No state can survive without defining and defeating threats and problems, which challenge its authority and stability. Terrorism, extremism, perpetrated by various militant groups, like Islamic State (IS) and their affiliates, financiers, supporters and sympathisers are existential threats to Pakistan.
On February 10, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, Aftab Sultan, warned that “Islamic State (IS) is emerging as a threat in the country”. Talking to the Senate Standing Committee on the Interior, the director general of the Intelligence Bureau said that “there is an emerging trend that the terrorist groups are reorganising while Da’ish is an emerging threat to the country”. The top civilian intelligence agency’s boss testified that some banned outfits – Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) – were reorganising themselves while the presence of Dai’sh was becoming more prominent. The IB chief said all local militant groups including the LeJ and the SSP, had a soft corner for Da’ish.
“We recently unearthed a network of Da’ish and there are reports of fighters being recruited by sectarian and other outfits, and being sent to Syria,” he said, adding that the number of people leaving Pakistan for Syria to join Da’ish was in the hundreds.
Sultan said the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) coordinated with Da’ish, despite the rivalry of the Afghan Taliban with the Middle Eastern terror group in Afghanistan. “The group [Da’ish] is using social media and cyberspace extensively to recruit and communicate messages of suspected militants,” he said.
The DG claimed that the TTP was behind major terror incidents in the country. “The TTP is realigning itself with the LeJ and the SSP,” he said, adding, “There is a small presence of the al Qaeda sub-continent branch in Karachi, as it has been found involved in the killing of some police officers there.”
The IB boss told the committee that the TTP Fazlullah group was still the strongest one and all militant groups were working in tandem. “Jandullah is a smaller group,” he said. “The IB is identifying signs of the militants’ presence in the country and carrying out arrests where necessary,” he added.
The law and order situation had considerably improved in the country after the launch of the Zarb-e-Azb Operation and terrorists were on the run. However, Sultan warned that the country could see more terror attacks because it was not possible to completely eliminate terrorists for, at least, the next decade.
About target killings in Karachi, the IB chief said the number of incidents had been declining steadily since 2013, saying that the figures for ’13, ’14 and ’15 were 1,922, 1,305 and 546, respectively. He said 1,121 terrorists, target-killers, kidnappers and other criminals were arrested and 95 killed in Sindh in IB-led operations. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 581 terrorists had been arrested and 84 killed in such operations. In reply to a question, he said foreign hands had not been involved in most of the terrorist attacks as “local terrorists, mostly from tribal areas, were behind them”.
This statement by the IB chief cannot be ignored. It is a warning which should be taken very seriously. There is no doubt about it that many militant groups borrow parts of ideology from one another. Al Qaeda’s example can be given in this regard. Many sectarian groups did not take much time to adopt the views of Al Qaeda. They not only learned tactics, but also shared operational resources with the organisation. So, keeping in view the IS’s ideology, it can be said without any doubt that many sectarian groups, especially in Punjab, are drawn to its ideology.
The Punjab, especially south Punjab, has become a centre of sectarian groups. Extremism, religious hatred and bigotry have virtually turned many areas of the province into "sectarian tinderboxes". There are also many villages which have been divided along sectarian lines and this dangerous trend is also emerging in some towns and cities across the Punjab. Operation Zarb-e-Azb has broken the strength of the TTP and its affiliated groups. These groups are now on the run, but the presence of IS in Pakistan will be taken as a boosting force and positive sign by these militant organisations. They will form new alliances with Islamic State very soon.
Apart from the DG IB, the military leadership is also fully aware of the emerging danger. The Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has talked about this danger many times. On February 10, he said, "Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathisers at home who provide them shelter and refuge.” Addressing the corps commanders at their monthly conference that reviews the internal and external security situation, General Sharif pledged, “We will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistan’s soil.” He said that terrorists were reorganising and stressed the need for a border control mechanism, particularly with Afghanistan, enhanced regional cooperation, implementation of the National Action Plan and a de-radicalisation policy with a focus on a counter-narrative.
"Resilience of the whole nation and professionalism of our security forces are our real assets and I am optimistic that we will succeed in bringing enduring peace in Pakistan,” a statement issued by ISPR quoted General Sharif as saying.
This is the second time in the past seven days that General Sharif has pointed out the sympathy factor for terrorists within the country. He had mentioned the same when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the ISI headquarters last week for a security briefing.
These statements from the army chief and DG IB clearly illustrate the true picture of our society, where extremists, militant organisations and foreign agencies are playing their nefarious game to destabilise Pakistan.
These statements also tell another very sad story. After almost two years of the ongoing military operation, terrorists are still active, indulging in terrorist activities. They have not yet been fully defeated and crushed. Rather, they are regrouping and Islamic State is emerging as a grave danger and tangible threat in Pakistan. But, unfortunately, the PML-N government and many politicians are not willing to accept the presence of IS in the country. They are denying the fact that several banned organisations, like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, are coordinating with Islamic State.
On February 13, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that “the militant Islamic State (IS) group which is a Middle Eastern organisation, has no presence in Pakistan. Daesh does not exist in Pakistan. Other terrorist groups, which are involved in activities against the state are using Daesh's name and are causing death and destruction in the country." He said that IS does not maintain the same level of presence in Pakistan as it does in other North African and Middle Eastern countries.
This is not the first time that the interior minister has referring to the non-existence of IS in the country. He had stated the same in November last year. These statements by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are strange, tragic and puzzling. Because, they show that there is a difference of opinion between the army and civilian government about terror organisations and threats.
It is also a fact that there is a contradiction even in the government regarding IS threats and presence in Pakistan. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed, on January 4, 2016, that “42 suspected militants with alleged links to the militant Islamic State (IS) group, had been arrested from different cities in Punjab”. And, now, our IB chief Aftab Sultan has confirmed the worst. But, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is not willing to accept these statements. Why? We don’t know.
Apart from this contradiction, it is also a fact that the government is deliberately doing nothing to tackle and defeat these very serious emerging threats. It is not even implementing NAP fully across the country.
The Nation writes about this situation: “So what does that mean for the future of the Zarb-e-Azb operation and our very slow progress — or rather regress — of the infamous National Action Plan? Is this the point where we start panicking? Or simply put our trust and our lives in the hands of the sitting government and the militia and hope for the best? When Supreme Court judge Jawad S. Khawaja last year, remarked that the National Action Plan was nothing more than a joke, perhaps that was not too far from the truth….The ambiguity that surrounds the NAP and the actions carried out under its banner must be cleared out”.
Pakistan is in need of a unity of purpose between the government and army for defeating terrorism and extremism. Because, if there is a confusion about the very existence of IS between the army and civilian government, how can Pakistanis hope for winning the war against terror by defeating extremism and crushing Islamic State (IS) and other militant organisations?
It is the duty of the government that it should implement NAP fully as soon as possible because the real purpose of NAP was “to ensure enhanced regional cooperation, implementation of a de-radicalisation policy with a focus on counter-narrative”. It was formed to defeat terrorism by supporting the Zarb-e-Azb. But, now, the terrorists are regrouping. The government can disperse and crush them by implementing NAP fully. The government should also pay heed to the words of IB chief who “stressed the need for a border control mechanism, particularly with Afghanistan, a comprehensive policy for rehabilitation of jihadi elements and effective implementation of policy for monitoring social media and cyberspace”.
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