The dreadful assault has set alarm bells ringing for the law enforcement agencies which had earlier been criticised due to their failure to stop at least three similar Fidayeen attacks in the past — on May 22, 2011 targeting the Mehran Naval Base in Karachi, on August 16, 2012 targeting the PAF Kamra Airbase and on September 15, 2012 targeting the joint civil-military airport in Peshawar that houses the Bacha Khan International Airport and Pakistan Air Force and Army Aviation bases.
Subsequent investigations revealed that all these attacks were well planned, which could not have been possible without inside help.From the time Osama was gunned down in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, the TTP has launched a bloody campaign of retribution against the Pakistani security forces and civil and military installations.
The June 8 Fidayeen attack by the TTP has given credence to the apprehensions of security establishment that the talks by the Taliban are just a ploy to gain time and space and to evade a possible military operation in North Waziristan. Even otherwise, by entering into unconditional negotiations with a terrorist group that is accused of having killed over 50,000 Pakistanis, the government has only undermined the writ of the state and security of the nation.
With the TTP’s responsibility claim, which in fact is an open declaration of war against the government, the civilian administration seems to have been left with no other option but to react with full military might by launching the much-delayed military operation in North Waziristan, which is being used by the Taliban as a launching pad to plan and launch terrorist attacks all over Pakistan. The government’s policy of one step forward, two steps back cannot bring peace — only more death and destruction.
While describing the airport assault an act of revenge for the November 1, 2013 killing of Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has also dismissed the Pakistani government’s recent offer of a new round of peace talks as a ruse.
Threatening more terrorist attacks in the days and weeks to come, he said: “Pakistan used the peace talks as a tool of war. We have yet to take revenge for the deaths of hundreds of innocent tribal women and children in Pakistani air strikes. It’s just the beginning, we have taken revenge for one (Mehsud), we have to take revenge for hundreds.”
In fact, the June 8 Jinnah airport attack came 48 hours after the country’s civilian and military leaderships conveyed a clear message to the tribal elders in North Waziristan to flush out the miscreants, especially the foreign militants, from the volatile area within 15 days. The message was conveyed on June 6 when a Jirga of the Utmanzai tribe, led by Haji Sher Mohammad, held separate meetings with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan and Corps Commander Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani.
The tribal elders were told that they had failed to honour the six-point peace agreement, signed in 2006, as per which the Utmanzai tribe and the Shura Mujahideen North Waziristan leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is considered to be a “good Taliban”, were bound to expel the foreigners from the area.
The bottomline of the tribal elders’ meetings with the governor and corps commander was that they would get rid of the foreign militants, especially the Uzbeks; otherwise, the Government of Pakistan would have no other option but to initiate a military action. The tribal elders had actually formed the Jirga to request the federal government to put off the imminent military action in North Waziristan.
However, the fact that the TTP has already claimed responsibility for the Karachi Fidayeen attack clearly indicates that the Taliban Ameer Mullah Fazlullah has already made up his mind to completely abandon the peace talks. Earlier, on May 14, Fazlullah had sacked the pro-talks Khalid Mehsud alias Said Khan Sajna as the Ameer of the South Waziristan chapter of the TTP without consulting the Taliban Shura.
Three days later, on May 18, Fazlullah had ordered [in a video message] the TTP suicide bombers or Fidayeen attackers to get ready to face the tanks and guns of the enemy forces. “The suicide bombers who are able to receive his message should convey the same to others who are still unaware of my orders. Like the Taliban militants, the Pakistan government, the armed forces and the intelligence agencies would also have to accept the writ of Allah Almighty by enforcing Shariah which is the mission of my life and which I will continue to pursue come what may,” said Fazlullah, who has already been accused of having ordered the killing of several senior Pakistani military officials, including the General Officer Commanding of Swat.
Following Mullah Fazlullah’s open declaration of war against the state of Pakistan, the pro-talks Said Khan Sajna faction of the Taliban announced to discard the TTP umbrella on May 28. The development was being described by security analysts as a major setback not only for Mullah Fazlullah but also for the military might of the TTP given the fact that Sajna enjoys the support of 12 major Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan, which had played an important role in the past in establishing the Tehrik-e-Taliban as a force to reckon with.
However, the audacious attack on the Jinnah International Airport has proved that the parting of ways by Sajna has hardly affected the military might of the TTP, courtesy the availability of Uzbek militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Those investigating the Karachi airport attack have conceded that a group of foreign fighters, especially the Uzbeks, seem to have played a major role in the Fidayeen attack. “Three militants blew themselves up and seven were killed by security forces,” said DG Rangers Rizwan Akhtar in televised remarks. “The militants appear to be Uzbeks.”
The Uzbek militants living in North Waziristan had already denounced the 15-day deadline set by the Pakistani authorities for the foreign militants to leave the area. Irked by hoisting of national flag by tribesmen in Miramshah and Mirali areas as a proof of their allegiance to the state of Pakistan in order to escape bombings, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan had declared on June 7 that it has decided to respond by hoisting black flags. In fact, the sale of the national flag had increased as more and more people in North Waziristan want to hoist it to demonstrate their allegiance to the state and escape bombing.
However, the IMU has criticised those hoisting the Pakistani flag, stating that those doing so were “weak-hearted Muslims” who are using the flags as a “defence” to ward off bombing. In a message posted on a militant website, the IMU’s spokesman, Abu Ibrahim, said the local tribesmen frightened by army attacks and bombings by military planes and helicopters and artillery had begun hoisting the national flag on roofs of their houses. “We still have not understood how effective this ‘defence system’ is against bombs and rockets,” he said. The IMU, comprising militants from Uzbekistan and of Turkic origin, has its main base in the town of Mirali.
To tell the truth, the TTP and IMU have long been collaborating and conducting joint terrorist attacks, especially targeting the Pakistani security forces. The last time they carried out a jointly coordinated terrorist operation was on December 16, 2012 when the terrorists targeted the Pakistan Air Force base in Peshawar. Four attackers were later identified as Uzbeks belonging to the IMU. The TTP and IMU had earlier joined hands to form a special unit of deadly Fidayeen attackers called the “Ansar Al Aseer” (the supporters of prisoners) whose prime mission would be to secure freedom for the imprisoned militants by carrying out jail-break Fidayeen operations all over Pakistan.
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