The banned group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to reports citing a Pakistan newspaper, has killed close to 400 soldiers, police officers, and paramilitary Rangers in the past 10 years as terrorism spreads its tentacles from Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal regions into the nation’s Punjab heartland and other provinces.
The data shared in reports only apply to high-security locations like military and law enforcement facilities. According to reports, the statistics shared do not apply to other public areas. The number of injured civilians is significantly higher. Mosques, Churches, and other houses of worship are not considered, including those used by Ahmadiyas, a minority of Muslims in Pakistan who have been classified as non-Muslims by the Constitution.
In a ten-year timeline of 2013-2023 published by a Pakistani newspaper, the 174 individuals killed in the TTP attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2016, the majority of whom were children, are not included.
The report suggests that there is no chronology given for Pakistan’s official assertion that 84,000 people have died as a result of terrorism. According to security specialists, the majority of terrorist organisations are linked to Al Qaida or the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).
The ten-year timeline from 2013 to 2023 excludes killings committed by more well-known Sunni extremist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba, and many others. These groups have operated under a variety of names and frequently changed them after becoming illegal, according to reports.
Political analysts claim that right-wing mainstream political parties maintain close contact with terrorist organisations and employ their cadres, particularly during election seasons. Reports claimed that former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been a vocal votary of holding a dialogue with the militants. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had allegedly dubbed him “Taliban Khan.” But Musharraf was also accused of using the TTP. Two different probes indicated his role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to reports.
Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, which resulted in the deaths of 100 people, predominantly female Madrassa students is credited with giving rise to the TTP. According to the research, it became widely known and developed ties with the Afghan Taliban.
Later, the Pakistan govt refused to abide by TTP’s requirement, as a result, the TTP unilaterally ended the truce in Decemebr 2012 and once more in November 2022. It sought the cancellation of the merger of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
According to reports, in the most recent development, retired Lt Gen. Faiz Hamid, the former head of the ISI, has been accused of pressing this action by Khan’s PTI party and a minister for the current prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The report said that a gap developed between Khan and Bajwa as a result of Hamid’s management of the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. When Bajwa became “neutral,” Khan lost control. As a result, the TTP is now at the centre of the ongoing brawl between the army and parliamentarians as well as between political parties.
A report in a Pakistani newspaper read that it has come to pass that the prediction that the TTP juggernaut would leave the tribal regions and spread devastation in the rest of the country was accurate.