Pakistan losing control over security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

 The security situation in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province is turning from bad to worse. There has been a surge in terror attacks on security forces in KPK since the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) pulled out of peace talks with Islamabad on November 28.[1] In a daring terror incident, militants affiliated to TTP held at a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern city of Bannu took control of the compound on December 18 after overpowering their interrogators, leading to a “two-day” siege. Pakistan army commandoes conducted an operation on December 20 to free the hostages, however, there is still no clarity whether the operation is completed or not.[2] [3] The brazenness of the attack suggests that the TTP has gained considerable grounds in KPK and will continue to challenge the state forces.

In another incident, dozens of armed militants stormed a police station in Wana, South Waziristan in the early hours of December 20 and escaped after looting arms and ammunition.[4] The list of recent terror attacks in KPK is long and embarrassing for the security establishment of Pakistan. Importantly, the provincial government in KPK and the central political leadership in Islamabad are ignoring the emerging security situation in the border province of Pakistan. Whereas, the new Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir is still settling down in his job. Speculations are rife that he may soon consider a kinetic military operation to control the scourge of TTP-led militancy in KPK.

General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, visited Pakistan on December 14 to meet the new army chief of Pakistan.[5] He also visited the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and discussed opportunities to strengthen the “military-to-military relationship” between CENTCOM and the Pakistan Armed Forces.[6] Additionally, the US State Department has offered to help Pakistan in dealing with the “threats posed by the militant outfits.”[7] These statements suggest that Pakistan is smartly playing the ‘victim’ card to bring back the US in the Af-Pak region on the terrorism issue. It is noteworthy that the West had largely lost interest in Afghanistan after the foreign troops’ withdrawal in August 2021. However, the security vacuum created in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover has emboldened several terror groups to expand their operational presence in the region, and possibly outside.

Worryingly for Pakistan, the interim government of Taliban has refused to take dictations from Islamabad. Increasing diplomatic tensions and regular border clashes between Pakistan security forces and the Taliban fighters on the Durand Line have exposed Islamabad’s “strategic depth” in Afghanistan.[8] Consequently, Pakistan has toned down its ‘pro-Taliban’ narrative and is behaving like a victim of terrorism to divert the international attention from its failures in Afghanistan. Islamabad is now pushing for the third country’s involvement to share the burden in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s “all-weather ally” China seems only interested in exploiting untapped mineral resources in Afghanistan and has largely been ignorant to humanitarian issues in the war-torn country.

Growing militancy in KPK province is a fallout of Pakistan army’s dangerous game in using and abetting terrorist groups against its neighboring countries. While Islamabad has openly backed Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan since late 1970s, it undermined possible repercussions of supporting an extremist religious ideology on its territory and citizens.[9] The recent spike in TTP-led violence in Pashtun-dominated areas of Pakistan is a direct consequence of Pakistan army’s decades-long failed Afghanistan policy. Mohsin Dawar, a lawmaker from North Waziristan district, criticised the Shehbaz Sharif

government on December for ignoring recent security developments in KPK province and warned that growing militancy in Pashtun areas will also spread in other parts of Pakistan.[10]

In the past year alone, terrorists belonging to the TTP, Gul Bahadur group, the Islamic State-Khurasan, and others have reportedly conducted at least 165 terrorist attacks in KPK province, which is an increase of 48 per cent from the preceding year.[11] The TTP, along with its local affiliates alone, perpetrated 115 of these attacks. According to an intelligence report shared during a recent meeting of Pakistan’s National Security Committee, there are “capacity gaps” in KPK’s counterterrorism department (CTD), revealing that CTD spends less than 4 per cent of its budget on operations, with “zero allocation for procurement”.[12] The report says that in the last one year, Punjab faced only five terrorist incidents, while KPK witnessed 704 such incidents. These figures present an extremely worrisome picture of the security situation in KPK province.

While speaking on the Bannu hostage situation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that “attempts to spread chaos in Pakistan through terrorism will be dealt with iron hands.”[13] The government’s rhetoric aside, there are no visible steps taken on ground to address the deteriorating security situation in KPK.[14] Both the incumbent Pakistan Democratic Movement government and former Prime Minister Imran Khan are busy preparing for the next elections, whenever they take place. In the meantime, the Pashtun population residing in the western border provinces of Pakistan is staring at another round of bloody violence, forced internal displacement, grave financial losses, and uncountable other sufferings in the near future.

[1] https://www.dawn.com/news/1723647

[2] https://twitter.com/AWGoraya/status/1605625696528699392

[3] https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-taliban-hostages-raid-pakhtunkhwa-militants-killed/32185070.html

[4] https://www.dawn.com/news/1727460/militants-storm-wana-police-station-in-south-waziristan-flee-with-weapons

[5] https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3248516/readout-us-central-command-commander-engages-with-pakistani-leadership/

[6] https://www.dawn.com/news/1726573

[7] https://www.geo.tv/latest/459721-us-ready-to-assist-pakistan-to-deal-with-ttp-threats-ned-price

[8] https://www.voanews.com/a/fresh-border-clashes-between-pakistan-afghanistan-s-taliban-/6878079.html

[9] https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm

[10] https://twitter.com/Khushal_Khattak/status/1605183889273675777

[11] https://www.dawn.com/news/1727482/are-law-enforcers-ready-for-resurgent-militant-threats-in-kp

[12] https://www.dawn.com/news/1727245