Akbar Jan Marwat
ONE would have hoped that terrorist and militant acts in the region would have subsided during the outbreak of Covid-19. But the opposite seems to be happening. Some major militant attacks, the most despicable one being on a maternity hospital in a Shia neighbourhood in Kabul, Afghanistan took place. In Pakistan also, attacks on security forces in tribal and border regions during the last few days took place with some regularity. Attacks in Balochistan on the security forces by Balochi separatists and especially near the Pak-Iran border in the last few days and weeks have also transpired. This compelled General Bajwa to speak about the matter to his Iranian counterpart. The attacks in Afghanistan were, however, of much greater intensity and taking a much greater human toll than those that took place in Pakistan.
Lets focus on Afghanistan first: It was generally believed that with the Doha peace agreement signed between the Afghan Taliban and US, the intensity and frequency of violent attacks would decrease considerably. But the initial dithering by the Afghan government, on the question of prisoners’ release, led to an intensification of attacks by the Taliban. The Taliban openly declared that as the Afghan Government was not fulfilling the terms of the Doha peace deal, so the Taliban were justified in attacking Afghan forces. The Taliban even rejected the cease-fire offer of the Afghan Government because of the advent of Ramazan and the outbreak of Covid – 19 Pandemic.
Hard core terrorist groups like Islamic State also took advantage of the murky situation in Afghanistan and caused same horrific damage in terms of human lives. The most depraved terrorist attack made by IS was on the Kabul maternity hospital on 12 May. The gory incident in which mothers and newborn babies were slaughtered was truly horrific and was rightly called a ‘war crime’ by the Human Rights Watch. The bestiality was followed by an independent attack on the funeral procession in Ningrahar, which further killed thirty-two more individuals. There has also been strong evidence of IS’s earlier attacks on a Sikh Gurdwara and a Shia Imambargah which also took many human lives.
There is strong animosity between the IS and the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban have even given an assurance to the Americans that they would not let IS or any other terrorist group to operate from its soil. The Taliban seems sincere in the opposition to the IS. In recent clashes with the IS the Taliban have driven them out of their strongholds in Kunar and Nangrahar provinces. In spite of this clear adversity between the Taliban and the Islamic State, the fact is that terrorist and militant groups operate best in anarchic situations and it became very difficult for both the Taliban and the Afghan government to check the nefarious designs of such rouge groups. President Ghani even alluded to the possibility of the Taliban and the IS acting hand in glove.
The Afghan Taliban’s raison de etre for attacks on the Afghan forces is the Afghan government’s delaying tactics in terms of peace agreement between Taliban and the US. According to the Taliban only when the conditions of an agreement are met, will the possibility of progress on direct peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government begin. Till such time the Taliban feel that they have to be on the offensive, to keep their ascendancy on the battlefield.
Only the other day, a car bomb attack on Afghan intelligence institution in Ghazni province killed seven individuals. The Taliban accepted the attack, while at the same time asked the Afghan Government to expedite the prisoner swap, to pave the way for peace talks. The bombing came only a day after Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah inked a peace agreement, a development which should in principle aid the intra-Afghan peace process. The Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin, however, tweeted: “That which is taking place in Kabul is only a repetition of the past failed experience, Afghan sides should focus on real and sincere solutions to the issue”. In response to Taliban Persistent attacks, Afghan President Ghani ordered security forces to switch to an “offensive” position against the militants. The violence in Afghanistan thus seems to be ascending before it decreases.
In Pakistan also, acts of militancy and terrorism seems to have increased in the last couple of months. Only the other day in a cowardly attack, seven troops including a commissioned officer were martyred in Balochistan. The incident took place in Bolan district, when an improvised explosive device went off near the vehicle in which the FC personal were travelling. Earlier this month another batch of troops were attacked near Iran’s border killing six soldiers including an army major. The various Baluch separatist groups most probably carried out these attack. The recently merged tribal districts of the KP have also been security hot spots for the last couple of months. There are concerns that certain elements of erstwhile TTP are increasing their presence in these ex-tribal districts especially North and South Waziristan. Militant attacks on security forces have been reported from areas close to Pak-Afghan border, such as Datta Khel. Militants from TTP and Jamatul Ahrar seem to be trying to regroup in their towns of origin in Bajore and Orakzai districts.
There are also reports that some militants may be working on a sort of amnesty from the government, according to which the militants would forego militancy and lead quiet life in these areas. There are reports of local opposition towards such amnesty, as it is thought that it would be impossible for these militant groups to reintegrate into the society. There are also voices for giving some sort of pardon to the Baloch insurgents also, whose insurgency seems to be on the wane, their latest attacks on the security forces not withstanding. The UN has also called for a ceasefire in all the conflict zones during the pandemic. Violence is a double-edged weapon, which is detrimental for both the victim and the perpetrator. But it seems some militant/terrorist groups want to take advantage of the uncertain times of Covid-19, when the guard is a little lowered.
—The writer is a former Health Minister of KP, based in Islamabad.
