The Author is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army

The leadership council of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced on March 30 that the TTP will launch the Spring Offensive, Operation ‘Al Badr’ on the first day Ramadan – which commenced on April 2, 2022. The statement elaborated that Operation ‘Al-Badr’ will include martyrdom attacks, ambushes, bombings, counter-attacks, targeted attacks, laser and sniper attacks.

The TTP is well armed, as are the Afghan Taliban and ISIS, but the mention of laser attack signifies that either it has acquired laser rifles which China has developed and are available on the global market or acquired these from another source. This is significant boost for the TTP because the laser fired is not visible. The Chinese laser rifle reportedly has a range of 800 metres. Indian security agencies should also take note that laser rifles may appear with terrorists in J&K and elsewhere in the country.

Incidentally, fresh clashes have erupted between terror groups in Kashmir Valley. In a recent clash between Al Badr and The Resistance Force (TRF) which is a front for the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), one Al Badr terrorist Amir Ahmed Malik was killed in the clash in the Anchar area of Soura. His dead body was found in mysterious circumstances.

The TTP claims that during 2021, it launched 282 attacks in Pakistan and killed more than 500 law enforcement personnel. It also claimed 42 attacks in January 2022. TTP has been attacking the Pakistani security establishment and its supporters continuously. On February 6, 2022, TTP claimed responsibility for an attack in which five Pakistani soldiers were killed in firing from Afghanistan. On February 23, 2022, TTP claimed a grenade attack in Peshawar and killing four policemen.

Pakistan has tried its level best to persuade the Taliban to restrain the TTP from attacking Pakistan without realising that both are blood brothers, share the same rigid ideology, and both were raised by Pakistan on behest of America

In March 2022, TTP claimed responsibility for - killing Captain Saad and Lance Naik, plus seriously wounding Major Saeem, Naib Subedar Gul Amin, Naib Subedar Izzat Badshah, Naik Shahid Khan, Naik Abdul Wahab, Amin, Rizwan and Zabihullahin Mandich area of Makeen Tehsil in South Waziristan; killing ASI Abdul Jalil near Mirakhel Police Station in Bannu district of Khyber Pashtunkhwa (KPK), and; capturing a security forces outpost in TirJhor area of North Waziristan and killing four Pakistani soldiers.

TTP has issued a statement that around midnight at around 1:00 am (March 30), three of their suicide bombers entered the Pakistani security forces headquarters in Tank district and attacked the security forces personnel. The attack lasted for more than nine hours, in which more than 30 security forces personnel were killed which includes the Major and Subedar of the post.

The Pakistani military establishment covered up the above TTP attack through the media saying that there was a fierce terrorist attack on a paramilitary camp in Tank district of KPK province, in which three terrorists were killed and 22 others were injured (without mentioning who the injured are) and that all the injured have been admitted to the hospital. The media report further said that the “number of casualties of the army personnel in this attack is not yet confirmed”. The report also said that the attackers were armed with deadly American weapons.

The genie of extremism bred by Pakistan has come to haunt the Pakistani establishment which is also facing a political and economic crisis

The TTP’s stated aim is to make Pakistan an Islamic Emirate and impose the rule of Sharia. Pakistan has tried its level best to persuade the Taliban to restrain the TTP from attacking Pakistan without realising that both are blood brothers, share the same rigid ideology, and both were raised by Pakistan on behest of America – the country responsible for promoting terrorism worldwide, latest being Ukraine. Besides, the TTP leadership has strong bonds with various Afghan Taliban commanders and groups, who admired the TTP’s sacrifices in fighting against the US-NATO forces in Afghanistan. This is the very reason why the Taliban released over 2,000 TTP cadres and leaders from prisons in Afghanistan after taking control of the country.

The TTP is infusing their ideology in young children, future jihadi fighters that will continue to attack Pakistan, as can be gauged from the first time published photographs of recent graduating ceremony of children fromTTP’s religious institute in Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.

Noor Wali Mehsud, Emir of TTP, told CNN in an interview last November that that his group aimed to make the tribal districts of Pakistan “independent”. So the Pakistani establishment used the media to portray that the TTP wants Sharia to be imposed in KPK. This is an attempt to deflect from the real truth. It is true that Noor Wali Mehsud wants to liberate the tribal districts of Pakistan but TTP’s aim is to eventually overthrow the Pakistani government, take control, abrogate the Constitution and impose Sharia Law.

According to local sources, many areas in Waziristan have fallen to the TTP. TTP influence is growing in other areas too and locals in KPK are turning to the TTP instead of Pakistani authorities to solve day to day problems and disputes. Pakistani authorities are called “occupation forces” by the locals. Being the epicentre of terrorism, Pakistan is in no position to control the terrorists. The TTP would have noted with interest how the extremist group Tehreek-E-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) brought the Pakistani establishment on its knees last year especially since TLP does not even have the wherewithal like the TTP to wage war on the Pakistani establishment.

According to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), 207 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan during 2021 – an increase of 42 per cent compared to 2020. But this appears to be an understatement considering the TTP alone has claimed 282 attacks in 2021.

The genie of extremism bred by Pakistan has come to haunt the Pakistani establishment which is also facing a political and economic crisis. According to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), 207 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan during 2021 – an increase of 42 per cent compared to 2020. But this appears to be an understatement considering the TTP alone has claimed 282 attacks in 2021 and there are other groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacking the Pakistani security establishment regularly. Interestingly, the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) recently claimed responsibility for destroying Punjab-bound railway tracks with IED's at Detha Railway Station in Hyderabad and in Khursheed Colony in Kotri town in Jamshoro District of Sindhudesh.

A statement issued by TTP on April 1, 2022, said that TTP fighters attacked an occupying state police station in Mandich area of Makeen Tehsil of South Waziristan and arrested 10 occupying state policemen in the police station with weapons and ammunitions. Having seized 10 Kalashnikov rifles, 10 lakh cash and other items including cell phones, the TTP fighters released the 10 policemen on the condition of not returning to work with the occupying security forces. The statement further said, “We want to send a message to the police and the Levies that our war is actually with the Pakistan army and the tools of this system. Otherwise, our war is to change this system, the army and ISI are its main pillars, so other institutions besides the army and ISI should not be an obstacle in our way.”

Apparently, the Pakistani security establishment is in for tougher times with launch of TTP’s Spring Offensive.