The Pakistani states decades long policy of harboring non-state actors and groups as proxies to be used for its regional policies vis-à-vis India and Afghanistan is coming back to haunt Pakistan. The State also needs to find a political solution to accommodate the demands of all sub-national groups within Pakistan.
Since August 2021 with the return of the Afghan Taliban to Kabul, Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In February alone, Pakistan experienced 97 militant attacks, resulting in 87 fatalities and 118 injuries.
Following upon the death of 7 security force personnel in North Waziristan, armed assailants were killed after they forcibly entered the Gwadar Port Authority Complex and opened firing. The Majeed Brigade of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Majeed brigade, a suicide squad of the BLA, has periodically targeted security forces and Chinese interests in Pakistan. It claimed responsibility for the April 2022 suicide attack outside the Karachi University’s Confucius Institute and military camps in Balochistan’s Naushki and Panjgur districts and Mach in January 2024.
Striking across the border in Afghanistan or pushing back against attacks by Baloch outfits will not resolve Pakistan’s bigger problem – the state needs to undertake a focused effort to eliminate all terror groups and at the same time find a way to deal with all Pakistani sub-national groups.
