Daily Times

In April 2022, Shari Baloch, a suicide bomber, killed three Chinese language teachers and a Pakistani driver inside the premises of Karachi University. Shari’s educated parents claimed ignorance, but her dentist husband initially expressed pride over his late wife’s actions on Twitter. However, after being arrested by the authorities, he changed his stance and declared her mentally ill. Shari’s profile defied the stereotype of suicide bombers. She was a middle-class, educated, happily married mother of two young children, and a former teacher aspiring for a postgraduate degree. Shari was not a destitute, brainwashed, illiterate teenage boy from some village. She was a resident of Karachi. This incident compelled me to study the phenomenon of terrorism.

An eminent American academic and political scientist, Robert Pape, turned on the lights for me. His notable body of work encompasses militancy and warfare, showing that there is a method to the madness.

Pape created a comprehensive database of a total of 315 instances of suicide terrorist attacks in the world that occurred from 1980 until 2010. This study was the basis for his book, “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.” Pape explained that suicide terrorism can be traced back in history to the ancient Jewish Zealots revolting against Roman occupation in A.D. 66. He also covers the Japanese kamikaze pilots in World War II. Finally, Pape’s findings concluded that the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization, were responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other group in history.

Pape’s groundbreaking work countered the narrative that the western media was peddling, which branded suicide terrorism as a phenomenon unique to the Islamic world and Muslims. Unfortunately, Pape’s work did not receive due attention and praise, in the Islamic world due to our self-induced intellectual comma.

On the face of it, all old and new versions of the Taliban from both sides of the border seem like an ungovernable people and an irredeemable menace. No treaty or agreement can sustain peace in the region.

Pape says in his book that “nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is rarely the root cause, although it is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in other efforts in service of the broader strategic objective.”

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) used Shari Baloch’s patriotic sentiments to further its political goals.

Similar to Bangladesh in 1971, Balochistan requires a political solution of appeasement and inclusion. The Pakistani state must not repeat its mistake. This can effectively curb militant recruitment, depriving the foreign masterminds of crucial local support.

Be it the BLA in Balochistan hiding behind the slogan of patriotism, or the TLP or TTP masquerading as religious parties, their leaders are sociopathic, power-hungry men who seek economic gains.

This explains the curious case of Afghanistan, where the broader strategic objective outlined by Pape has been achieved. The war-ravaged country has been liberated from American occupation, by the indigenous Taliban. In 2021, the Taliban met no resistance in their advance towards Kabul to reclaim their country from American forces, and they have been ruling Afghanistan ever since. Ideally, this should lead to peace because the foreign occupation has ended. However, the Tahreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is unleashing terrorism on Pakistani soil by taking refuge in Afghanistan. The TTP is launching lethal attacks on the Pakistani police and military.

Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, chief of the TTP, is demanding the reversal of the FATA merger as he is seeking free movement between the Afghan-Pakistan border to make the 1884 Durand Line irrelevant – because it keeps him relevant.

On the face of it, all old and new versions of the Taliban from both sides of the border seem like an ungovernable people and an irredeemable menace. No treaty or agreement can sustain peace in the region.

The Pakistani military has paid a tremendous price to maintain Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty. Terrorism must end. It’s time to shift gears and think outside the box to achieve that goal.

In 2007, General Musharraf made a huge blunder during the Red Mosque siege in Islamabad while negotiating with the TLP, led by burqa-donning cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother. The state erroneously negotiated with these two brothers from a religious frame of reference. This is why Imam Kaba was invited to convince them, however, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

It must be understood that the TTP, TLP and other such outfits are not religious parties. They only masquerade as such. They are political parties and their ambitions are very worldly. Their goals and the means they used to achieve them were very political, unscrupulous, and often devoid of humanity. To Maulana Abdul Aziz and Moulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, the Imam e Kaba’s Islamic message meant nothing. The TLP was jockeying for power and using women and children as human shields to achieve this end. They recruited young impressionable boys from KPK to create their militia.

The present TTP incitement of violence in the erstwhile FATA is similar to resistance from tyrants dethroned by the inclusion of the area under the Pakistani state’s legal and physical control. The mufti status is only a smoke screen to confuse and misguide. These hollow demands for a shariah law state in FATA are only a cover for the true goal of a tyrant to rule a primitive and lawless state.

Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud’s TTP footprint is ironically similar to that of the long-standing IRA in Ireland. The Catholic Ireland-Protestant England faultline was Christian sectarian but was truly about the control of resources. TTP’s faultline is also posited as a pious Islamic one with their demand for a Shariah state, but it is truly about power and the control of resources. Mehsud’s political ideology is evident from the title of his book, “Inquilaab Mehsud South Waziristan: Farangi Raj se Ameriki Samraj tak.”

Countering this religiously masked political ideology requires demystifying the terrorism equation. Identifying the various players, understanding the power dynamics and most importantly figuring out their vulnerabilities are needed to formulate a winning strategy. This was successfully done in Ireland to render the IRA irrelevant and dismantled.

We need studies along the lines of Robert Pape’s seminal work on the ongoing threat of political violence in the US, initiated on Jan 6, 2021. We can employ seasoned journalists and intelligence operatives to configure this.

By covertly manipulating militant groups, the Pakistani state can successfully establish its writ. Imam Kaba’s Quranic teachings will not convince those who mastermind terrorism. We must also not ask for more supreme sacrifices from our valiant military men. The Pakistani state needs to scheme and plot. We must borrow cunning wisdom from the Italian Niccolo Machiavelli and the American Robert Greene. The Indian Chanakya’s classic treatise on the science of material gain will be invaluable to thinking like the terrorist masterminds. The famed British author William Dalrymple’s writings on the British empire, clue us into how they were able to subvert the various Nawabs and Maharajas of the enormously wealthy, powerful and sophisticated Mughal India.

Terrorism can be defeated.

There was a time when Europe was stuck in the dark ages with never-ending wars and a barbaric state of existence. In 1095 Pope Urban II found a way out of this quagmire. He brilliantly changed the course of European history by ending internecine tribal warfare and endless violence by rallying all the barbaric warlords to venture out for the crusades. The cause – although religiously motivated – appealed to the warring warlords fighting for dominance because it promised power and financial gains.

Afghanistan and Pakistan both desperately need economic assistance. Ending terrorism can enable the two states to benefit from the global energy trade. This is the silver lining in the dark cloud above us.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com