By Muhammad Kamal 

On Monday morning the land of Peshawar once again faced a tragedy when a suicidal terrorist of the badly notorious and defunct Khawarij group (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) carried out a suicide attack inside a mosque located in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). There is no denying the fact that there has been a dramatic rise in terrorist activities across the country since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. In the last few months, TTP has carried out a number of attacks against the security forces and general public in different parts of the country.

Resurgence in terrorism can have serious consequences for a nation that has heroically fought a long & hard war to eliminate terror elements, losing thousands of lives in the war on terror. This comes at a time when Pakistan is dealing with political and economic instability. All efforts to find some middle and non-kinetic solutions with this “enemy of the state” have only emboldened the terrorists and have provided them much needed breathing space to reorganise and regroup using the Afghan soil mostly. Policy of appeasement by the ex provincial government has only accentuated the security problem in the province that was stabilised by LEAs after paying a heavy cost in men and material. Ex government of KPK and ex Federal Government must answer for failing to manage security situation in KPK especially when entire province after having cleared of terrorists had been handed over to the civil government who was then responsible to maintain normalcy and law & order through Police ans other LEAs. Ex government must also answer that why the outcome of the talks with the group, that were spearheaded by the ex government, led to mismanaged resettlement of the TTP in the region without any concrete planning and strategy?

The group of ‘Khwarij’ who calls itself Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has been receiving funds from hostile agencies and are working on an agenda for long to destabilize Pakistan. An Indian analyst, in a piece published in Hindustan Times, has acknowledged that the Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has ties with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Bharat Karnad, professor for national security studies at the Centre for Policy Research and author of "Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)", writes, "Severing relations with TTP will mean India surrendering an active card in Pakistan and a role in Afghanistan as TTP additionally provides access to certain Afghan Taliban factions." The links of Indian intelligence agencies with different terrorist organizations are not hidden and have been presented by Pakistan in the form of dossiers to concerned international organizations. Currently, Pakistan is going through a tough phase with political and economic uncertainty and the hostile agencies have found an opportunity amid this crisis to accentuate problems for Pakistan and take full advantage of the internal fissures.

Terrorists outfits such as TTP who take funding from the enemy of an Islamic Republic are no where close to following the teachings of Islam. On January 9 2023, top religious clerics of Pakistan issued yet another strong edict against such terror activities and terrorist outfits calling them “haram”as per Islamic teachings. One of the top Islamic clerics of the world Mufti Taqi Usmani in a statement on TTP and its activities said, “Such acts of terrorism are strictly forbidden in Islam. Only the Islamic State has the authority to call for ‘Jihad’. Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and any terror activities against it must be punished under Islamic Law.”

The political parties leadership must understand that due to their internal infighting and rivalry, Pakistan’s internal security is also getting a hit and the job of Law Enforcement Agencies is becoming difficult as fight against terrorism is a national undertaking that requires political consensus and full public support behind the Armed Forces to undertake such ordeals. There is a dire need of a political consensus over the current economic and security situation otherwise Pakistan may face serious consequences in near future. The leadership must acknowledge the fact that talks with TTP have proved to be a failure multiple times, instead such talks give the Khwarij terrorists ample time to reorganize and regroup to resume terrorism. Therefore, now is the time for both political and military leadership to take bold and difficult decisions and end the chapter of Khwarijs (TTP & other terrorist groups) once and for all. The political parties must sit together and build a joint plan to defeat the terrorists before they cause further destruction and damage to Pakistan. Developing the national resolve across the board the way it was done post APS Peshawar terrorists attack and aggressive execution of the National Action Plan across the country using full might of the state is quintessential to eliminate cancer of TTP from Pakistani soil. This challenge can be converted into an opportunity wherein the complete nation is harness and unified by the political leadership and full support is extended to Armed Forces to wipe out this scourge of terrorism from Pakistan once and for all.