Sunday July 7, 2024
Islamabad (Urdu Point. DW Urdu. 07 July 2024) Pakistan has announced the launch of a new military operation in order to end militancy and crush the armed resistance, which has seen a clear increase in recent times. has gone Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government has named this new operation as 'Azam-e-Shattab'. This operation is the latest link in the series of operations carried out by the country's army against terrorists and militants.
Pakistan has seen an increase in armed attacks and bloodshed by militant groups over the past two years. This year too, various militant groups have carried out so many attacks that at least 62 soldiers, including two army officers, have been killed so far.
Pakistan: One security official and nine militants killed in operations
The Pakistan Army says that during the current year, it has killed 249 terrorists and arrested 396 in a total of more than 13,000 small and large operations conducted on the basis of intelligence.
Most of the attacks were claimed by the banned Pakistani Taliban group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which wants to turn the country into an Islamic state according to its extremist religious interpretations and has for years been a Pakistani state. , continues armed resistance against the government and state institutions.
Eleven suspected terrorists were killed in the operation of the Pakistani army
Increase in cross-border attacks?
There is ideological closeness in the thinking of Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban.
The Taliban returned to power in Pakistan's neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021, when US and NATO troops were preparing for their final withdrawal from the Hindu Kush state in the final days of their 20-year military deployment there.
Since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul, Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Kabul government of providing safe havens to the Pakistani Taliban on Afghan soil and TTP militants from there to Pakistan. I plan armed attacks.
The allegations are denied by the Afghan Taliban in Kabul.
Five Pakistani soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Kurram near the Afghan border
The Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has long been a hotbed of activity for various armed Islamist groups, including the TTP as well as the local branch of the terrorist group 'Islamic State' or Daesh.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had unilaterally terminated a ceasefire agreement with the Pakistani government in November 2022. Therefore, in the new operation of the country's army, 'Azam-e-Shattab', more attention will be given to stopping these fighters, who cross the border with Afghanistan and enter Pakistan and carry out armed attacks.
Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif's warning
Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif recently warned that Pakistan Army will not hesitate to carry out operations on Afghan soil while fighting militants and terrorists.
He had said while talking to a foreign media organization, "There is nothing more important than the independence of Pakistan."
Similarly, a top security official of Pakistan told DW on condition of anonymity, "Indiscriminate action will be taken against the terrorists." Anti-national elements and religious extremists spreading chaos will be operated against all, irrespective of their religion or sect.
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South Waziristan: Girls' school blown up by explosives
In this context, defense analyst Maria Sultan told DW in Islamabad, "The objective of this operation is to ensure the stability of Pakistan, during which it will be faced with the challenge of increasing terrorist activities." Pakistan is facing.
Rising Pak-Afghan tensions
In the opinion of many security experts, there is a fear that the "determination of stability" could lead to an increase in tensions between the Islamabad government and the ruling Afghan Taliban in Kabul.
Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told DW, "The timing of this new counterterrorism operation reflects a number of new factors: for example, if there is dialogue with the TTP and the Afghan With the Taliban putting pressure on the TTP leadership, the other options available to Pakistan have now been exhausted.
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Two bloody attacks in North Waziristan, seven security personnel killed
Madiha Afzal said that all the efforts made by Pakistan to dialogue with TTP and to bring pressure on this banned militant organization, they did not prove effective. That is why in March, Pakistan also carried out airstrikes on suspected hideouts of Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan across the border.
Such actions by Islamabad are rarely seen. Eight people were killed in these airstrikes and Afghan forces retaliated on the joint border.
If the Pakistani army took action on Afghan soil, what could be the reaction of the Taliban government in Kabul? Madiha Afzal's answer was very clear about this, "Afghan Taliban will consider any such action as a violation of their sovereignty and bilateral tension will increase, which will further increase the problems on the western border of Pakistan."
Militant attacks in Pakistan, 70 dead in April
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan against the new military operation
Not everyone in Pakistan is in favor of this military operation. The then jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan had recently opposed the decision that any new military operations should be launched in the northwest and southwest of the country.
Imran Khan had directed his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) to stand against this decision. This position is also important because the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belongs to PTI.
Attack on Pakistani military post near Afghan border, thirteen killed
Provincial Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said while talking to journalists after a recent meeting with Imran Khan in jail, "Imran Khan is against any new military operation in any part of the country and he has given Peshawar I have directed the provincial government of my party not to be part of any decision regarding the new military operation.
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A senior PTI leader told DW on condition of anonymity, “The real issue is whether the army will be able to secure a consensus on this operation. Apparently, the entire leadership of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has rejected this operation, so it will prove difficult for the army to carry it out.
Contrary to this position, defense analyst Maria Sultan says, “This operation was decided at the federal level.
It is likely that all provinces will accept it as it aims to protect the people of Pakistan against terrorism.
China's pressure on Pakistan?
According to some observers, Pakistan has also been forced to launch this new military campaign against the militants by a series of attacks on Chinese citizens and investments by Beijing in the country.
At least five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in a terrorist attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers in March.
Pakistan: Attack on Turbat Naval Air Base, BLA claims responsibility
The attack came less than a week after eight militants of the separatist armed organization Balochistan Liberation Army were killed by Pakistani security forces.
These Baloch separatists had attacked a convoy of Chinese citizens near the port of Gwadar in Balochistan.
The number of Chinese nationals in Pakistan is estimated to be around 29,000, of which more than 2,500 are working on various projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC.
