Speaking to Voice of America, Salman Javed ( an expert on terrorism issues and is associated
with the non-governmental organization Pak Afghan Youth Forum, which is a public diplomacy organization). said that there have been more than 300 incidents of terrorism so far this year, in which around 200 civilians and 300 security personnel have been targeted by terrorists. He further said that this series started from the last quarter of 2022 which is continuing till now. He said that in 2013, most of the deaths were of ordinary citizens, but this year, most of the victims
have been officials of security agencies. According to him, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) are involved in these attacks. It should be noted that the TTP has been claiming
that it is targeting personnel and property of security agencies. According to
experts, this is probably how TTP wants to gain the support of ordinary
citizens. Counter-terrorism experts consider several reasons for the
increase in attacks. According to experts, Pakistan believed that the
situation would change after the establishment of the Taliban government in
Kabul, because during the previous Afghan governments, terrorist groups
received support and aid from anti-Islamabad forces in Afghanistan, and
they used to act against Pakistan. While the governments of that time
ignored these groups and their activities. According to experts, practically
nothing could be happened after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan.
The Taliban deny that the TTP have their support in operations. They also
insist on their position that they will not allow Afghan soil to be used against
any country, but the reality is the contradictory to the claim. According to the
United Nations report, TTP and other terrorist groups are active in
Afghanistan who can cause danger anytime anywhere. The roots of the
TTP are in the long war in Afghanistan. The TTP supported the Taliban
during the Taliban’s resistance against the forces of the United States and
its allies in the Afghan war. According to the US’s National Counter
Terrorism Center (NCTC), the TTP has announced several of its goals,
including the end of Islamabad’s control over the tribal areas along
Pakistan’s Afghan border, and it includes the implementation of strict Sharia
laws in Pakistan. According to the National Counter Terrorism Center, the
TTP commanders have been saying that they want to establish an Islamic
caliphate in Pakistan. According to the think tank ‘Counter Extremism’
(CEP), the TTP’s links with the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda are
continued. Pakistan is in contact with the Taliban at the diplomatic level.
but it seems that it is not getting any sufficient support from the Taliban.
Despite the assurances of the Taliban that they will not allow their territory
to be used for terrorism against any country, TTP fighters are still there.
Islamabad has been repeatedly claiming that TTP terrorists have been
operating in Pakistan from Afghanistan. Salman Javed says that Pakistan is
also raising this issue with the Taliban at the political level and is in constant
contact, but no results are being obtained and terrorism is increasing.
Pakistan has in recent years fenced its 2,600 km long traditionally
unsecured Afghan border and tightened immigration controls to prevent
infiltration of terrorists from any direction. Salman Javed feels that now is
the time to set up a security panel with local powers like Pakistan, China,
Russia, Central Asian states and Iran as these countries share borders with
Afghanistan and have security talks with them. The concern should be
shared that if the security concerns of Islamabad are not addressed and the
path of terrorists is not stopped, the entire region and many countries will be
engulfed by it like in the past. Some experts believe that if the terrorist
organizations and their facilitators are not stopped at this stage, then the
coming time may be very tough. (translation from Qamar Abbas Jafri, Urdu Voice of America)