TTP returns to violent ways in Pakistan, poses bigger challenge to Imran govt after Taliban takeover: Report
Jan 11, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 11 : Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has returned to its violent ways in Pakistan, posing a major challenge to the Imran Khan government after the Taliban takeover as horrors of the Peshawar Army school attack still haunts Islamabad, a report said.
The TTP has returned to violent ways since 2014 and since the summer of last year, engaged with the authorities frequently and more menacingly as the number of attacks by the group has surged in recent months in Pakistan, said International Forum For Right And Security (IFFRAS).
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, its victory made the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) galvanise and it stepped up attacks in Pakistan.
The group has claimed to have carried out 32 attacks in August 2021 alone -- the highest monthly figure this year. An attack on September 5 last year killed three Pakistani paramilitary forces, said IFFRAS.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been advocating 'reconciliation' with the TTP despite the constant attacks by the group in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been seeking the Taliban's help against the TTP after Islamabad felicitated the Taliban to grab power in Afghanistan.
However, Islamabad appears to have seriously miscalculated its strategies, either deliberate or real - both are possible since the Taliban and the TTP enjoy considerable support from the society and even admirers among those holding key positions in the new regime in Kabul. Islamabad now realises that Kabul will do nothing to evict the TTP, their ideological brothers who had fought alongside them and helped in their victory, said IFFRAS.
The Imran government has been attempting to negotiate a truce with the TTP either through the Taliban or other ways as Islamabad is still feared of the Peshawar Army School attack by the TTP on December 16 in 2014 which had resulted in the deaths of 130 students.
Last month, Pakistanis remembered the attack with anger and mourning, and not just by parents and relatives of the dead children, members of civil society warned the Pakistan government against striking a "peace deal" with the TTP.
The TTP had created havoc in Pakistan with its several attacks between 2007-2014. The TTP members had fled to Afghanistan after Islamabad launched widescale operations against the group following the Peshawar attack. But the Taliban emergence to power have inspired the TTP and they have scaled up attacks in Pakistan targetting their forces and posing a major challenge to Islamabad despite their calls for negotiations, said IFFRAS.
