Under pressure from the world leaders, Pakistan and India agreed to initiate the process of negotiations for the resolution of all the issues including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Wajpai decided to attend the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) Summit held in Islamabad in 2004. During his stay in Islamabad, the two leaders agreed to start the process of composite dialogue. The apparent thaw in bilateral relations between the two countries did not go well with the Mujahidin of the banned groups. They turned against the state of Pakistan. The militants from these groups joined hands with the TTP challenging the writ of the state. However, Jaish-e-Mohammad of Azhar Masood and Jamaat u Dawa remained loyal to the state.
The Army launched yet another operation – Rah-e-Rast – against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in 2009 to rid the settled regions of the country including the scenic valley of Swat of the militants. The operation was a tremendous success. However, the civilian government was sluggish in extending its writ through good governance and effective policing. While this battle was ongoing in Swat and tribal agencies, the TTP was courting militant Islamists including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the Punjab and creating its sleeper cells in the big cities of Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. The security situation in Karachi had been rendered rife for the penetration of the Taliban by the violent infighting between the militant wings of different political parties indulging in kidnapping, torturing and killing each other. The Lashkar Jhangvi was intruding in Balochistan and the bordering districts of Sindh with the help of Salafi political Islamists creating Ramzan Mengal and the Shafiq Mengal groups.
There was greater hike in the attacks on Hazara Shias and Shia pilgrims travelling by road to Iran. The Shafiq Mengal group remained in the good books of the security forces for some years to fight against the Baloch insurgents. They generated their own funds by kidnapping for ransom. These groups found their sympathizers and facilitators in Jacobabad and Shikarpur districts of Sindh. The militant attacks in these districts were claimed by Lashkar Jhangvi or its affiliate Ramzan Mengal group. The later addition to these militant groups were the IS Khorasan and its affiliate Jamaat-al-Ahrar which claimed the terrorist attacks in Quetta and Lahore. IS Khorasan is an offshoot of the Daesh which claims to have established itself in 20 Muslim countries of Asia and the Middle East.
This is how the cobweb of terrorism was weaved, expanded and spread to all the four provinces of the country.With the appointment of General Raheel Sharif as the Army Chief, the third operation, Zarb-e-Azb was launched in the country in 2014. Despite our pleadings, the Afghan regime allowed the TTP to cross the border to have sanctuaries in the border districts of Afghanistan. The terrorist attack on the Army Public School in December that year forced the political leaders to adopt the military sponsored National Action Plan (NAP). While the Army successfully carried out the operation against the militants, destroyed their nerve center and flushed them out of the South and North Waziristan, the civilian governments failed to implement the 20-point NAP, even its main points relating to the establishment of the National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA); the reforms of Judiciary and Madressahs; the monitoring of the terrorist designated elements of the banned organizations under the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorist Act and the revival of the Military Courts.
Our new generation was growing in an environment of fear and violence with complex psychological problems. The political class was immobilized by their narrow political and self-serving interests
During his three-year tenure, General Raheel remained on constant move reaching out to the combating troops, visiting the scenes of terrorist attacks and sympathizing with the victims of terrorism. He seemed to be leading the war on terrorism as well as the government. His person and clout as a ruthless commander was a great deterrent to the terrorists. After the terrorist attacks in Lahore, he wanted to do surgical operations in certain districts of Punjab also. The federal as well as the provincial governments of Sharif brothers resisted his plan. Since he was approaching the end of his tenure, he compromised on this critical operation leaving his task half done. This must be the biggest regret of his career. After his exit, the terrorists struck back in Lahore and Sehwan bringing back the specter of blood, gore and mayhem. This brought us to the fourth ongoing operation, Raad ul Fasad, under General Qamar Javed Bajwa who maintained the tempo of our fight against terrorism.
Offence alone never wins. We need a holistic approach to eliminate terrorism. All the instruments of power of the state have to play their assigned role. Political expediencies marred the earlier counterterrorism operations. The country should come first in our considerations. The state was bruised and the country battered and the ordinary citizens frightened. Our new generation was growing in an environment of fear and violence with complex psychological problems. The political class was immobilized by their narrow political and self-serving interests. They were failing in their duty to the country and to the nation, unfortunately. This did not deter General Bajwa to take head on the terrorists.
The Musharraf regime failed to carry out the Madressahs reforms though he had the international backing. He compromised to defer them under pressure from the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal ruling the terrorist KPK. The successive PPP and ML Governments proved gutless to do the job. The Ulema are not willing to change the curriculum of their Madressahs. They are ready to resist any move for the reform of the Madressahs. The current judicial system does not cater to the pressing need for the speedy trial of terrorists. The judges and witnesses come under greater security threat. In-camera trial of terrorists could have been one answer. However, the witnesses remain too scared to come forward to make depositions against militants even in the in-camera trials. This made it imperative to create military courts for speedy trial of terrorists to bring them to justice.
To be concluded
The writer was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books