Blowback: Pakistan now ‘favourite’ target for Islamists’ terror attacks!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which is not only supporting the Taliban’s return to power in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan but is also trying to get it global recognition, is now a ‘favorite’ target of Islamist terrorism itself!
The Islamist outfits now want to turn Islamabad into Kabul-II, even as critics have condemned Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi as “Taliban Khan”.
According to media reports, deadly terrorist attacks inside Pakistan have increased to the highest level since 2017 after the US-led western troops left and the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on August 15. It is a sign of growing instability in the restive, and terror-infested region hurting not only peace and stability along the Durand Line but also business sentiments and potential investments in two countries.
In August 2021 itself, Pakistan has suffered 35 terrorist attacks that left at least 52 civilians dead, the highest since February 2017, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal’s data.
Most of this violence has been attributed to the revival of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Afghan Islamist militia’s Pakistan branch, banned by Islamabad as a “terrorist” outfit. With the parent Taliban’s recent return to power in Afghanistan, the TTP has also geared up to establish a similar government in Pakistan and increased its attacks.
Media reports in August had said the Taliban had, soon after retaking Kabul, released around 6,000 TTP members from prisons, frightening Pakistan. Panicked, it rushed the ISI Chief, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, to Kabul to secure assurance that the TTK will not attack Pakistan, particularly the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through parts of northern Afghanistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and Baluchistan.
The Taliban, which is yet to find feet and form a stable government in Afghanistan, was reported to have assured Islamabad that it would not allow Afghan soil for launching attacks in Pakistan. But it has had little impact on the ground.
In fact, the TTP “has been emboldened further by what happened in Afghanistan,” Umar Karim, a visiting fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, was quoted as saying in a media report.
The terrorist group had already been growing stronger much before the situation changed in August in Afghanistan as splinter groups merged with the TTP.
With the Taliban controlling Afghanistan, Islamabad is apprehensive of a spill-over in terror activities that could affect investments, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI’s flagship project, CPEC, envisaging total investment of nearly USD 62 billion, has already seen USD 25 billion poured into power plants and road projects in Pakistan.
With terror attacks mounting, Pakistan is facing heat from Beijing which has directed Islamabad to protect the CPEC projects, particularly after a bus explosion in July killed 12 workers, including nine Chinese citizens.
With regional instability growing and investments risked, a foreign investor has recently decided to hold back on acquiring a Pakistani company, media reported.
In one breath, Islamabad is supporting the Taliban and in another, it is opposing its offshoot, TTP. It is concerned about the re-emerging threat of the TTP which had been crushed by a combination of US drone strikes and domestic military operations of the Pakistani Army. If anything, the Taliban’s return in Kabul has given a second lease of life to the TTP whose members, many of whom are wanted in Pakistan, have been freed in August, ready to be unleashed against Islamabad.
The TTP reportedly killed two Pakistani soldiers in August in a clash that also left many injured. Another seven Pakistani soldiers died in September when the army attacked terrorists in South Waziristan, media reported.
