R Krishna Das
On October 5, a grenade attack on a rally in Karachi confounded the Pakistani authorities. For, the incident demonstrated the coming back of terrorist groups that the authorities believed were marginalised.
At least 39 people were injured in the attack on a Jamaat-i-Islami rally that was marched out, interestingly, in protest against the first anniversary of India government’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani government was stunned when little known the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Sindhudesh Liberation Army (Also Known as Sindh Liberation Army or SLA) is an armed group of people based in the Sindh province of Pakistan. After almost four years of silence, the SLA struck in the country, bugling that the group was back in action.
The Sindhudesh Liberation Army became publicly known in 2010, after it claimed a bomb blast on railway tracks near Hyderabad, Pakistan. The group is responsible for low-intensity bomb explosions in parts of Sindh. In May 2012, the group claimed responsibility for low-intensity bomb explosions outside the bank branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in different districts of Sindh. Four people were injured in the attacks.
In 2016, a vehicle of Chinese engineer was targeted with a remote control bomb at Gulshan-e-Hadeed Karachi. Chinese national and his driver were injured in the explosion. SLA claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Darya Khan is the leader of the group while Pakistan’s media claimed that Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz’s Chairman Shafi Muhammad Burfat is operating the Army from Kabul. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of supporting SLA.
But the fret for Pakistan does not end here. The other militant groups are also mobilising against the country that had been a breeding ground and safe haven for the terrorists. In real sense, Pakistan is now reaping what it has sown.
In addition to SLA, the Pakistanis claim the Indian intelligence agency RAW and Afghan intelligence agencies involvement in the support of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) aka Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistan’s army operations in 2014 had ousted the Taliban insurgents from their most prized tribal sanctuary. Since taking over command of the TTP, Mufti Noor Wali has worked extensively to revive the group by bringing in those who had parted ways with the TTP since 2014.
The militants of the “Hakimullah Mehsud Group” headed by commander Mukhlis Yar were the first to come back to the TTP fold. The announcement was made in an Urdu language TTP press release on July 6, 2020. The same month it was announced that the so-called Punjabi Taliban’s al-Qaeda-affiliated Amjad Farouqi group had joined the ranks.
Then the TTP media cell announced in August this year. That the Ameer Usman Saifullah Kurd group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi headed by Maulvi Khush Muhammad Sindhi, had joined the TTP by expressing allegiance to its chief Noor Wali Mehsud.
But since March this year, TTP fighters have killed around Pakistani 40 soldiers that had raised the alarm bell for the authorities. The TTP used to be an umbrella for several jihadi and sectarian groups that emerged in Pakistan’s tribal region during and after the rule of the Taliban regime in Kabul.
TTP is the largest militant group in Pakistan. They may not be able to control large swaths of territory in tribal areas as it used to do till 2014. But can definitely launch a new wave of terrorist attacks across Pakistan if not checked in time.
Major TTP leader Latif Mehsud was caught by U.S. troops in Afghanistan while he was in a convoy escorted by Afghan Intelligence. American forces captured the TTP leader and handed him over to Pakistani authorities, much to the anger of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Pakistanis claim this as a major proof of Afghan Intelligence agencies’ support for TTP. In 2016, Latif Mehsud gave a public video confession during which he claimed that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies were responsible for supporting the TTP and other militant groups against Pakistan.
