inroads into the public arena with a threatening message of arson, killing and mayhem.
Pakistan should form a new counter-terrorism policy in association with the USA, as an unstable Pakistan would ultimately engulf the region and may lead to global jihad once again which is in fact a violation of the Doha Agreement.
