Terrorism spectre raises its ugly head again
Terrorism is once again rearing its ugly head. After the bomb blast in Quetta on October 25, 2020, a second terrorist bomb attack has occurred in a mosque in Peshawar where students from a nearby madrassa were attending a class by Sheikh Rahimuddin Haqqani, an Afghan cleric originally from Jalalabad. Interestingly, the security agencies had warned recently of a resurgence of such attacks. However, that was a general warning, not a specific one regarding particular targets. In this latest attack, eight students were killed and around 120 wounded. Haqqani escaped safely by being protected by his young charges. This attack is believed to have been targeting him. In 2016 he escaped a gun attack. The device was planted in a bag and carried a sophisticated timer. This has led security sources to speculate that the bomb, either a military grade explosive or TNT laced with a heavy quantity of pellets, did not carry the signature of the usual suspects, i.e. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or its affiliated groups. Instead, this line of thinking argued, it could be the work of a well trained, organised new group. Only after investigations will it perhaps be possible to ascribe blame, although the TTP has already denied responsibility. However, while this should be taken with a pinch of salt, there are other groups working on an agenda inimical to Pakistan. These include the Islamic State (IS), but one cannot rule out older terrorist groups mutating into new ones. Sheikh Rahimuddin Haqqani has also reportedly been in heated exchanges for the last three weeks with another cleric, during which charges of blasphemy have been hurled by both sides. If there is any connection with the blast in Peshawar, investigations should be able to dig it out. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had reportedly carried out a survey to identify Afghan clerics teaching at madrassas or mosques with a view to their removal, but the effort proved stillborn.
The apparent resurgence of terrorist activities within five years of the massive military operations against terrorists of the TTP and others proves the wisdom of the caution at the time that the hydra-headed monster of terrorism had merely been ‘exported’, not completely scotched, when the terrorists, unable to withstand the military’s pressure, relocated to Afghan soil just across the border. Sleeper cells left behind in Pakistan, infiltration of terrorists from across the border and firing incidents across it had the potential to once again awaken the phenomenon that had made Pakistanis’ life hell in the past. The current spate of terrorist actions confirms the above view. Unfortunately, as is our habit, we get swayed all too quickly at any sign of progress against terrorism, a triumphalism that may be premature and have the added effect of inducing complacency, even if the normal effects of inertia over time do not kick in. The military operations in erstwhile FATA were to have been followed up by intelligence-led counter-terrorism campaigns against these forces according to the National Action Plan. The resurgence of terror attacks suggests this task was not carried out with the efficiency and despatch it required. The National Counter Terrorism Authority was mooted as the apex coordinating institution for this effort, but remains in limbo and for all intents and purposes dead in the water. Military and civilian intelligence agencies nevertheless need to overcome the habitual reluctance of such agencies to share their data or information even with sister organisations and develop a central data base regarding the old and possible new threats from terrorist organisations. This is a task whose urgency can no longer be denied by sticking our collective necks ostrich-like in the sand. The sooner the government and all security agencies buckle down to this imperative the better.
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