The Return of Terrorism in Pakistan’s North
The return of the Taliban in August last year has had major implications in Afghanistan, where the democratically elected government of Ashraf Ghani was ousted after the departure of the American soldiers, 20 years after the ‘War on Terrorism’ began in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The impact of a resurgent Taliban has been felt across the border where a large section of the Pashtun ethnic group resides. In Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, protests have been raging for the past several weeks. Pashtun groups and locals have been taking to the streets against the Pakistan army and what they perceive to be attempted by the army to allow the return of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
There have been a series of targeted killings, kidnappings, and a threat of an imminent rise in terrorism in the whole of North Pakistan in the past several months; there have been instances of violence reported from districts of Waziristan, Bajaur, Bannu, and Swat. On October 7, a large congregation of protestors assembled in Swat demanding action against militants with many claiming to take up arms if violence isn’t stopped.
The protest was a reaction to a terror attack on a school bus in the Charbagh region of Swat in which two students died. This attack was similar in many ways to the attempted assassination of Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012. Malala, who had to flee Pakistan, hailed from Swat. The Pakistan army conducted a series of operations to regain control of the Swat district around 2009. This improved the region’s safety as the TTP was weakened, but it also led to over two million people being displaced. Thus, the protests are a sign of public anger and a rejection of the TTP’s sympathisers and their ideology to establish an Islamic Sharia state within Pakistan, much like the Taliban vowed to do in Afghanistan in the 1990s. They had established a parallel government in the region, including regressive social practices, and opposed education for girls.
The TTP’s leadership, which was in safe havens in Afghanistan received a fillip with the return of the Taliban and hence they have not accepted Pakistani negotiations. The Taliban has not assisted Pakistan with the negotiations and has thus further jeopardized the already fragile relations between the Taliban and the Pakistani army and intelligence.
Utilising the protests, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has also staged protests in KPK and joined Swat residents, despite public anger against them for failing to govern well. PTI leader Imran Khan was only recently ousted as Prime Minister of Pakistan and has since then been critical of the Pakistan army. The protests in KPK provide Imran with a further opportunity to attack the army and weaken the institution’s support bases.
These protests are led by Pashtun nationalists in KPK, including the Pashtun human rights group, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), who have accused the army of negotiating with terrorist groups like the TTP. The PTM has rallied support from locals on nationalistic ideals and perceived historical discrimination faced by the Pashtun population, the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan. Mohsin Dawar of the PTM and a member of the Pakistani National Assembly criticised the government’s silence on the issue of terrorism in Swat and adjoining districts, in a speech.
The protests are a shift from the politics of KPK a decade ago where there was an absence of popular anger against militancy. But the residents do not want a return of terrorism as many were affected economically and socially because of the militancy. This puts the Pakistani state and the army in a precarious position as it has failed to negotiate with the TTP. The army wants to avoid another series of operations against the terrorists as that could affect their relationship with the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the same time, the army is wary of the rise of Pashtun ethnonationalism under the anti-terrorism protests which since before 1947 has been a threat to the idea of the Pakistan state.