david waker 
Pakistan Against TTP: Another Jolt to the Country's .
Aterror shock is going to surprise Pakistan for decades it seems. For Pakistan’s army and its ruling establishment, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant outfit was a chapter closed six years ago, in 2016.
2022: Not anymore. And they may be a bigger threat this time.
Pakistan’s ruling establishment was forced to convince the seemingly ‘dead’ militant group to come to a ceasefire agreement in May 2022 because of its rising scale of attacks across the country. They appealed to the Afghan Taliban, considered a senior brother and a parent to the TTP or Pakistan Taliban for it. Pakistan’s dwindling economic fortunes forced it to take this extreme step.
The TTP announced an end to the ceasefire agreement blaming Pakistan government and army of violating it consistently. The announcement came on November 28. Pakistan’s new army chief assumed office on November 29. The talks broke down in September 2022.
According to a report in the Pakistani publication Dawn, September saw a surge in militant attacks. Data from an Islamabad-based independent think tank, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), says September saw 42 militant attacks, 35% more than August with 31 attacks. The attacks were at its peak in 2022.
It was largely TTP-led, with 106% rise in the Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the TTP runs a parallel government. A total of 24 security forces personnel and 16 civilians were killed. In November, the outfit claimed it was behind 43 attacks that killed 113 security forces personnel. The attacks were spread across 18 districts of the country and were retaliatory or in defensive in nature as per TTP claims.
PICSS data shows a year-wise jump of 51.5%. Pakistan saw 165 militant attacks from August 2020 to August 14, 2021. It rose to 250 attacks the next year, from August 15, 2021 to August 14, 2022. Fatalities saw a jump of 47%, from 294 to 433.
Figures from the SATP, a data website on terrorism, show an increasing trend after a period of lull that the Pakistani ruling establishment saw as victory. The TTP, with its emergence in 2007, became the most lethal militant organization on the Pakistani soil. The country saw over 24,000 terrorist attacks between 2007 and 2016, the TTP end year, as claimed by the top leadership of the country.
Post the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, 2021 saw 424 terror activities, which increased to 593 this year, till December 11, as per the SATP database. Since its establishment, the TTP has carried out around 550 major terror incidents in the country, killing over 1,700 civilians and over 1,000 security forces personnel. It includes the Peshawar school attack on December 16, 2014, killing 147 people, of whom at least 132 were students.
With the ceasefire over and with Afghanistan a friendly country to extend the presence, recruitment, financial support and training, the TTP is likely to emerge as a bigger threat this time. Afghanistan, after the Afghan Taliban takeover, has become a safe haven for the TTP militants. The TTP dominates the Pakistan-Afghan border area and its militants are active in South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.
