‘Some countries bracketing Da’ish with homegrown terrorists’

Balochistan govt spokesman says the Middle Eastern group has no presence in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Da’ish has no operational set-up in Balochistan, a provincial government spokesman has said, adding that some countries are trying to bracket ‘homegrown’ militants outfits with the ultra-radical Middle Eastern group for their own nefarious ends.

“Da’ish neither has physical presence nor the operational capability to carry out terrorist attacks in Balochistan,” Anwarul Haq Kakar told The Express Tribune. “Thanks to the successes of Pakistan’s military and security forces in Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the group has not been able to make inroads into Balochistan or the country as a whole,” he said.



According to him, Pakistani forces crushed attempts by Da’ish – which styles itself the Islamic State – to penetrate the country during the course of the operation in the tribal areas.

Kakar said some countries, India in particular, were trying lump Da’ish with other homegrown terrorist groups as part of their intrigues against Pakistan. “India is using Da’ish as a proxy against Pakistan. For that reason, Indian media has been trying to portray Da’ish as an operational militant group in Balochistan,” he said.

The spokesman added that while Da’ish is active in Afghanistan, it did not have to capacity to carry out attacks in Balochistan from its bases in the neighbouring country’s Nangarhar province. Kakar rubbished Da’ish claims of carrying out the Quetta police academy attack which left 62 soldiers dead earlier this week.

It was the second time the ultra-extremist group’s name was associated with a terrorist attack in the province. Two other terrorist outfits – Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the hitherto unknown Tehreek-e-Taliban Karachi – claimed responsibility for the attack as well.

Da’ish had previously claimed responsibility for the August 8 Quetta Civil Hospital attack, which claimed the lives of more than 70 people, most of them members of the provincial capital’s legal fraternity. Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also claimed credit for the grisly suicide bombing.

Kakar said provincial authorities had reasons to believe the police academy attack was carried out by LeJ al Aalmi. “However, as part of a premeditated ploy by India, Da’ish also claimed it was responsible for the massacre,” he added. “Like some other terrorist groups, India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has cultivated Da’ish presence in Afghanistan to pursue its nefarious designs in Balochistan.”

Vice president of the opposition Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Sajid Tareen Advocate, also blamed the police academy attack on homegrown terrorist groups. At the same time, however, he also held the provincial government responsible for failing to eliminate the militants.

“Many of the 61 home-based terrorist groups, which were outlawed by the government, are now active under new names,” Sajid argued. He said the government’s ineffective policies had emboldened militant outfits like LeJ.



Although former interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao also doubted Da’ish was directly involved in Monday’s police academy massacre, the founder of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa based Qaumi Watan Party said the group could have ‘outsourced’ the attack to LeJ in a bid to show its presence in Pakistan.

“Collaboration among all militant groups which have claimed responsibility for the attack cannot be ruled out,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2016.