THE KILLING FIELDS OF PAKISTAN

Our neighbour has been through an upward spiral of terrorism for over two decades. With Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan rearing its head again, the region is in for more turbulence

- LT GEN SYED ATA HASNAIN (RETD)

0NE of my favourite pastimes while visiting the UAE is to meet some of the Pakistani cab drivers who abound in Dubai; wonderful, feisty people who have no qualms about speaking to Indians. Many come from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and if questioned appropriately, without obvious malice, they are always willing to tell you of things back home; especially those related to the scourge of terrorism that has hit their homeland and refuses to go away.

They talk of the Pakistan Army's methodology of conducting counter-terrorist operations in the areas of their homeland after the Lal Masjid incident of 2007. Post that operation, the terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed with the aim to establish Sharia law in Pakistan and overthrow the government. The TTP's ideology blends militant jihadism with a desire to impose strict Islamic governance.

It was a virtual blowback from the policy Pakistan had followed of promoting a violent form of political Islam that could be exploited in conjunction with the sentiments associated with those of the trans-national mujahideen who fought and defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1981-89. The target had been India and more specifically Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), but that is a different story. The blowback led the Pakistan Army to use heavy ground and air weapons during its operations. That resulted in enormous collateral damage. The killing of innocent people, including women and children, the destruction of educational institutions as a result of these operations, together with the casualties inflicted by suicide attacks by terrorists, had wide ramifications on internal security.