ISLAMABAD: The resurgence of banned terrorist and insurgent groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in the western parts of Pakistan is alarming and poses significant threat to the strategic assets of the country.

There exists well-structured cooperation between terrorist and insurgent groups, which needs to be dealt with a different approach other than usual methods of tackling terrorism.

Speakers expressed these views in a policy dialogue organised by Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank. The discussion was part of a study titled, “Emerging Security Situation and its Impacts on CPEC.”

Experts belonging to security affairs, media and regional studies taking part in the talk delved into diverse patterns in relation to resurfacing of terrorism in the country and its possible impacts on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)’s former national coordinator Ihsan Ghani said there was very weak coordination between the central and provincial governments regarding information sharing and responsibilities for countering security threats, more specifically in the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). “Secondly, there is a lack of strong political narrative against terrorism on the state level, which made terrorism able to resurface after being crushed during Operation Zarb-e-Azb,” he said.

Ghani, also a former police officer, went on to say that the state is not putting the required efforts to counter the threats posed by terrorism. “The problem in Pakistan is not its policies, but these remain unimplemented,” he said. He concluded that people of Balochistan were facing the problem of perceived identity threat, and the approach needed to end terrorism could not be applied in the case of insurgent groups like BLA. “Dealing with the insurgent groups needs a different set of tools which should be deployed separately,” he added.

Xu Hangtian, the Minister-Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, reiterated the support for Pakistan’s national security and determination for completion of CPEC despite the changing geopolitical scenarios. He also emphasised public diplomacy and bilateral and regional cooperation to bring peace to the region, consequently securing completion of the corridor project.

Journalist and author Zahid Hussain said there was a deep and decentralised support to the proscribed TTP by the Afghan Taliban, especially by the outlawed Haqqani Network. “There also exists a well-structured cooperation between terrorist and insurgent groups in the likes of TTP and BLA,” he said, noting it might be possible that Afghan Taliban are the facilitators of this cooperation. “Terrorism needs to be fought directly by the civilian apparatus, while it requires continuous engagement from the state to deal with insurgency,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024