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AFTER a gap of two years, the Pakistan Taliban threat to attack Indian targets has sent the Indian security establishment into an alert mode. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has vowed to avenge the execution of Ajmal Kasab- the only survivor of the 2008 Mumbai blasts. Ajmal Kasab – a former labourer and small-time criminal, admitted to being a member of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taioba and one of the gunmen who laid siege to the city. He was charged with 86 offences, including murder and waging war against the Indian state, in a charge-sheet running to more than 11,000 pages. Kasab was hanged on 22nd November in a secret operation at Pune’s Yervada jail.
A moot question arises: Should India take the Taliban threat seriously or not? So far the striking capacity of Pakistan Taliban and its association with ISI and Al-Qaeda etc. is concerned India should not only take the threat seriously but also put its security in full gear to meet any eventuality. In the meantime, India should also ask Pakistan to dismantle the Taliban network from its soil before it causes huge damage to life and property.
It is surprising that India offered no official comment on the Taliban’s threat. Though an Indian government official said it will be a test for the Pakistani government to see whether it will allow its soil to be used again for an attack on India. Whether the threats are real or imaginative, India must get ready to defend itself by boosting its entire security set up, from top to bottom.
Not surprisingly, the Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility and has been blamed for hundreds of suicide and gun attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of the insurgency in 2007 against the US-allied government. The Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, are seen as one of the biggest security threats in Pakistan and are blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the country. They have not carried out major attacks abroad.A few months back it warned Myanmar with attacks on killing of Rohingya Muslims.
Undeniably, Taliban forces have created havoc in Pakistan by launching suicide attacks, not only on religious congregations, places of worship, and political leaders, but also on teenage girls.
The Taliban men recently seriously injured Mallala – a girl activist and her two girl friends, saying any girl seeking an education will be targeted in the same way. After that a PT suicide bomber wounded a senior Taliban commander and killed six people in a market in a north-western Pakistani region on the Afghan border.
In another attack at least six persons were killed and nearly 90 others injured when Pakistani Taliban targeted a Shia procession with a bomb at Dera Ismail Khan in the restive northwest, on Ashura, the holiest day for the minority community.
Ironically, after the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani Taliban demanded that Kasab’s body be returned to Pakistan for an Islamic burial. But it is strange that neither the Pakistani government nor Kasab’s family made any demand for handing over his body. Pakistani security and intelligence agencies on Wednesday barred journalists and television cameramen from entering Ajmal Kasab’s hometown in Punjab province.
There was celebration on the streets of Mumbai and other cities as news of the execution spread, but there was no response from people of Pakistan except angry reaction from certain terrorist groups. LeT founder, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, led a gathering of thousands in offering funeral prayers for Ajmal Kasab. Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 assault on Mumbai, offered ‘ghayabana namaz-e-janaza’ (funeral prayers in absentia) for Kasab at the conclusion of a two-day training session of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah at its headquarters at Muridke near Lahore.
Pakistan’s inability to make substantive gains against the Taliban illustrates not only military recalcitrance but political impotence. In order to show the world that Pakistan is genuinely committed to fighting terrorism, the country should accelerate its process of trying the accused and it should begin with Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.
Let Taliban prepare for revenge and India prepare to face it. India should now focus on the larger evil like LeT & TTP and confront them head-on with whatever force they can, because if they don’t these terrorist organisations will always find ways to kill innocent Indians.
It is time for the Muslim world to stand up to these terror groups that are misrepresenting their religion. Perhaps the people of Pakistan need to shake up their government and demand a stop to this crime going on in their country. Indeed, terrorists have no religion, their only intent is to kill people and divide the world, using the weakest and most sensitive issues.
A moot question arises: Should India take the Taliban threat seriously or not? So far the striking capacity of Pakistan Taliban and its association with ISI and Al-Qaeda etc. is concerned India should not only take the threat seriously but also put its security in full gear to meet any eventuality. In the meantime, India should also ask Pakistan to dismantle the Taliban network from its soil before it causes huge damage to life and property.
It is surprising that India offered no official comment on the Taliban’s threat. Though an Indian government official said it will be a test for the Pakistani government to see whether it will allow its soil to be used again for an attack on India. Whether the threats are real or imaginative, India must get ready to defend itself by boosting its entire security set up, from top to bottom.
Not surprisingly, the Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility and has been blamed for hundreds of suicide and gun attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of the insurgency in 2007 against the US-allied government. The Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, are seen as one of the biggest security threats in Pakistan and are blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the country. They have not carried out major attacks abroad.A few months back it warned Myanmar with attacks on killing of Rohingya Muslims.
Undeniably, Taliban forces have created havoc in Pakistan by launching suicide attacks, not only on religious congregations, places of worship, and political leaders, but also on teenage girls.
The Taliban men recently seriously injured Mallala – a girl activist and her two girl friends, saying any girl seeking an education will be targeted in the same way. After that a PT suicide bomber wounded a senior Taliban commander and killed six people in a market in a north-western Pakistani region on the Afghan border.
In another attack at least six persons were killed and nearly 90 others injured when Pakistani Taliban targeted a Shia procession with a bomb at Dera Ismail Khan in the restive northwest, on Ashura, the holiest day for the minority community.
Ironically, after the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani Taliban demanded that Kasab’s body be returned to Pakistan for an Islamic burial. But it is strange that neither the Pakistani government nor Kasab’s family made any demand for handing over his body. Pakistani security and intelligence agencies on Wednesday barred journalists and television cameramen from entering Ajmal Kasab’s hometown in Punjab province.
There was celebration on the streets of Mumbai and other cities as news of the execution spread, but there was no response from people of Pakistan except angry reaction from certain terrorist groups. LeT founder, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, led a gathering of thousands in offering funeral prayers for Ajmal Kasab. Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 assault on Mumbai, offered ‘ghayabana namaz-e-janaza’ (funeral prayers in absentia) for Kasab at the conclusion of a two-day training session of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah at its headquarters at Muridke near Lahore.
Pakistan’s inability to make substantive gains against the Taliban illustrates not only military recalcitrance but political impotence. In order to show the world that Pakistan is genuinely committed to fighting terrorism, the country should accelerate its process of trying the accused and it should begin with Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.
Let Taliban prepare for revenge and India prepare to face it. India should now focus on the larger evil like LeT & TTP and confront them head-on with whatever force they can, because if they don’t these terrorist organisations will always find ways to kill innocent Indians.
It is time for the Muslim world to stand up to these terror groups that are misrepresenting their religion. Perhaps the people of Pakistan need to shake up their government and demand a stop to this crime going on in their country. Indeed, terrorists have no religion, their only intent is to kill people and divide the world, using the weakest and most sensitive issues.
