The surge in terror attacks in Pakistan is causing agitation amid power corridors in the country. The recent attack occurred on Sunday as terrorists opened fired at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram District from across the border with Afghanistan and martyred five Pakistani soldiers. The attack comes just a week after over a dozen of Baloch separatists militants stormed security installations in Noushki and Panjgor, Balochistan, in which nine soldiers, including a Pakistan Army major, was martyred. The military’s media wing in its statement mentioned that the army intercepted communication between the attackers with their handlers both in India and Afghanistan.
Both incidents of terror, coupled with others alike, have resulted in Islamabad running out of patience with the interim Afghan Taliban regime. Following the Sunday incident, Pakistan for the first time publicly condemned the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan since the Taliban takeover. “[Islamabad] expects that the interim Afghan government will not allow conduct of such activities against Pakistan in future,” read the ISPR statement. Since it came into power in August last year, the Afghan Taliban had pledged to take action against militant outfits operating in Afghanistan against Pakistan. But it has failed to take any effective measures, while this country has witnessed a surge in attacks since the Afghan Taliban takeover.
What is more concerning is the fact that the recent attacks in Balochistan were claimed by Majid Brigade of the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), who have in the past rarely carried out such sophisticated attacks. The Noushki-Panjgur attack held stark resemblance to the ones carried out by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – an outfit that openly operates in Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban have been unwilling to take action against.
Does this mean that the TTP is helping or training the Baloch separatists’ groups? The ideologies of the two outfits are poles apart but one cannot rule out the possibility of them working together against the state of Pakistan.
Given the alarming situation, Islamabad must raise these concerns with Kabul.
The security situation in the country is causing fear and panic, and may pose as a threat to undo the gains achieved on the war on terror in the past few years.
