The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reorganised itself during the peace talks, the interior ministry informed the Senate, adding that recruitment training of suicide bombers in the merged tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the return of terrorist organisation was an alarming development.
In a written reply, the ministry said inaction on the part of Afghan interim government – led by the Taliban – after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan had provided an opportunity to the TTP expand its influence and range of activities.
The interior ministry’s response to the Pakistan’s Upper House of Parliament is a damning indictment of the then PTI government which decided to hold dialogue with the TTP and allowed the return of its members to the erstwhile tribal region, which is responsible for a sharp increase attacks on security forces and law enforcement agencies as well as targeted killings of their officials and civilians.web
According to the reply, the TTP and other terror outfits are sabotaging the fence installed along the Pak-Afghan border, while Daesh – the so-called Islamic State (IS) group that originated in Iraq and Syria – has been also spreading its tentacles in the country.
The terrorist outfits are using social media platforms around the world to create discord and hate among people by promoting their ideas. And the TTP and other groups aren’t an exception.
In 2022, the ministry says, a total of 16,522 complaints were submitted with different social media platforms to block extremist, sectarian, anti-state and terrorism-related content – a move that resulted in blocking thousands of accounts or links [of the posts]
The year also saw the killing of 209 terrorists and arrest of another 1,781 in the operations conducted by the Counter-Terrorism Departments (CTDs).
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular and Pakistan in general have been witnessing the reversal of gains made earlier against the terrorism after the initiation of disastrous peace talks and resettlement of TTP members.