By Agha Iqrar Haroon
After a long struggle and countless sacrifices of martyrs in Operation Zarb-e-Azb by the Pakistan Army and the public, the scourge of terrorism was crushed and the entire area of erstwhile FATA was cleaned from terrorists. However, things started getting out of hand for law enforcement agencies when former prime minister Imran Khan took serious stupid steps of pardoning dangerous terrorists who were in jail after their arrests during information-based operations of security forces. Moreover, the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as in the center permitted Afghan tribes to relocate inside Pakistan who claimed their ancestry with people living across the Pak-Afghan border.
Related Story: Balochistan Bleeds
It was not enough and PTI struck a deal with terrorists that was facilitated by the Afghan Taliban and over 25,000 terrorists having mixed ancestry of Pakistani Pashtuns and Afghan Pashtuns were resettled in Pakistan who were living in Afghanistan after they were pushed out of the country through military operations. Their return to Pakistan through so-called negotiations was one of the biggest blow to the country’s peace.
The former prime minister took all exceptional but dangerous decisions in collaboration with his handpicked DG ISI Faiz Hameed who, according to some insiders in PTI was of the view that these terrorists would be the potential vote bank of PTI in the forthcoming (2024) general elections. He was somehow or other right because this group actively supported Imran Khan in his campaign against the Pakistani administration after Khan was voted out from his position. Sources in Intelligence networking confirmed that this group was controlling the security of Khan when he was residing in Zaman Park residence in Lahore and many of the members of this group actively participated in attacks over military installations on May 9, 2023. Technically, the resettlement of terrorists helped PTI as it was proposed by Faiz Hameed when the decision to resettle was being taken.
Pakistan Army has already offered accountability and characters like Faiz Hameed face Court Martial. Now it is the duty of the politicians and the higher judiciary to start a trial of traitors living in their camps
When asked to comment, a retired officer of intelligence networking claimed that the resettlement of terrorists including some high-value terrorists in the name of peace and amnesty played havoc with the security dynamics of the country. “After the PTI came to power, two decades of sacrifices by the Pakistan Army and the people went to drain because cross-border Afghan terrorists spread across the country as they got new facilitators in the form of the government. After 2018, receiving the government’s patronage, Afghan terrorists increased the number of suicide attacks and terrorism incidents across the country, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”, commented the retired officer.
Everybody knows that after losing power, Imran Khan established a new way of chaos in the country, a sad example of which is the May 9 tragedy. It was a part of nefarious planning and now the situation is that even after more than a year has passed since the tragedy, the main accused have not been brought to book and credit goes also to the higher judiciary of Pakistan that has shown an exceptional soft corner for culprits of May 9, 2023 incidents. The release of the culprits of the May 9 incident sent a strong message to anti-Pakistan elements that they can attack armed forces, burn monuments of martyrs they can destroy everything they wish to live a free life, and even become members of parliament.
This message played havoc with the administrative, social, and security fabrics of the country and encouraged other anti-state elements to launch their political attacks on the country. There is a saying in the Russian language that “an enemy has a moral right to hit your soft belly if you offer it to the enemy”. This is what is happening in Pakistan. Indian networking that crafted TTP in 2006 had been active in KP as well as Balochistan for ages and Kulbhushan Jadhav and such Indian spies who had been arrested had confirmed the involvement of Indian intelligence agencies and Balochistan’s incidents are a continuation of the Indian conspiracy to weaken the security of Pakistan. If the internal elements who have an agenda to break Pakistan are also involved as desired by the enemies, then there can be no greater harm to the country than this.
Alas, people like Mahrang Baloch and Imran Khan stand in the same arena as both target the state interests and both get support from foreign masters and both have their media managers living abroad from there they run their social media campaign against the Pakistan Army, against Pakistan and try to make a mockery of martyrs of the country. An honest review of the modus operandi of TTP, PTI, BLA, and other extremist groups indicates they all have similarities, and their ‘immediate target’ is the Pakistan Army because they follow the road map of destruction that the world was given during the Iraq, Haiti, Libya, and Syria wars where armies were destroyed first and then the ultimate results were the destruction of their societies. The last week was enough to comprehend that some international operations have been geared up in Balochistan following the brutality of targeting and martyring the security personnel.
A retired officer of the national security network was asked what would be the next now? his answer was promising and encouraging. He stated that no one (could) dare to clash with the brave forces of Pakistan and whoever clashes with them should know their fate is destruction because the Pakistan Army knows how to defend the country from internal and external threats and men in uniform are not shy to sacrifice their lives whenever the motherland demands from them.
He said Pakistan is in safe hands, where the lives property, and honor of the common man are completely safe, and the mischief of a few evil elements will be eradicated sooner or later.
As retired and serving officers of security networking, intelligence agencies, and Pakistan Army are firm in winning the fight against terrorists as they did in the past, the foremost responsibility lies on a political cadre of the country, to be honest with the nation and find out a way forward but it is only possible when characters such as Imran Khan, Faiz Hameed and Mahrang Baloch are questioned without any biases and take them to task without being politically compromised. Yesterday’s session of Parliament left hope to people like me that all events on stage as well as backstage would be discussed in parliament overtly or in in-camera sessions and the public would know who did what against this country.
Pakistan Army has already offered accountability and characters like Faiz Hameed face Court Martial. Now it is the duty of the politicians and the higher judiciary to start a trial of traitors living in their camps.
For the last two decades, Pakistan has been dealing with terrorism, for which the efforts of the public as well as the security forces, particularly the Pakistan Army are appreciable but the causes of terrorism remain the same— foreign funded moves, abrupt changes in national narrative and keeping the realities away from the public. This is time for everybody to spell the beans and full beans–not selective ones.
