The menace of terrorism simmers in Pakistan’s North western province KP and formerly Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistani banned terror outfits sits in across the Durand line and targeting Pakistani LEAs and sensitive installations adjacent to the Pak-Afghan border. In a fresh barbarity, a motorcycle borne suicide bomber exploded himself on a military convoy in general area Jani Khel, Bannu District. During which nine soldiers including a junior commissioned officer embraced shahadat, and five others were injured. Which was a great loss to Pakistan Army as well as the nation.
The mayhem of terrorism witnessed sharp uptick over the past several months after the TTP called off ceasefire and ramped up its anti-state activities against the Pakistani state and institutions, while no thing including the Law Enforcement Agencies, Mosques and temples, Public rallies and recreational places are secure from terrorists’ attacks of brutal arsonists. Recently, a bomb blast killed at least 44 people and injured more than 150 when a suicide bomber set off explosives at the political rally of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in the Bajaur, KP. The attack at JUI-F workers’ convention in Bujur was one of the most lethal terrorist attacks after the Peshawar Police Line massacre that cost over hundred lives of Policemen and innocent civilians in early 2023. According to a report of Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), there had been 73% phenomenal increase in the ratio of terror incidents in Pakistan after the Taliban regime took control of Kabul in August 2021, while the number of terrorist attacks in KP and Balochistan surged up to 92 percent and 81% respectively during this time. The frequency and the intensity in the terror attacks has gradually increased after the Security Forces intensified their Intelligence based Counter Terrorism Operations against the TTP in Erstwhile FATA and settled areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Meanwhile, the Pakistani authorities have claimed that a sizable number of Afghan Taliban fighters have joined the TTP ranks in its fights against the Pakistani State, which has caused great outrage across Pakistan. The government of Pakistan had raised this issue at the appropriate level with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that led to issuance of a decree by the Taliban Chief declaring armed struggle against Pakistan as unlawful and distancing the Islamic Emirate from the elements involved in violence in neighbourng Pakistan. However, that sermon is more diplomatic than binding on the members of the IEA and followers of top Afghan cleric.
In fact, the issue of terrorism, social radicalisation, and ethnic violence has fundamentally increased in our society over the past decades due to Afghan jihad and presence of a nursery of self grown religious seminaries across Pakistan. Although,Pakistani security forces had successfully eliminated the evil of terrorism from Erstwhile FATA and KP through a series of Counter Terrorism operations including the globally acknowledged Operation Zarb-e-Azb but strategic mistakes of Pakistani policy makers and internal extremism rebirth that challenge once again. Historically, the Pakistani youth and conservative faction of the society had always been easy prey for religious clerics and recruiters of ban terror outfits because of their radical ideology and quest for Khilafat System in the country, moreover, prevailing social inequality, economic injustice and political instability further provided a breeding ground to religious intolerance and extremism.
In the current scenario, the issue has become more complex as several terror outfits including the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has forged a nexus and joined hands to achieve their collective manifesto in the broader AfPak region, while the IS-K is also expanding its network and bringing lethality in its activities inside Pakistan. The current situation merits a multi prong strategy along with a nationwide forceful Intelligence based Counter Terrorism operation, de-radicalisation campaign and full implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) that was previously fell prey to politics of ruling elite in 2015-2016. So, this evil could be eradicated from Pakistan soil on permanent basis once and for all.
