Terrorism in Pakistan

A Global Review:

            Terrorism has become a global phenomenon. Though, the world “Terror” was first pronounced in 1793-94 in “French Revolution”. That was the period of violence incited by conflict between two rival political factions. However the terrorism later spread throughout the world with different motives.

            Within Europe in 2015, a total of 211 completed, failed or foiled terrorist attacks were reported by EU states, resulting in 151 fatalities (out of which 148 were in France) and over 360 people injured. As in previous year, separatist attacks account for the largest proportion (65) followed by Jihadists attacks (17).

            In Pakistan there are thousands of reported terrorist attacks since 2006, in which some were intensively deadliest. E.g. According to Pak Institute for Peace Study, In 2006 657 terrorist attacks were reported, out of which 41 were sectarian nature and resultantly 907 people lost their lives and 1543 injured; in 2007, 1503 attacks were reported with 3448 casualties; in 2008, 2148 terrorist attacks were reported with 2267 casualties and so on. In the current year Pakistan faced numerous terrorist attacks including, Quetta Suicide bombing, Bacha Khan University Attack, Police Training College Attack etc.

Terrorist Groups/Organizations:

      Out of all the terrorist groups operating in various ill-fated concerns of the world, following are the most lethal ones.

(1)  Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP):

            This is the most active terrorist group in Pakistan and form a part of various Islamist groups that are active in Afghan border in Pakistan. Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) claims that TTP is operated from Afghanistan and funded by Indian Intelligence Agency RAW. The objective of this group is to overthrowing Pakistani government to destabilize the nation to rule over it and battling with NATO force to enforce the so-called Sharia Law in Pakistan.

(2)  ISIS:

            The “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” is Sunni Muslim Jihadist groups based in the Middle East with the objective to mobilize the majority of Muslim population under its control. Due to their terrorism activities and inhuman treatment with civilians U.S, U.K Germany, Russia and many other countries have started operations to control this group. However, relatively their power has been curbed noticeably.  

(3)  Al Qaeda:

            This militant groups was founded by well known terrorist "Osama Bin Laden” with the objective to unit all the Muslims across the world in order to global Jihad and strict implementation of Sharia. This militant organization is considered to be the deadliest out of all the terrorist organizations.  Al-Qaeda played a significant role in 9/11 attack in America. However, after the death of Bin Laden this group is not active to a great extent as compare to before.

(4)  Boko Haram:

            It is a militant Islamist groups of Nigeria and it is believed that this groups is funded by Al-Qaeda. The motive of this groups is to resist western education and practices as the name “Boko Haram” means “Western Education is Sin”. They have been reportedly involved in numerous terrorist activities included attacks on UN headquarter in Abuja in 2011.

Motives/Objective of Terrorism:

            Different militant organizations hold different objectives. However, broadly all the objectives revolve around two major concerns.

(1)  Political Objective:

            One of the most common objectives of the militants is gaining political power and ruling over states. Their objective is to rule over the world and for this they create anarchic situations in target countries and then it becomes very easy for them to invade.

(2)  Religious Objectives:

            Other than political, the groups are also formed with religious motives. They are aimed to set Islam as compulsory religion and fight with the Non-Muslims. Howsoever, Islam doesn’t allow Muslims to fight with peaceful Non-Muslim, but militant doesn’t follow the right teachings of Islam. They even don’t the rules of war given by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

             An American journalist “Didier Francois” once escaped from imprisonment of terrorist groups (ISIS) and when he was asked, if terrorists reflect Islam? “They didn’t even have Quran”, he said. 

            Within the religious perspective, sectarian terrorism is another objective of militants to curb the power/control of other Muslims sects with the intensions of “divide and rule” strategy. Pakistan has been victimized of this kind of terrorism for so long. E.g. Shia-Sunni Conflicts.

Causes of Terrorism:

(1)  Weak Economy:

            The first and foremost important reason of terrorism is weak economic condition of country. A weak economy is easily attacked by the militant groups and this leads to other secondary causes of terrorism. For instance, in a weak economy the unemployment rate is greater, so the one in need of money can easily be exploited by militants.

(2)  Sectarian Issues:

            Another important cause prevailing terrorism in Pakistan is sect conflicts which make them divided and spread hatred among sectarian groups. This situation is kind of invitation for militant groups to exploit and create an anarchic condition.

(3)  Education and Poverty:

            Education is the thing that makes a man capable to differentiate the good and the evil. Education and knowledge is necessary, otherwise it helps militants in their brainwashing process. This is the reason that militant groups train teenagers for their operation/attacks because they have less or no knowledge and/or education and are incapable of understanding what is right and wrong.

            Poverty is as deadliest as terrorism. This leads to numerous crimes. So the poor are very easy targets of terrorists to be hired for their evil operations.

(4)  Ethnicity and Provincialism:

            This is another root cause of terrorism in Pakistan where people have been divided according to ethnicity and provinces, and hatred has been spread among them. This division diminishes the spirit of nationalism and escalates the provincialism where people go for their personal/provincial interests rather than for national interests.

(5)  Political Instability:

            Political Instability is a current scenario of Pakistan where the public is divided into different political groups and animosity prevails.

Sponsors of Terrorism:     

            It is an established fact that India and Afghanistan are two major states that sponsor the terrorism (in Pakistan). Indian Agency RAW was found involved in numerous terrorist activities in Pakistan. A few months ago the India spy “Kalbhushan Yadhav” was captured by Pak Army and he publically admitted the involvement of RAW in terrorism activities and Baluchistan Liberation Movement. In same manners the footprints of Afghanistan were found in different terrorist attacks like Army Public School Attack.

Effects of Terrorism:

           (i)             Terrorism discourages Foreign Direct Investments, and discontinues economic growth.

(ii)          Terrorism weakens the economic condition.

(iii)        Political instability.

(iv)        Terrorism discourages tourism which is the prime source of foreign exchange.

Pakistan’s Policy:

            Pakistan has taken strict actions against terrorism. The collaborative plan of government and Pak Army has been implemented in the form of Zarb-e-Azab and Karachi Operation. However such operations are planned to be conducted throughout the country to eliminate the every single terrorist element from Pakistan.

            National Action Plan is also designed in which strict rules and laws have been passed against terrorists. Military Courts is one out of 20 sections of National Action Plan.

Reforms:

(i)                Make economy strong.

(ii)             Effectively implement National Action Plan.

(iii)           Perform Military Operation in all provinces.

(iv)           Improve criminal justice system.

(v)              Improve government-opposition relations.