As the Pakistani military claimed that it has broken the nexus of al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in the country, head of a premiere civilian intelligence agency, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), has warned of the growing threat of the global terrorist group, Islamic State (IS), in Pakistan.
More specifically the IB head said that the LeJ and its predecessor network, Sipha-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) were reorganizing.
Both these claims from two important institutions are somewhat confusing, surprisingly coming within 48 hours of each other, and, therefore, need to be explained and analyzed in detail as they contain critical questions regarding national security and the future of the country’s war on terror.
The IB Director General, Aftab Sultan, informed the Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control: “There is an emerging trend that the terrorist groups are reorganizing while Da’ish is an emerging threat to the country.” Sultan further testified that some banned outfits –LeJ and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan – were reorganizing themselves while the presence of Da’ish was getting more prominent than before. The IB chief said all local militant groups, including the LeJ and the SSP, had a soft corner for Dai’sh. “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 Dai’sh was in their hundreds.
On the other hand, chief military spokesman Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, two days after the IB DG’s testimony before the Senate, revealed during a news conference that the law enforcement agencies had successfully broken the nexus between al Qaeda (subcontinent chapter) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Briefing media persons, the army spokesman said security forces have achieved a major success during the ongoing Karachi operation by arresting over 97 hardcore terrorists, including three high-value targets (HVTs). “We have broken the overall network and nexus of terrorists belonging to al Qaeda subcontinent chapter and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. They were backed by Tehreek-e-Taliban… This is a major achievement, but we have much more to do.” Bajwa said they had committed several heinous crimes, including attacks on security forces, the Kamra airbase attack, Mehran airbase attack in Karachi, suicide attack on senior police officer Chaudhry Aslam, attacks on naval buses in Karachi and other incidents of terrorism.
The HVTs apprehended by security forces include Masna, the “number two” of al Qaeda subcontinent chapter; Naeem Bukhari, the head of LeJ’s Sindh chapter, and Munna, a wanted member of al Qaeda. They carried head money of Rs 15 million, Rs 20 million and Rs 5 million, respectively. Masna was the mastermind of the June 2014 airport attack in Karachi.
While it is good to hear that Pakistani security forces have busted a very important network and nexus among three top terrorist organizations involved in hundreds of terrorist and militant attacks over decades, but at the same time it is alarming to know that the LeJ and the SSP are reorganizing. Because it is to be noted that since the death of its founder, Osama bin Laden and elimination of al Qaeda’s top leadership in the region due to unabated United States, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-operated drone strikes on the al Qaeda hideouts and commanders in FATA, the group had become somewhat a lesser threat.
Simultaneously, the TTP also has become quite weak since the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb by Pakistani security forces in North Waziristan in June 2014. The consequent fleeing of its leaders to Afghanistan and splintering within the group had sucked the winds out of the sails of the group. In this situation the LeJ remained a more dangerous threat. However, the DG ISPR’s reference to the nexus between al Qaeda, LeJ and the TTP based in Karachi, is correct. Because these groups only in concert could launch large-scale terrorist attacks and, therefore, the busting of their network would have a salutory impact on the general security situation in the country. It is also important to note that as al Qaeda and the TTP along with the LeJ came under the effective military operations of the Pakistani army and US drone attacks in their former hideouts in FATA, they relocated to the port city of Karachi, the largest urban centre of Pakistan. There they found hideouts within the huge population and could also recruit and raise funds from among their sympathizers. They could also launch massive terrorist attacks on the security personnel and institutions which are based in a large number in Karachi and its environs.
Al Qaeda and the TTP have been relying on the LeJ to provide them sanctuaries, finances and recruits in Karachi and the Punjab because of the historical presence and strength of the last mentioned terrorist network in these areas. So, after the severing of their nexus in Karachi, the activities of al Qaeda and the TTP would further ooze up around the country. Given the strong network of the LeJ in the Punjab as well as Balochistan, it was a foregone conclusive that the rest of the leadership of the LeJ would relocate to these provinces. There, in order to survive and regroup, the LeJ would try to join hands with IS in the Punjab, where reportedly it does have significant support in the province as well as a link up with Jundullah in Balochistan. Jundullah is an Iranian Sunni Baloch group struggling for succession from Iran. It is based in Pakistani Balochistan located next to the Iranian province of Sestan-Balochistan. Jundullah was the first group based in Pakistan, which had invited a delegation from the Iraq-Syria based IS and owned allegiance to the group. There have been indications that the LeJ had also joined forces with Jundullah and IS and the common denominator in this connection has been their anti-Shiite global agenda. If the LeJ is able to further strengthen itself in the Punjab and Balochistan, it would be a new challenge for the country’s security agencies. Already the state forces are finding it difficult to launch operations in the Punjab for logistical and political reasons.
Another very important revelation made by Mr. Sultan was that the TTP had been coordinating with Dai’sh despite the rivalry of the Afghan Taliban with the Middle Eastern terror group in Afghanistan. This is a very dangerous development and needs to be reinvestigated, as the TTP a couple of months back had in unequivocal words decried IS, its leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and the group’s modus operandi. However, in the face of a common enemy, strained circumstances, a partially shared ideology and aims, inter-group fluidity is to be expected. It is a factor that cannot be ignored or underestimated if Pakistan is to successfully battle terrorism.
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