One of my favorite things to do while in the UAE is meet the many Pakistani taxi drivers in Dubai – wonderful, energetic people who have no qualms about talking to Indians. Many are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, and if you ask them the right questions without any apparent ill intent, they’re always happy to share stories about their homeland, especially the scourge of terrorism that has plagued their country and continues to linger.
They talk about how the Pakistani military conducted counter-terrorism operations in their homeland following the Lal Masjid attack in 2007. That operation led to the formation of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a terrorist organisation whose aim was to establish Sharia law in Pakistan and overthrow the government. The TTP’s ideology is a blend of radical jihadism and a desire to impose strict Islamic rule.
This was effectively a backlash from the policy Pakistan had been following of promoting violent political Islam that was linked to and exploited by transnational Islamic sentiment. Mujahideen They fought and won against the Soviets in Afghanistan from 1981 to 1989. The target was India, more specifically Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), but that’s another story.
This backlash has led to Pakistani forces using heavy ground and air weapons during the operations, resulting in massive collateral damage, killing of innocent people including women and children, destruction of educational facilities in these operations, and casualties caused by suicide bombings by terrorists, resulting in widespread insecurity across the country.
The people I spoke to bemoaned the idea that the Pakistani army was doing this for their own security. They made it clear that it was impossible to remove the last “militant” because the people standing in line were thousands of young men bent on revenge for what they had witnessed. When I told them about the Indian army’s record in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere, and told them that no weapons-laden aircraft had ever flown in support of the Indian army, they actually expressed gratitude.
In the bloody world of terrorism, things come full circle. Pakistan has been mired in sectarian and political terrorist violence for over two decades. There was no sponsor for this violence, it was all home-grown as a result of draconian mismanagement. Like the Israel Defense Forces, the Pakistan Army’s concept of counterterrorism (CT) was to finally crush the movement by eliminating the last terrorist.
Experts believe this is not possible and it is much better to curb the violence, eliminate the root causes, reach out to people to “accept” them, promote their welfare and development and remove their resentment. Of course, this will be accompanied by a strong campaign against radicalization. The irony of Pakistan and its military is that there are more people promoting radicalization than countering it.
On 22 June 2024, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the launch of further operations (Operation Azm-e-Istekam) to neutralise the threat posed by the TTP and other outfits. The TTP appeared to have been neutralised by a series of operations which began with the unsuccessful Operation Ra-e-Nijat (2009) and ended with Operation Zarb-e-Azb (2014-18), which lasted for four years. Ironically, there was a period in 2007-08 when Pakistan’s Border Security Forces, with company-sized soldiers captured by terrorists, were deployed in CT operations.
The US offered Pakistan a $750 million package to equip and arm its Border Guard, and the force finally started to turn a new leaf. At one point, a third of Pakistan’s regular troops were engaged in Border Guard operations, some even redeployed from the Jammu and Kashmir border, always a priority sector. By 2018, Pakistan’s military leadership claimed to have broken the TTP’s backbone. During this period, the Afghan Taliban stopped openly supporting the TTP. In any case, they didn’t have the resources to do much.
However, after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Afghan Taliban adopted a different strategy. They have contested the Durand Line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and have openly supported the TTP. Imran Khan had attempted to negotiate with the TTP in his heyday in the hope of an end to violence and the release of detainees, but to no avail.
The TTP, with the support of Afghanistan, is once again wreaking havoc. In 2023 alone, 789 terrorist attacks have resulted in 1,524 violent deaths and 1,463 injuries, many of which have taken place in Balochistan province, specifically targeting Chinese workers and staff working on various projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Following PM Sharif’s recent visit to China, some dissatisfaction was apparently conveyed to the PM about Pakistan’s lack of efforts to secure the CPEC projects. The combination of Chinese concerns and growing terrorism spiralling out of control seems to leave the Pakistani military with little choice. The Afghan Taliban are no longer under the control of the Pakistani military. Quite the opposite in fact, the Pakistani military is using force to wrest control of areas of Afghanistan-Pakistan that are considered crucial for the spread of political Islam.
The US is also concerned as it is dependent on Pakistan to contain the Taliban’s expansion. There is opposition from various political quarters within the country, which is understandable as the Pakistani military’s approach is unlikely to solve the problem. Chinese pressure will likely result in the neutralisation of a few terrorists. The TTP enjoys the full support of the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Defense Minister has indicated that he will go after terrorists crossing the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with alacrity, which could lead to considerable turmoil in the region.
The Pakistani military may be drawn into this in a bigger way than we can imagine. It is also seeking financial support and weapons to pursue what it sees as US and Chinese interests. This will likely rip Pakistan apart on its east-west border, with no part of the country safe from the threat. Tune in next time for more from our Dubai taxi driver.
Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (Ret.)
Former Commander of the 15th Corps in Srinagar, he is currently the Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir.
(Opinions are personal)
(atahasnain@gmail.com)
