Plain words at last

It has taken DG IB to finally give the politicians a salutary reality check regarding the presence of IS in Pakistan

It has taken the Director General of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Aftab Sultan, to finally give the nation’s politicians a salutary reality check regarding the presence of the Islamic State (IS) in Pakistan. This newspaper, along with a range of other media outlets and platforms, has been sending out alarm signals for over a year. There are well-sourced and researched reports on IS penetration in the country. Time and again, those reports have been rubbished by senior politicians, some of them fond of making ludicrous statements to the effect that “not even the shadow” of the IS would be tolerated on the soil of Pakistan. The Senate Standing Committee on Interior was informed on February 10 by Mr Sultan that the IS was emerging as a threat within the country, and that it had linkages with the banned groups Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba to name but two, though there are others. He said that these organisations had “a soft corner” for the IS and its ideology. The IB has broken up an IS network in Punjab — no surprise given the presence of extremist groups leading untroubled lives there — and Mr Sultan pointed out, as have innumerable analysts and knowledgeable observers, that terrorist groups are “reorganising”. Indeed they are.

This briefing for the Senate Standing Committee should finally and conclusively draw a line under the serial denials of reality by politicians whose motives for doing so in the light of this information appear at least suspect. Foot-dragging and denial have created a space into which the IS has flowed, doubtless grateful at the opportunity it has been provided. It has proceeded to do what it does best — exploit local weaknesses in terms of countervailing activity and connect to the plug-and-play mass of unfocused but latent extremism across the country and pressed the ‘send’ button. Its message has been received and understood from Khyber to Karachi and all points between. Interestingly, Mr Sultan squashed another popular myth, namely that it was “foreign hands” behind the majority of terrorist attacks. Not so said Mr Sultan, the majority are home grown and emanate from the tribal areas. Whether our tin-eared Interior Ministry heard any of this, never mind understood it, remains an open question.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.