WHILE holding a press conference in Peshawar, the DG ISPR demanded that Afghan authorities ensure their territory is not used for terrorism against Pakistan.
Terrorism coming from Afghanistan into Pakistan is not new; it has been going on for a long time and is being facilitated by India. Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency NDS (2010–12), who received education in Pakistan as a refugee during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, revealed in an interview with The New York Times after his resignation that he had used the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan against Pakistan because “the enemy of my enemy is a friend.”
It should be noted that in the past, many NDS officers were trained by India’s intelligence agency RAW, and most operations in Afghanistan were carried out under its leadership. It is now clear that NDS activities directed against Pakistan continue in the form of patronage of the TTP. The DG ISPR is absolutely right in saying that we should also act against those who directly or indirectly support RAW’s and NDS’s hybrid warfare in Pakistan because those who work indirectly for RAW are as much terrorists as those who carry out terrorist attacks directly. It is Muslims who are suffering at the hands of those Muslims who commit such terrorist acts. If we had not joined the American-sponsored jihad against the Soviet Union, the consequences of which we are still suffering, the situation might be different. The reality of that US-backed jihad, which continued for a while under American patronage, is that after the unilateral withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in 1989, the jihadi groups could not agree on governance; from 1989 to 2001, for twelve years, these people were mired in civil war. No Islamic unity or brotherhood could be established among them. That same process continues today: the Taliban are involved in terrorist acts against their own Muslim brothers, not realizing that the harm is inflicted not only on their compatriots but on Muslims more broadly.
On the one hand, it is correct to say that action should be taken against such individuals, but now another solution must also be sought. The time has come for the government of Pakistan, political parties, particularly the Taliban and supporters of their jihad, to review their attitudes in the light of historical events and try to find a way out of this situation of destruction and devastation. In our view, a high-level commission should be established to review the events that led us to the present catastrophic situation.
The war on terrorism fought in the interest of the United States has now been turned into our own war by our internal and external enemies. Initially, this war was not ours, and we were told to treat it as our own and fight it. There was inner conflict in hearts and minds at that time. The enemy ended that conflict through the disruptive activities of its agents, and now it is necessary that we remain fully aware of the enemy’s tricks. They want to trap us in a great whirlpool so they can reach their goal—access to our nuclear weapons. Therefore, under all circumstances, we must limit this war to our own war. This is the war to defend Pakistan.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Faisalabad.
