Pakistan -Terrorist nexus and global criticism

(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette)

Studies on terrorism and U.S. military experts have identified Pakistan as a base of operations and target for numerous armed, non-state terrorist groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s. Notable terrorists and other groups have been operating in Pakistan and launching attacks from the soil of Pakistan.

Afghanistan-oriented terrorists, including the Quetta Shura Taliban (QST, approximately 20,000 armed Afghan militants) of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar and his deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with leadership believed to operate from the Baluchistan province. Haqqani Network (approximately 10,000 armed militants) and the Hizb-i-Islami (HiG, approximately 1,000 fighters) party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are Karachi-based terrorist outfits.

Jammu & Kashmir-oriented terrorists are led by Pakistan-based Hafiz Saeed especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba with several thousand members; the Jaish-e-Mohammed with several hundred armed supporters and the Harakat ul-Mujahadeen with several hundred armed supporters, formerly led by Bin Laden ally Fazlur Rehman Khalil.

State Support

According to the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2019, Pakistan has“continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups,” and has“allowed groups targeting Afghanistan … as well as groups targeting India … to operate from its territory”. The Department noted“modest steps” taken by Pakistan's government to counter terrorism financing and to“restrain” some India-focused terrorist groups following an early 2019 terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. It assessed, however, that“Islamabad has yet to take decisive actions against India and Afghanistan-focused militants,” and that“progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter terrorism remains unfulfilled— specifically its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay and discrimination.” On the topic of“terrorist safe havens,” the Department concluded that Pakistan's government and military“acted inconsistently with respect to terrorist safe havens throughout the country.

Role of ISI

The Pakistani official intelligence agency, the ISI, is believed to be aiding these terrorist organizations in eradicating perceived enemies or those opposed to their cause, including India, Russia, China, Israel , the United States , the United Kingdom and other members of NATO . Satellite imagery from the American FBI suggest the existence of several terrorist camps in Pakistan, with at least one militant admitting to being trained in the country as part of the going Kashmir Dispute , Pakistan is alleged to be supporting separatist militias. Many nonpartisan sources believe that officials within Pakistan's military and ISI sympathize with and aid Islamic terrorists , saying that the“ISI has provided covert but well-documented support to terrorist groups active in Kashmir, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jaish-e-Mohammed“.

ISI has long faced accusations of meddling in the affairs of its neighbors. A range of officials inside and outside Pakistan have stepped up suggestions of links between the ISI and terrorist groups in recent years. In 2006, a leaked report by a British Defense Ministry think tank charged,“Indirectly Pakistan (through the ISI) has been supporting terrorism and extremism–whether in London on 7/7 [the July 2005 attacks on London's transit system], or in Afghanistan, or Iraq.” In June 2008, Afghan officials accused Pakistan's intelligence service of plotting a failed assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai; shortly thereafter, they implied the ISI's involvement in a July 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy. Indian officials also blamed the ISI for the bombing of the Indian Embassy. Pakistani officials have denied such a connection.

Numerous U.S. officials have also accused the ISI of supporting terrorist groups, even as the Pakistani government seeks increased aid from Washington with assurances of fighting terrorists. In a May 2009 interview with CBS' 60 Minutes , U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said“to a certain extent, they play both sides.” Gates and others suggest the ISI maintains links with groups like the Afghan Taliban as a“strategic hedge” to help Islamabad gain influence in Kabul once U.S. troops exit the region.

The Pakistani ISI agency has supported the Taliban from their inception with money, training, and weaponry. The ISI also maintains strong ties with the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a militant group that works closely with the Taliban. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, has also been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015. The ISI is accused of supporting Taliban forces and recruiting and training mujahideen to fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Based on communication intercepts, US intelligence agencies concluded Pakistan's ISI was behind the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul on 7 July 2008, a charge that the governments of India and Afghanistan had laid previously.

The ISI, has often been accused of playing a role in major terrorist attacks across India including terrorism in Kashmir , the July 2006 Mumbai Train Bombings , the 2001 Indian Parliament attack , the 2006 Varanasi bombings , the August 2007 Hyderabad bombings , and the November 2008 Mumbai attacks . Several detainees at the Guantanamo Bay facility told US interrogators that they were aided by the ISI for attacks in the disputed Kashmir Region.

Reproaches

Daniel Byman , a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy, also wrote that,“Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism”. In 2018, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan , Nawaz Sharif , suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba , a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan , on an official visit to the United States, acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth, particularly from the United States, for the last 15 years during the War on Terror .

Global Criticism

The phrase Pakistan terrorism nexus refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations . Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan , India , and Iran , as well as by the United States , the United Kingdom , Germany , and France , of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond.

Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border has been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense , while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de jure India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Jammu & Kashmir and India proper, respectively.

According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Pakistan was reportedly,“with the possible exception of Iran, perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups… aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community.”

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