Hardly a week goes by without a terrorist attack in the country, mainly the KP and Balochistan provinces, where the banned TTP and other militant and terrorists’ groups have regrouped after the take-over of Afghanistan by Taliban in August last year.

The residents of both these provinces are gripped by fear due to re-emergence of terrorists in the country and have been calling for decisive action against the militancy. The main target of the terrorists is security personnel which can be gauged from the number of attacks carried out by them in the country.

On Saturday, two army soldiers embraced martyrdom in exchange of fire during an attack by terrorists in Dera Ismail Khan, where the Pak ar my is busy in "Sanitisation of the area to eliminate any terrorists”, according to ISPR. Earlier last week, two bombers were shot dead after an intense exchange of fire with the security personnel as they attempted to attack a peace committee head in DI Khan area of KP province. 

The militant involved in the attack,  were on riding on a motorcycle-rickshaw. The terrorists were also wearing explosive jackets. Earlier on Monday, a wanted terrorist was killed by CTD during an operation in Kulachi tehsil in DI Khan. On October 25, another terrorists killed in Lakki Marwat and in DI Khan in separate operations. The terrorist killed in Lakki was involved in attack on a police van in Abdulkhel area of Lakki Marwat Tehsil.

A recent report says that there is 51 per cent increase in militants and terrorists attacks across the country since August last years after the fall of Kabul to Afghan Taliban. The report reveals that 433 persons have been killed and over seven hundred injured in 250 attacks across the country between August 15, 2021, and August 14, 2022, according to a report by Pak Institute of Peace Studies (Pips. Not only the far flung areas are the target of terrorists attacks, the cities have also witnessed terrorists acts as is evident from the bombing in Peshawar mosque, attacks in Lahore and Karachi since the fall of Kabul to Taliban in August last year. In Karachi, two KMC officials of the fire brigade department were gunned down while a third one was left in pool of blood after he was critically injured in Korangi area recently.

Earlier, Chinese-Pakistani dual national, who was running a dental shop in Saddar, was shot dead killed in Saddar area. The armed attackers posed himself as dental patient, who very brutally killed the Chinese national named Ronald Raymond Chou. In fact, terror has started rearing its frightening head again  is evident from the increased number of terrorists act across the country since last year after the Taliban take-over in Afghanistan.

And with the passage of time, it is becoming more and more visible with continued blasts and attacks mostly on security personnel and also targeting security installations as was the case in Nushki, Balochistan and KP's South Waziristan attacks. A new reign of terror has been unleashed across the country and after the recent terror incidents in Kohat, and Swat as also the earlier terror blasts in border regions in KP and Balochistan and the last year attacks in Lahore, Islamabad, the port city of Karachi too is an addition to the target-list of terrorists.  The Islamabad-based think-tank Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) report says that the Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan is not helping in any way our country's efforts to deal with the terrorists outfits threatening security of Pakistan.  Since the Taliban take-over in Afghanistan, the terrorists groups like the TTP and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA) as al-Qaeda affiliates have started regrouping after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The purpose to say is that though the intelligence agencies are yet working and investigating as to who is behind the Karachi attacks, but going by the current situation, it is definitely the work of some terrorists groups. As a matter fact, terror incidents have increased by more than fifty per cent across the country. Since January last year, the country is in grip of terrorist attacks, mostly in the Balochistan and the KP province where the security personnel and security installations are on the radar of militants. Though a full-scale operation was also carried out against militant in Nushki, Balochistan and some other sensitive areas of Baluchistan earlier this year in areas where the terrorists had their hide-outs but there is still an urgent need for a country-wide military operation against the terrorists, who have regrouped after the Fall of Kabul to Taliban in August last year. One would agree with security experts, who said that not only Karachi, but the entire country is facing serious terror threat.

While the killing of KMC officials incident can be blamed on Taliban and other terrorists outfits, the killing of Chinese national can also be the work of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been involved in a number of similar attacks had claimed responsibility for this gruesome act of terrorism. The motive of the BLA was sabotage the CPEC project, which is the game-changer project in Pakistan. BLA has also been behind the attacks on security personnel and security installations in Balochistan. Both the TTP and the BLA have regrouped themselves in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and are being carrying out attacks at will at any place across the country. Some of the attacks clearly indicate the capabilities of these groups. For instance, the attack at Shiite mosque in Peshawar earlier this year that killed over sixty in February was in fact a mega attack which was claimed by IS.  Other attacks mostly at the security personnel have mostly been the work of TTP. The irony is that during the tenure of last government, Imran Khan  did  not take the terror threat seriously and while the terrors gropes were regrouping themselves and busy in terror attacks across the country,  the government was most focused on talks with Taliban, who were behind many of these attacks as claimed by them.

Instead of initiating action against them, the government of IK preferred to hold talks with such terrorists. Though Taliban and the BLA have been involved in sporadic attacks in the country during the last two years, but those attacks were mostly confined to the border areas and to the suburbs of big cities, but during the last one year after the Taliban take-over in Afghanistan they have started emerging in big cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 31 2022

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