TTP threat
Pakistan faces an existential threat from terror actors, and the apathy is that the world is a silent spectator. Islamabad has time and again brought to the fore the exigency of taking out TTP terrorists, and their compatriots who are holed in Afghanistan and Pakistan and are at impunity to carry out their nefarious activities. Lately, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has warned the Security Council that the dreaded organisation is a "serious threat of terrorism within and from Afghanistan", and possesses the potential of causing regional destabilisation. These words should not fall on deaf ears and an instant stock-taking is desired along with a plan of action to work for serenity in the region and beyond.
Pakistan's envoy did some plain-talking as he went on to categorically state that the revulsion is backed by Kabul as the Afghan Interim Government looks the other way. The Taliban 2.0 have been a failure in working with Islamabad as they have come up with excuses and denials of their own, apparently passing the buck by refusing to take responsibility for the mess underway. Kabul should, at least, account for the spike in terrorism in Pakistan since 2021 when it thronged to power, and see to it that the mushrooming of non-state actors on its soil is one of the prime reasons behind the surge in bloodshed and mayhem.
The outlawed TTP had also staked its claim for attacks on Pakistan's security forces, as well on Chinese personnel, apart from fragmenting the society on sectarian and parochial lines. While the mastermind and operative logistics of TTP are inside Afghanistan, it is a grim reminder that Kabul has not kept its word of screening such elements, and its territory is being used against neighbouring countries. Last but not least, Afghan Taliban leadership must reflect on the bitter fact that it is these disgruntled elements that had kept Afghanistan in the abyss of lawlessness for decades, and appeasing their regrouping for political incentives will cast a collective threat to the region.