Dr.Rizwan Naseer
Strategy Security Analyst, Pakistan
To understand the recent wave of terrorism in Pakistan there is a need to take a glimpse into Pakistan’s war against terrorism.
Afghanistan has always been important for Pakistan in terms of security.
As the U.S. troops launched the global war against terrorism in Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, Pakistan underwent painful incidents of terrorism.
According to the south Asia Terrorism Portal in the year 2000, there were 65 total incidents of killing in Pakistan which rose to 2347 in 2012.
Pakistan has a stronger military in South Asia but there were no counter terrorism forces to counter such threats of low-intensity conflict(LIC).
On the operational front, Pakistan’s security forces performed a great job by destroying terrorist hideouts but on a policy level the policy makers remained at snail’s pace.
In 2014, after almost 14 years of Pakistan’s war against terrorism, the first-ever National Internal Security Policy (NISP)was formulated to protect the national interest by thwarting menaces to national security.
In the NISP of Pakistan, there were three main critical security issues that included (i) dialogue with all stakeholders, (ii) isolating of terrorist outfits from their support system and (iii) enhancing deterrence and capacity of the security apparatus to neutralize the threats to the internal security of Pakistan.
As the NISP provided policy guidelines for various state institutions to make a robust approach towards countering terrorism but after the tragic incident of 16 December 2014, Army Public School (APS) attack a national consensus was reached by all political parties to make concerted efforts to curb the scourge of terrorism with quantifiable and time-bound agenda.
Operation Zarb-e-Azb had already started in June, 2014 which was intensified against terrorist and their affiliates.
To achieve success on a strategic and operational level there was a National Action Plan. According to Stimson Center, “Foreign and local terrorists were killed residing in North Waziristan.
After a year into the operation, Pakistan’s military claimed 2763 terrorists killed, 837 hideouts destroyed, 253 tons’ explosive recovered and zero non-combatants killed.”
Operation Raddul Fasaad was the decisive operation launched against the remnants of the terrorists.
It remained successful in consolidating of the two-decades-long war on terror and eliminating remnants of terrorists and destroying their hideouts.
It also helped to choke financial lifeline and recruitment of terrorist organizations.
On the ideological front the much-needed effort was to bring out a counter narrative.
“Paigham-e-Pakistan” was a consensus-based counter-terrorism policy signed and endorsed by thousands of Pakistani Islamic scholars to disapprove the extremist ideology and suicidal attacks and termed them as against the basic doctrines of Islam.
After the Paigham-e-Pakistan there has been a sharp decline in suicide attacks across Pakistan.
By and large Pakistan’s counterterrorism policy remained successful in weeding out terrorist groups and their infrastructure.
But the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan after twenty years of war has sparked serious concerns that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will have an easy presence in Afghanistan and it will definitely impact Pakistan as well.
The leader of TTP, Noor Wali Mehsud in his interview with CNN has stated that the group(TTP) has a good relationship with the Afghan Taliban and hopes to benefit from their victories across the border(Afghanistan).
Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria(ISIS)) also had minimal presence in Pakistan but those were splinter groups of Taliban and owed their allegiance to ISIS.
The recent attack in Peshawar which claimed the lives of more than 60 Pakistanis has been the deadliest attack of the year. In the year 2022, there have been 67 incidents of killing and this is the deadliest among them.
Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan has been very open to seeking international support to avoid any humanitarian crisis.
But if such terrorist incidents continue and TTP and ISIS make their presence strong again, this is likely to inflict a major cost on Pakistan’s already struggling economy.
The Australian cricket team is in Pakistan after 24 years as international cricket revives in Pakistan.
This normalcy is itching in India’s eyes as there are serious efforts to scare the team and make it return back to bring international embarrassment to Pakistan.
As the character of war is constantly changing and countries are confronted with hybrid war and hybrid threats.
Indian involvement in supporting Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and several other terrorist networks has been obvious as Pakistan has already presented a dossier containing evidences of cross-border terrorism.
But such an approach is not favorable for regional peace and stability.
End text.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are author’s and do not necessarily express the opinions of the Organization he works for.
# The author could be reached at multiirizzz@gmail.com
# Thanks the distinguished Dr. Rizwan Naseer, Pakistan: Ed. Upadhyaya. N. P.
Sources:
i. https://www.satp.org/datasheet-terrorist-attack/fatalities/pakistan
ii. https://nacta.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/National-Internal-Security-Policy-2014.pdf
iii. https://www.stimson.org/2015/after-zarb-e-azb-now-what/
iv. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/paigham-e-pakistan-why-daesh-loves-to-hate-pledge-on-
religious-harmony-54010
v. https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/the-ttp-has-redefined-its-goals-should-pakistan-be-worried/
vi. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/cricket-australia-arrive-in-pakistan-for-first-tour-in-24-
years