Terror concerns

There is just no respite from terror for the people and law-enforcement personnel of Pakistan, with a TTP that is seemingly on a cruel warpath, evidently enough comfortably placed to launch attacks on an alarmingly regular level now. This concern has also been expressed by the Pakistan Army which in a statement on Friday has said it has serious concerns about the safe havens and the liberty of action available to the TTP in Afghanistan. The most recent context to this statement is a terrorist attack in Zhob a couple of days back; on Friday, COAS Gen Asim visited Quetta Garrison and was briefed on the Zhob attack that martyred nine soldiers. The ISPR’s Friday statement also says that it expects the interim Afghan government (of the Afghan Taliban) to keep up with the promises made in the Doha agreement and not allow the use of its soil to perpetrate terror against any country. According to data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), Pakistan has seen a 79 per cent increase in terrorist attacks in the first half of 2023 compared to the corresponding period last year; and there have been 271 terrorist attacks resulting in 389 deaths and injuring 656 people this year. The majority of this year’s attacks and deaths have occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has suffered 174 reported attacks leading to 266 deaths. Disturbingly, the increase in terror attacks this year is not anomalous but part of a growing trend, one that appears to be accelerating.

By all security accounts, the rise in terror in Pakistan coincided with the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban in 2021. Pakistan has been pressing on the Afghan Taliban to tackle the TTP threat on their side of the border so that Pakistan can manage its counterterror strategies on its own soil more effectively. The one encouraging sign is that the state in its entirety has given a clear, unequivocal message, with the military and civilian establishments both saying over the past few months that terrorism will be dealt with an iron hand. The speed with which the TTP and its affiliated groups have been successfully conducting terrorist attacks across the country – from major cities to more remote areas – is a testament also to what experts had been warning for long: that the Afghan government must also ensure that cross-border terrorist attacks are not carried out from Afghan soil.

A country that has fought valiantly against terrorism and sacrificed more than 80,000 lives cannot afford more terror. The state has to think about the future of its citizens. There is already glaring evidence that shows that appeasement or leniency with terrorists does not work in our favour. It is encouraging that the state too has realized this and has decided there will be no tolerance for terror activities nor any appeasement with militants. It is now crucial for the government, security agencies, and citizens to collaborate closely and confront this menace head-on. By addressing root causes, strengthening security measures, fostering national unity, and seeking international cooperation, Pakistan can make some headway on its side of the border but without the Afghan Taliban choking off all air supply to the TTP on Afghan soil, terrorism will continue being a threat. The nation has to be secured and this can happen only if the militant scourge is dealt with by military action, foreign policy when it comes to Afghanistan, and a more holistic policy aimed at defeating terrorism wherever it exists and in whatever form.