Operation in Punjab

Facing up to the magnitude of the militancy problem in its province after a week of attacks, the Punjab Apex Committee has decided to seek the help of the Rangers in ongoing operations against militant groups. The precise modalities of how they will operate are still being worked out. There has also been discussion on restricting the Rangers’ involvement to Intelligence Based Operations which require sharing information with the police and working alongside them. A timeframe has not yet been announced. Till now, and for the most part, the Punjab government has preferred to rely on its own resources, with the Counter Terrorism Department taking the lead in recent raids on suspected militant hideouts. The effectiveness of adding national outfits like the Rangers to the mix will depend on the terms of reference they are given. The last time the Punjab government sought help from the army - after the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park suicide bombing in 2016 – the operation was restricted to a criminal gang in Rajanpur. While there may be links between criminal enterprises and militant groups, the focus needs to be on the militants themselves. Punjab has faced some of the most devastating attacks in the country – be it on the FIA building, the police training centre, the Data Darbar shrine or Moon Market – and all have been carried out by a combination of the TTP and Punjab-based militant groups. It is these groups the Rangers should be going after and the most value they can provide is in helping to coordinate intelligence and plan raids. It is important that investigations be both honest and complete without using ethnic and convenient scapegoats.

The Rangers need not necessarily be on the frontlines of the operation if the Counter Terrorism Department and the Elite Force are up to the task. The most important aspect of their proposed involvement in the province may be that the Punjab government has belatedly realised that it needs to tackle its militancy problem and is finally ready to do what it takes to defeat it. The activities of extremist outfits, notably in southern Punjab, have never been a secret. Banned groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed have operated freely in the province, always reemerging under new names, and have also been one of the largest sources of recruits to militant groups like the TTP and its offshoots. The radical madressahs in Punjab are also linked to these groups but nothing has been done to disrupt them. Opposition parties like the PTI have long been calling for a Rangers operation along the lines of the one in Karachi but the situation in Punjab is not one of warring political parties and their nexus with criminal gangs. The Rangers’ role should be to assist the Punjab government and help uproot enmeshed militant networks. But this will only be successful if the government has the will to take on a problem it has allowed to fester for too long.