IS footprints: Law-enforcers in control of Balochistan situation

ISLAMABAD: It was the evening of September 3. Abdul Rauf went to offer fateha prayers at the grave of his brother, who had been killed a week earlier. There, he noticed a black flag fluttering on the grave of the deceased.

But it was not a relative who had planted the flag. When Rauf uprooted it, an improvised explosive device planted underneath was detonated, taking his life.

His accompanying son was seriously injured but survived, and is presently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mastung. Abdul Rauf and his brother Abdul Qudoos had both worked as teachers

in this remote area of Balochistan. Initial police reports speculated that the killings might be the outcome of a private enmity.

But this was soon proven not to be the case. A civilian intelligence agency apprehended the killer within a few days of Abdul Rauf’s murder and discovered that the brothers had been targeted and murdered by terrorists affiliated with the notorious Daesh. After operations in Fata area, the security officials say, the militants are expanding their footprints in Balochistan. Home Minister Balochistan Saleem Khosa partially agrees, saying that the militants from inside the country and from Afghanistan side sneak into the province but the security forces are giving them tough time.

Regarding Daesh, the minister admitted its presence but said it is not as strong as the perception about it is. “Daesh is present but at a small level. It carries out activities a little bit. However, its presence isn’t as a large scale as is generally perceived. The law enforcement agencies are in control of the situation,” he said.

Following the successful conclusion of counter terrorism operations launched in 2014 in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas, security officials told The News that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied Daesh terrorist groups have increased their footprints in Balochistan.

While the Daesh and TTP both have established a covert presence in Quetta, their respective areas of underground operations elsewhere in Balochistan differ according to the ethnic identities of the groups' leaders. The Daesh largely exists in the ethnic Baloch-dominated districts of Mastung and Kalat, whereas the TTP has networks in the ethnic Pashtun-majority districts of Chaman, Killa Abdullah, Pishin, Zhob and Qilla Saifullah.

The terrorist roots of the two groups also differ. The Daesh are largely drawn from militant sectarian groups, notably the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and splinter groups violently focused on minority Muslim sects since the 1990s. The TTP is comprised of runaway militants from the tribal areas, who take aim at prominent security and political figures to invoke fear and remain politically relevant, according to the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons.

However, both terror organisations have a common target in their sights: law enforcement officials.

The other thing they have in common is their sources of funding. Security agencies have found them to be involved in kidnappings for ransom and bank robberies. These criminal enterprises are funded by the terrorists' bosses from their hideouts in southern and eastern Afghanistan, in anticipation of a rewarding return on investment.

In one case, the civilian intelligence agency who solved the case of the brothers in Mastung arrested one Roohullah in June for kidnap-for-ransom activities in Karachi. He was apprehended from Quetta with Rs10 million of ransom money in his possession.

In his confessional statement, however, he admitted that the ransom money was meant for the Daesh and he had been transferring criminal proceeds to Afghanistan through illegal hundi money transfer businesses. His Daesh bosses across the border run their criminal enterprises using the sim-cards of Afghan mobile networks with coverage extending into Balochistan. They communicate their ransom demands to the families of captives using the encrypted chat platform WhatsApp.

Likewise, a TTP terrorist wanted in connection with the March 14 terrorist attack on Raiwind, Lahore, was also apprehended from Baluchistan by the civilian agency, using its extensive network of human intelligence resources. Yasir Ali was a handler of the suicide bombers who perpetrated the Raiwind attack, which killed eight people, including five police officials, and injured 20 others. He was arrested on September 6 as he attempted to flee into Iran via the border crossing at Taftan.

Chronic poverty is the dominant reason for Balochistan to be a fertile recruitment ground for the twin terrorist threats to Pakistan, the security officials told The News.

Shahzeb Dehwar, arrested in connection with the killings of the teacher-brothers in Mastung, was an unemployed youth prior to his arrest. Under interrogation, he gave up his similarly impoverished kin folk. Bilal Dehwar, a seminary student disowned by his family, worked as a conductor on public transport vehicles.

They, in turn, worked with Rashid Bangalzai,the unemployed son of a minor hospital employee. He was particularly susceptible to recruitment by a relative, Maulvi Kabir, a member of the Daesh governing shura council. And thus the murderous terrorist cell was formed.