Bannu siege, proxy terrorism & politicisation of security issues

December one of the bloodiest months since Pakistan got embroiled in the anti-terror war over two decades ago

As the year draws to a close, terrorist violence has once again shaken parts of Pakistan’s northwestern territories. The stand-off around the counter-terrorism department (CTD) building in Bannu Cantonment was the latest of the brazen attack on security forces. It took over 60 hours and five precious lives to end the siege and hostage-taking by dangerous TTP detainees at the centre that had begun on December 18.

The incident was reminiscent of the raid and eventual occupation for over 24 hours of a wing of the heart of Pakistan’s military establishment i.e. General Headquarters (GHQ) on October 10, 2009. Then, some 10 gunmen in military uniforms had barged into a wing of GHQ, killed nine soldiers, including a brigadier and a colonel, and took several others hostage. The army eventually launched the Operation Janbaz to terminate the siege and rescue hostages.

Also on December 18 and 19 terrorists had raided a police stations military interests in Lakki Marwat near Bannu, North, South Waziristan, where dozens of TTP militants raided a police station, beat up police officials and took away all the weapons with a warning that all local officials leave the police job sooner than later.

This makes the month of December one of the bloodiest since Pakistan got embroiled in the anti-terror war over two decades ago. As a whole, the year has been quite bloody for the police in the K-P province with a loss of at least 116 personnel in about 155 attacks so far.

As usual, in a shocking response, PML-N Defence Minister Khawaja Asif quickly blamed the CTD seizure on the inefficiency and complacency of the provincial government.

In his contempt for the ruling PTI, the minister politicised the issue, disregarding that nearly all stakeholders, led by the military and intelligence agencies, are responsible for CTDs. The minister also glossed over the fact that the CTD in K-P has been the best among the four provincial CTDs along with the army in the anti-terror war.

Shocking, however, was the fact that the Bannu CTD is located inside the Cantonment in a rented building. It begets the question as to why terrorists categorised as “dangerous” are held in makeshift facilities inside residential areas at all?

In the eye of the storm — Bannu region: All the latest incidents denote an alarming trend; the entire Bannu Division finds itself in the eye of the storm i.e. the axis that connects Bannu with Thal and Parachinar (Bajaur) in the north, and Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan in the south is in the grip of a new wave of terrorist violence.

The other axis that runs along the border to Afghanistan is Parachinar (Bajaur) in the North, down to Miranshah (North Waziristan) and Wana (South Waziristan). These Pakistani territories overlook Afghanistan’s Greater Paktia region including Ningarhar, Paktiam Paktika, Khost as well as Logar and Gardez.

The pattern of all these attacks centred on the key greater Bannu regions, clearly pointing to the axis that runs along the border to Afghanistan i.e. this violence emanates from across the border or being pushed by people sitting pretty on the afghan soil, insist Pakistani officials.

Who is stoking violence?: Only a day before the TTP attack on the CTD and the Bargi Police Station in Lakki Marwat, TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud, currently in the safety of Kabul under Taliban, had told CNN that his group was not using the Afghan soil for attacks inside Pakistan — a strange argument indeed. All that the TTP is doing to pursue its interests is happening on the Pakistani soil, he argued.

And Noor Mehsud followed this up with an audio call (On December 20) to his “mujahideen” who were holding the CTD building, not to surrender.

Coincidentally, as the violence raged through the Bannu region, the Centcom Chief General Michael E Kurilla visited Pakistan around the same timeframe ( December 16-17), two weeks after the US State Department had designated four al-Qaeda sub-continent and TTP fighters as global terrorists. He promised “all possible support” to Pakistan in dealing with TTP during the visit.

One logical question bothering many minds is who else — beside Noor Wali Mehsud — would count as the mastermind, facilitator and perpetrator of these terror strikes? Is it Haifz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Sadiq Noor, who once lorded huge swathes of North Waziristan and are now presumably living in safe havens somewhere in eastern Afghanistan? Are they guiding this wave of terror in league with various terror franchises — TTP, Ahrarul-Hind, Daesh or ISKP?

Motives?: The TTP wants to slice off the border region for a dream Caliphate. It also wants the Pakistani army to leave the border territories — demands that constitute red lines for the government. Does this mean the TTP mission is to continue sowing terror and instability in the country? If so, why? Does it really hope to achieve its stated goals or is the hidden goal a destabilisation campaign that keeps Pakistan on tenterhooks, runs it down economically and discourages any investment whatsoever. Or is it pure proxy terrorism — flourishing under the nose of the Afghan Taliban — to stall CPEC?

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2022.

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