The announcement by ISPR of the arrest of 97 terrorists including three commanders in recent raids in Karachi is very welcome news and timely too. However, with two of those leaders belonging to LeJ, which has been dealt with more strongly than other groups, one can only wonder if specific groups are still being allowed more room to breathe compared to others. The army should be congratulated for foiling the plot to bust out terrorists such as Khalid Omar Shiekh, the murderer of journalist Daniel Pearl. General Asim Bajwa’s statement is the army’s way of refuting the assertion that the Karachi operation has been targeting political parties more than extremism. But at the same time, while terror financing in supposed target killing cases has been unraveled, little work has been done in the same sphere when connected to terrorism. Which seminaries are being used in Karachi and beyond to collect donations for terrorists? Have any attempts been made to suppress these sources?
The thought of terrorist groups working together to conduct terror attacks is very worrying, because the divisive nature of their factions has so far made it easier for the state to target each separately. While this new policy of colluding to attack the state is indicative of decreasing room to operate for the terrorists, this desperation to attack wherever and however possible makes it harder for the security agencies to prevent each one. But at the same time, this can also be looked at with a positive spin, because this means that the army has forced them to join hands, because working alone is no longer an option.
The fight though, is clearly far from over. Weaker though they may be, terrorist groups have managed to ramp up the frequency of attacks since the beginning of 2016. The ISPR has admitted that the plan to assault Hyderabad prison was very near fruition. 350 kilograms worth of explosives alongside automatic weapons made their way into the hands of these terrorists through various channels. Banned organisations continue their funding drives as well. Money and equipment is still available to the militants, and their preferred method of attack, suicide bombings, tell us that there is no shortage of manpower either. Pakistan has had very limited success in the capture of leaders of the Pakistani Taliban and other prominent groups apart from LeJ. In the face of alliances being made, it is obvious that more needs to be done to ensure that this operation, like all others before it, is not only dealing with part of the problem.