Similarities in Kabul, Peshawar terrorist attacks

Last month, a Kabul education centre was attacked by terrorists that killed 30 and injured 70. The education centre had students aged 16-25 yrs. Rush timings were selected for the attack while ISIL-Khorasan claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. The same strategy was adopted for the Peshawar IED blast conducted at a madrassa which left at least eight dead and more than 90 injured. The pattern of terrorist attacks reflected certain similarities that pointed to NDS-RAW combination in action.

The Kabul attack was launched against one sect while the Peshawar faced terrorism at madrassa of another sect. In the Kabul attack, a deadly explosion targeting a tutoring center, killed at least 30 people and injured 57 others. The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who was stopped before he could enter the educational center. The madrassa in Peshawar was targeted by placing a bag of explosives during a Hadees lesson.

It is interesting to note that Ajit Doval, the Indian NSA, had stated a day before the attacks that “India will not necessarily fight on the ground. They will take the battle from where threat originates and will fight on own soil as well as foreign soil."

The ISIL claimed the Kabul attack to portray the presence of anti-Taliban forces and to signal that Taliban will be resisted on way to forming a government in Kabul. Meanwhile, the Peshawar attack was not claimed as it would have pointed towards the RAW connection against Pakistan.

The UN and various reports by international organizations have already highlighted proof of Indian money laundering, presence of large terrorist networks in Kerala and Karanataka and Indian complicity in terror attacks in neighboring states in collaboration with ISIS and other groups.

The Peshawar attack had multi-dimensional aims, one being to create a perception that Pakistan Army, which is universally praised for eliminating terrorism, has failed as they are focusing towards internal politics. The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) has revealed that Pakistan saw a nearly 31 per cent reduction in terror and counter-terror related fatalities over the past year. In its annual report, the think-tank said that a 30.71 per cent drop in fatalities was observed in 2019, down from 980 to 679 last year. In Balochistan, it said, there were 405 fatalities in 2018 and only 226 fatalities in 2019, a drop of 44.2 per cent. The newly merged tribal districts faced 192 fatalities in 2018 but only 117 in 2019, a reduction of 39 percent.

The attacks point towards a single source/ planner as the two sects were targeted within 48 hours in two countries, desiring to trigger a sectarian response from either side. According to a US report, overall violent attacks in Afghanistan increased by 50 percent in recent months as talks between the Afghan government and Taliban continued.

Taliban have denied most of the attacks but were still blamed by some Afghan government officials. Meanwhile, Pakistan condemned the suicide attack at the educational center in the Afghan capital. "Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the inhuman terrorist attack outside an educational center in Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul," Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement. "Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and will continue to support a peaceful and stable Afghanistan."

The Indian involvement in Balochistan was admitted to by the Indian newspaper The Indian Express, which reported in September 2013 that the Indian Army had destroyed documents of the so-called “Technical Service Division” (TSD). As per reports, TSD had claimed to have carried out at least eight covert operations in a foreign country. The TDS also claimed that in October and November 2011, it had paid money from secret service funds to try and enroll the secessionist chief in a province of the neighbouring country. There were thus two operations, eight covert and one of bribery.

Ajit Doval is on record saying: “So how to tackle Pakistan? You know, we engage the enemy in three modes. One is a defensive mode. One is defensive-offensive. The last mode is called an offensive mode. When we come to defensive-offence, we start working on the vulnerabilities of Pakistan. It can be economic, it can be internal, it can be political; it can be international isolation, defeating their policies in Afghanistan, making it difficult for them to manage internal political lands security balance. It can be anything."

As Pakistan seeks peace in Afghanistan, Doval goes for terrorist acts in Afghanistan that are blamed on Taliban. He also carries out terrorism in Pakistan's KP and Balochistan. The man has openly declared: "Indeed, terrorism is a tactic to achieve ideological or political advantages." This is how Doval operates, this is how India works.