Beyond Bannu Siege

As terrorists expand their attack zone, the authorities need a workable counter-terror policy

Peshawar: The targeted operation by the Special Services Group’s Zarar Commandos on 20 December to dislodge militants occupying the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD)’s police station in Bannu, and to safely release the hostages they had taken, has yet again underlined the fact that a wave of terrorism is rising across Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) province. And it is most likely to spread to the rest of the country, as suggested by another suicide bombing attempt last Friday in the I-10 sector of the federal capital, Islamabad.

But the way these attacks were handled by the law enforcement agencies, especially the one in Bannu, have set yet another example of the security personnel’s resolve to counter terrorism at whatever cost to themselves. The attacks come at a time when the nation is paying homage to the martyrs and survivors of the 2014 attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) which changed the entire narrative of the war on terror.

The attack on Bannu’s CTD police station started on 18 December. It happened just four hours after the killing of four policemen at a the Lakki Marwat police station, and the siege of Wana Police Station in South Waziristan where the militants had snatched weapons from the police. It was much hyped on social media, and remained the focus of international media.

Later in the day, the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR, Major-General Ahmad Sharif, clarified that the SSG commandos were in fact attacked from inside the police station. During a briefing he said that it was a detained terrorist who “overpowered a constable in the CTD complex inside Bannu Cantt.” After snatching the constable’s weapon, he freed 34 other “terrorists” detained at the police station and resorted to firing. Two CTD officials died in the firing. The terrorists also took hostage a junior commissioned officer who was present there.

Soon after, the security forces from the Bannu Cantt rushed to the spot, he said, adding that two terrorists were killed in the ensuing gun battle, and three were arrested. Two security forces personnel were injured in the exchange of fire.”

Over the next two days, efforts to induce the terrorists to unconditionally surrender continued, but terrorists demanded safe passage to Afghanistan, which was denied to them. The subsequent operation launched against thems on 20 December left terrorist were killed and ten were arrested. Three soldiers, including Subedar-Major Khurshid Akram, Sepoy Saeed and Sepoy Babar were killed in action, while 10 soldiers, including two officers, were injured.

Defense Minister, Khawaja Asif, while briefing the parliament about the Bannu incident blamed the increased terrorist attacks in KP on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan, whose party is in power in the province. Mr Asif said that while KP was suffering, Imran Khan was living away in Lahore, planning to overthrow the federal government so that he could become the prime minster again.

But just a week later, the federal capital itself was in the news for wrong reasons. It was regarding a failed suicide mission by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Talban Pakistan (TTP) militants in the I-10 sector of Islamabad, sending alarm bells ringing that terrorists had the courage and the arrangements to carry out attacks in the federal capital as well.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed in a statement that suicide bombers were chasing a high-value target in an explosives-laden vehicle, but the police bravely foiled their attempt. He confirmed that two terrorists died when stopped by the police, they exploded their car.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sohail Zafar Chattha, while speaking to the media at the crime scene, said the “suspicious vehicle” with a man and a woman aboard was spotted in the area at 10:15 am. The police stopped the vehicle, and the couple came out of the car. The man having long hair, while being checked by the officers, went inside the vehicle on some pretext and then detonated himself. One policeman on the spot was killed, while six people, including four policemen, were injured in the blast.

Just as at the time of the Bannu incident, the TTP spokesman was quick to start issuing statements alongwith visual images on social media, accepting responsibility for the Islamabad blast.

As the threat grows, political leaders have also  started expressing concerns on the issue, warning both the federal as well as the KP governments to handle the law and order situation more seriously than they have been doing so far.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in a statement claimed that when the terrorists attacked a police station in South Waziristan’s Wana town and held some policemen hostage, there were rumours across the KP that the same terrorists were planning to stage a similar strike on the national parliament. He said: “The KP government seems nonexistent, while the federal government is also acting as a silent spectator, which is worrisome; It’s a shame that the KP chief minister doesn’t even attend the funerals of the policemen who embraced martyrdom in terrorist attacks.”

The Awami National Party (ANP) chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, who is abroad for medical treatment and is presently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umra, in a statement issued from party headquarter condemned the Islamabad attack, saying, “we have to take this issue seriously, keeping in view the gravity of the situation that terrorists have now entered Islamabad, which is really threatening.”

He further said that “when we were complaining about terrorism in KP, no one took it seriously. The terrorists have reorganized themselves during the last three years, and ironically they are knocking at Islamabad today. Our government and the security agencies must take it seriously now.”

Political point-scoring apart, it is a harsh reality that both the KP government and the federal government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) appear to be least bothered about a resurging threat of terrorism from the western borders. Frequent attacks by the Afghan forces across the border are disrupting the security cordon on the Pak-Afghan border, exposing Pakistan to an imminent law and order problem.

Attacks on the border fence by terrorists and criminals, coupled with the Afghan Taliban’s inability to control terrorists on their side, is triggering a surge in attacks inside Pakistan. Terrorists’ ability is also enhanced by the availability of sophisticated weapons and gadget left behind by the US forces.

This has multiplied the problems for the police and the law enforcement agencies manning shelter-less border posts without bullet-proof jackets and helmets. A recent report by the law enforcement agencies about the KP Counter-Terrorism Department’s inability to fight terrorists has further hurt the morale of the front-line counter-terror force.

Another problem is the absence of clarity on the country’s anti-terrorism policy. Both the federal and the KP governments have not been clear about how they intend to check such attacks, and what steps they need to take to make this happen. Are they waiting for a hint from the ‘security policy-makers’ to develop a clear narrative?

Pakistan must also come out of the illusion that the Afghan Taliban are going to tame the TTP. They are asking Pakistan for concessions, thereby providing more space to the TTP to reorganize and launch massive attacks on Pakistani territory. These attacks have become more frequent after the TTP revoked the ceasefire last month. There have been more than 350 reported attacks this year, leaving over 200 security personnel dead.

But there seems little to be optimistic about, at least for now. Politically, Pakistan is in a state of extreme polarization, so politicians are mostly distracted. Meanwhile, the national security apparatus too appears to be in a state of limbo. The National Security Council, which provided an important forum to discuss the overall security situation of the country, is in a state of limbo due to the prevailing political mess.

The new Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Asim Muneer’s visit to the Pak -Afghan border and the briefing held at the Corps Headquarter on the western border security, was a welcome move. But the nation is also looking towards the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) to convene a Corp Commanders’ meeting focused on the latest terrorism patterns to provide policy guidelines to both the federal and the KP governments.