Another attack has taken place, this time near the Quetta Police Lines area on Sunday. The attack has been claimed by the TTP, and thus far, reports suggest that there are five injuries. However, given that the security officials have not shared a lot of details, the number could very well rise as has been witnessed in other incidents. The frequency of the attacks however underscores the relentless nature of the attacks and the threat facing the country.
According to initial reports, the nature of the blast was not clear and the injured persons were moved to the Civil Hospital in Quetta. This attack comes days after a ghastly suicide blast in Peshawar Police Lines area which claimed over a 100 lives. While that attack was not claimed by the TTP, and was attributed to an off-shoot of the group, the differentiation should make no difference for the country’s security forces. Perhaps it has value for those that study such groups and when it comes to understanding the dynamics of the insurgency, but from a counter-terrorism perspective, all such groups should be treated as a monolith with the aim of complete eradication.
Reports also suggest that following the attack in Peshawar, Pakistan will ask the supreme leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban to rein in militants in Pakistan. Pakistani officials are rightly questioning the role of Kabul in this deteriorating security situation, but the interim government has refused to take any responsibility. Over the first year of Taliban rule, Pakistan witnessed a 50 per cent uptick in militant attacks, concentrated in the border regions with Afghanistan and Iran.
With a delegation being sent to hold talks with the top brass of the Afghan Taliban, it remains to be seen how successful these talks will be. Afghan officials have thus far not responded to these reports, but earlier this week the Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Islamabad should “not pass the blame to others”. These statements indicate that it will be a tall task for the Foreign Office to solicit any kind of cooperation in the face of reluctance from Kabul to take any substantial measures against the TTP.