Security forces in the tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in panic over incessant and unprecedented attacks on them by the militant group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which not long ago was an ally of Pakistan Army. The militant group flourished in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan due to support from the Afghan Taliban and various other terrorist outfits patronised by the Pakistan Army till 2021.
Now the same militant groups are targeting the Pakistani security forces, including the military, ever since a fraudulent truce fell through in November last year with TTP threatening to launch an all-out terrorist attack against security forces in Pakistan. Even as political parties squabbled with each other and the military vacillated between talk and threat, TTP regained new areas of sanctuary and influence in the tribal areas and ruthlessly carried out a series of major attacks, mostly against the police and military.
The modus operandi of the militants while attacking security forces underlined ruthless tactics: attacking while riding motorbike with the element of surprise; rocket attack; grenade attack; remote controlled bomb attack; attacking police check post; beheading security forces personnel; suicide attack; attacking police stations; beheading of officials; attacking police mobile vans; killing security personnels in duty with polio vaccination team; attacking Police petrol van and attacking residence of security personnels.
In February 2023, TTP issued an open threat to the local police personnel: “The policemen should stay away from our war with the slave army, otherwise the attacks on the safe havens of the top police officers will continue.“
The threat followed one of the most disastrous terrorist attacks in recent years–the suicide bombing of a Peshawar mosque in which over 100 persons, sending a chilling fear throughout the country. The policemen, in fear and anger, came out into the streets of Peshawar and held a demonstration in front of the Peshawar Press Club demanding an end to terrorist attacks.
It was an unprecedented show of anger and helplessness. There were valid reasons–TTP was targeting the security personnel and since police were the first responders they were the first ones to fall. The bloodshed among the rank and file was horrendous. Till date, more than 125 police personnel have fallen to terrorist attacks this year and over 200 of them have been seriously injured, sending shock waves through the force. Today, fear is palpable throughout the police stations and check posts in the tribal areas.
The disastrous failure of the army and civilian leadership in stemming the TTP tide was the result of the inability or refusal to detect the stronger and united return of TTP to Pakistan. Multiple military operations between 2007 and 2010 had forced TTP to flee to Afghanistan where the Taliban was gaining strength and was in need of allies to take on the US-led forces. The Pakistan Army was the key aide to the Taliban game in Afghanistan.
Within two years after fleeing Pakistan, a new leader had united the faction-ridden militant group–there were close to 20 factions and each sparring over drug smuggling, extortions, ransom from abductions and other war profits. The refurbished group joined the Taliban war and the military alliance with the Afghan Taliban, approved by Pakistan Army, helped the group to gain tactics and experience against the world’s most powerful militaries and their proxies. They benefited in no less measure by the modern weapons left behind by the US-led forces.
Within months of the Taliban victory, TTP turned towards Pakistan. Soon, the people and police personnel began to suffer as the militant attacks rose sharply. The army first remained in denial of a TTP resurgence but when attacks mounted, it took the force several months to consolidate its position, get a new leader, position new commanders and deploy more troops and weapons in the tribal areas to take on terrorism on the rise. By February this year, a total of 1,960 operations were conducted in KP, out of that 1,516 were area-domination operations, 301 were intelligence-based operations, and 143 were area-sanitisation operations. As a result of the operations conducted by security forces, 98 terrorists were killed and 540 were arrested in the province.
But with little success against terrorist attacks, the government approved in April a massive anti-militant operation in the tribal areas in the immediate future. The problem is TTP is now more powerful than ever and local people are extremely wary of a full-scale war on their home and hearth. An armed conflict with TTP could turn out to be a larger war involving the Afghan Taliban with China and the US more than meddling in the Great Game, a war Pakistan could do without at this crisis-laden juncture.