It is now more than official. Terrorist groups are not just supported by the Pakistani state, but they receive public encouragement and quite literally rub shoulders with the country's top army men and police officers. But as our diplomatic system gets into top gear to spread this message, it is important to also point out that this is certainly not merely an India-Pakistan issue.
Pakistani elements have been stoking terrorism everywhere from Africa and Europe to the United States. In short, our delegations should be talking not just about Operation Sindoor, but must also bring up the truth about dangerous activities by terrorist elements elsewhere.
Partying With The Lashkar
First, there's the explosive video that emerged of a Pakistani politician claiming that the prominent Lashkar-designated terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, was his “second team” and virtually a brother. Looking on in the video are his son, Talha Saeed, also a designated terrorist, and Saifullah Kasuri, who has a number of aliases. Only days before, Kasuri had – after denying that he had anything to do with the Pahalgam attack – addressed crowds, threatening India in his speech.
Also on ‘parade' at different times, were a number of other top Lashkar leaders - so far careful to keep themselves out of public gaze – who were openly exhorting the crowd towards jihad.
All this points to a clear army hand in letting loose terrorists in an act of defiance.
Second is the reality that Pakistani politicians need these people to win votes. Prominent politicians, including close cronies of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, food minister Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan, and Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, were at the aforementioned rally. Malik Ahmed Khan, for instance, comes from a political family and has been elected from Kasur, the focus and centre of the worst blasphemy fabrications and a hunting ground for jihadis of all hues. His declaration, that India should provide proof of the involvement of Saifullah in the terrorist attack, is audacious. His own chief of police could give him an entire dossier. Besides, Saifullah's entire history is well known to both US intel and India. He is hardly a shy flower in the terrorist world.
... And In Nigeria
Meanwhile, another story has surfaced. The Nigerian army recently arrested four Pakistanis for allegedly training Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Boko Haram had once sworn allegiance to the Islamic State but later parted ways. Nonetheless, the two outfits remain bloody as ever.
Boko Haram had first made headlines in 2014, when it kidnapped over 200 schoolchildren, mostly girls, in the town of Chibok in Nigeria. ISWAP, on the other hand, is a Salafist group that believes in indiscriminate executions of non-believers. Those are some nice friends to have for Pakistan.
In any case, Nigeria is looking for intel cooperation, and Delhi must oblige.
Europe Gets a Jolt Too
Just months ago, the Spanish police had arrested some 30-plus Pakistanis in a three-year-long operation in Spain, which had subsequently led to another 11 11 arrests in Barcelona. The operation had targeted a number of cells, including women, which were purportedly radicalising the youth using encrypted channels for communication and a strong hierarchical structure.
In other words, this was not just a loose band of people but a strong organisation with a specific purpose. Though reports note they were linked to the ‘Pakistani Taliban', that term has come to encompass a variety of actors, both criminal and jihadi in nature.
Last year, the European Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation had stated that authorities in Romania, Italy and Austria dismantled a criminal network that abused work visas to smuggle over 500 Pakistani, Bengali and Egyptian migrants to various EU member states. In total, 12 suspects were formally identified. A Joint Working Group has been set up to investigate this Europe-wide network.
Then, in the US, a Pakistani Canada-based man, Shahzab Jadoon, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass attack against Jews in New York City. In Paris, a Pakistani national was given a 30-year sentence for his role in attacking a newspaper office. There's no end to the listings.
There's more. In February, three Pakistanis were arrested in Indonesia for entering on - of all things - French passports that were patently fake. The country has had other instances of Pakistanis entering illegally, including one wanted by none other than the INTERPOL. No wonder, then, that Indonesia has stood strongly with India after Pahalgam.
‘Traditional Terrorism' Lingers On
Then there is the simple fact that Pakistan sponsors terrorism against Iran. An irate Tehran finally bombed the camps of the Jaish ul Adl last year after repeated requests to Islamabad to do something about its activities.
Meanwhile, the saga of Afghanistan spans decades, starting in the late 1970s. Now, it has gone inwards, with Pakistan complaining that it suffers more terrorist attacks than anyone else. The Global Terrorism Index agrees. It identifies Pakistan as the second most affected among 163 countries, with its position rising from the fourth place last year. Much of this is attributed to the Tehrik-e-Taliban, a motley group of some 40-plus smaller outfits said to be based around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Don't forget, these are areas that had been a hotbed of the Pakistan army's operations into Afghanistan. When the inevitable terror blowback finally began, the tribal areas found themselves on the receiving end of brutal ‘counterterrorism' operations that included air and artillery attacks. The same goes for Balochistan.
The point that Indian diplomacy should stress as its delegations travel across the world is that Pakistan is a problem not for India alone, but a dangerous terror supplier for the world itself. With Gaza and Ukraine taking up the attention of the US and European capitals, the files on terrorism need to be reopened, for their own good. Remember, terrorists are learning all the time, from each other and from their counterparts in conventional warfare. True, Ukraine's ‘Operation Spider' may not be replicated in its entirety, but terrorists will certainly try to devise simpler versions to grab eyeballs.
Most importantly, recruits from Pakistan are easily available to a variety of groups involved in the Gaza conflict. Add to this the sudden respectability provided to the terrorists by the Pakistani army – and the police, if the presence of a Lieutenant General, a Major General, a Brigadier and an IG of police at a terrorist funeral in Muridke is any indication. That means that instead of trying to throttle back on terrorism post-Operation Sindoor, the Pakistanis, in their ‘victory' mindset, have empowered them even more.
Snake And The Charmer
Hopefully, some in other countries have had their counter-terrorism spectacles on. But this is despite the ultimate irony: just this week, Pakistan was appointed to chair a vital counter-terrorism committee in the United Nations Security Council, on the Taliban. That's rich, considering that the Taliban have done far, far more to finish off terrorists, especially the Islamic State - and have been commended for it by various UN committees - than what Pakistan has ever done. Having been for decades the tormentor of Afghanistan, Pakistan is now in the driver's seat.
In sum, the snake has been let loose on the charmer. Prepare to fight your own battles. That's the bottom line - especially for Operation Sindoor.
(Tara Kartha was with the National Security Council Secretariat)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
