Terror threat

The armed forces have said that at least eight terrorists, including a high-value target terrorist commander Sehra alias Janan who orchestrated the Mir Attack last week, have been killed by the security forces during an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan District on the night of March 17 and 18. On Saturday, at least seven Pakistan Army soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel and captain, embraced martyrdom after gallantly fighting terrorists as they attacked a security forces’ post in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.

The problem here is the Afghan Taliban regime and how it has consistently given safe havens to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on its soil. Ever since the fall of Kabul, the TTP has regularly carried out terrorist attacks across Pakistan. While Pakistan under Imran Khan did initially make the mistake of negotiating with the TTP and their return due to the Afghan Taliban’s insistence, the state has changed its policy for the better and has been consistent about not holding dialogue with the TTP and demanding that the Afghan Taliban regime should take action against the TTP in their territory. The National Security Committee (NSC) meeting held in April 2023 had pointed out that the resurgence of the TTP was a consequence of a “soft corner” for the terrorist outfit and a “thoughtless policy” towards it, which resulted in not just the terrorists to return to Pakistan but also the release of dangerous and hardened militants from jails as “confidence-building measures”. The NSC said that this was contrary to the expectations of the public and it led to assistance from various terrorist outfits that were based in Afghanistan. According to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), the number of attacks in the first half of 2023 saw a total of 271 attacks, claiming 389 lives and injuring 656 others. The second half of 2023 was not any better.

Unfortunately, the Afghan Taliban have not exactly been forthcoming about Pakistan’s TTP problem and Afghanistan’s role in it. Pakistan needs more action by the Afghan Taliban when it comes to containing the TTP. It has become more and more difficult for Pakistan to adopt a policy of waiting for Afghanistan to do something at its end regarding the terrorism being unleashed on Pakistan. It is in this context that Pakistani forces carried out intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in the border regions inside Afghanistan on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the strikes were against terrorists launching attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil. We fought the war on terror for over a decade and thousands of civilians and security personnel lost their lives as a result. And when finally we got rid of the TTP from Pakistani soil and its back was broken through sheer hard work of the armed forces, the terrorist organization cannot be allowed to make headway back in the country because the neighbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban regime consider them allies. In the immediate term, Pakistan must strengthen its internal defences. Our efforts to defeat terrorism need to be better organized, which will require strengthening Nacta. In the long run, we must go deeper and address the causes that lead so many young men to the path of terror. Such long-term policies, however, are only possible with stability at the top. This will require democratically legitimate governments, more independent institutions, and a parliament that is not left out of the loop again.