Shamsa Ishfaq
Recent Manchester attack is not just sad but yet another reminder that terrorism is not just Pakistan’s war rather it is everyone’s war and can be defeated collectively only. Paradoxically, this reality is yet to be recognized by all especially the US. Most recent example in this regard is the Director of National Intelligence, Daniel Coats’ briefing to the members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; wherein he cautioned the members about terrorist threat to India and Afghanistan by Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Daniel Coats said, “Islamabad has failed to curb militants and terrorists in Pakistan…. These groups will present a sustained threat to the United States’ interest in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan”. Such assessments from US no more amaze Pakistan knowingly that no matter how much the later pours in; it will continue to appear less. At this juncture, it is imperative to understand the intricacies of the phenomenon of terrorism and what fosters it.
After a destructive mindset, what is needed to nurture militancy is adequate financing to build up a cache of arms, to pay volunteers, manufacture explosive devices, set up training camps, and the likes. In Pakistan’s case, there has been a visible decline in terror incidents since the launch of Zarb-e-Azb. As a result, not only 90% of the FATA has been cleared of terrorists but law and order situation in other restive areas of the country has also been restored. It is worth mentioning here that militants who have been flushed out from tribal areas of Pakistan are given sanctuaries inside Afghanistan to regroup, plan and execute attacks inside Pakistan. Secondly, it is RAW-CIA-Mossad-NDS nexus which provide tacit support to the nefarious activities of those organized crime syndicates. As the terrorists are highly organized and trained in their destructive skills. For their ceaseless acts of terrorism and sabotage, they have vast supplies of resources: bombs, arms and ammunition, grenades, rockets, electronic gadgets, satellite communication access, transportation facility, abundant money and manpower including female suicide bombers, intelligence and inside information on selected targets, help from local sources, safe houses to hide, and supporting publicity in Media. These features are proof enough that there is a command organization behind the terrorists. It is further substantiated by a lengthy report, “Secret Document Reveals Indian Subversion in Pakistan”, which not only disclosed about the Indian “spy network and subversive operations” against Pakistan but also specifically identified the threat to Pakistan by a joint axis of United States, India and Israel. The report disclosed that Indian RAW’s Team CIT-X had been assigned to conduct subversive operations targeting Pakistan. The document lays out the extensive espionage network dovetailed Into the diplomatic missions In Central Asia, Afghanistan and Middle East, which the Indian undercover intelligence operatives utilize to wreck havoc not only in FATA but in Pakistani hinterland as well. Mossad’s tactics of Infiltrating Palestinian resistance acted as model and provided the modus operandi for CIT -X to stir Insurgency on Pakistan’s Western border. Targeting interior regions of Sindh province, Seraiki-belt and the Northern Areas of Pakistan forms pivots of the Indian plan. Terrorists are operating independently is a falsely created impression by the western media and authorities, which benefited the terrorists in boosting their deceitful “jihadist guise”. Amid this scenario, it would have been more beneficial for US authorities to put their own house in order instead of pushing Pakistan to the wall “to do more”. It is for Mr. Daniel Coats as well that there exists in Pakistan an extensive network of foreign spy agencies which is creating, sustaining and directing all terrorism. There is no other way to root out terrorism but to uproot this rouge network. So please stop wasting time in making delusional assessments and come up with a sincere and collective strategy to help out Pakistan in fighting terrorism.
Another aspect, perhaps, intentionally concealed is resurgence of rightwing extremism in the US. Although the Trump administration is reportedly planning to restructure the Department of Homeland Security’s countering violent extremism (CVE) program to focus exclusively on radical Islam, a 2014 national survey of 175 law enforcement agencies ranked sovereign citizens, not Islamic terrorists, as the most pressing terrorist threat. Similarly, a 2016 report by the US Government Accountability Office noted that “of the 85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since September 11, 2001, far-rightwing violent extremist groups were responsible for 62 (73%) while radical Islamist violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27%).” (The report counts the 15 Beltway sniper shootings in 2002 as radical Islamist attacks, though the perpetrators’ motivations are debated).
The US News and World Report noted in February of this year that “Of more than 300 American deaths from political violence and mass shootings since 9/11, only 33 have come at the hands of Muslim-Americans, according to the Triangle Centre on Terrorism and Homeland Security. The Muslim-American suspects or perpetrators in these or other attempted attacks fit no demographic profile – only 51 of more than 200 are of Arabic ethnicity”. And for record only, as per the US national counterterrorism center, “In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism causalities could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97% of terrorism-related fatalities. Muslim majority countries bore the greatest number of attacks involving 10 or more deaths”.
It is evident now that future terror threats to the world and US interests in South Asian region has less to do with Pakistan and more with the terrorism’s Organizers-the Trilateral Network of CIA, Mossad and RAW. Hence, it is time that US authorities direct their intelligence in the right direction instead of scapegoat Pakistan.
