Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: When the suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s city of Peshawar on Monday, suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In a post on Twitter, a group commander, Sarbakaf Mohmand, claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks on the law-enforcement agencies in recent months. But more than 10 hours later, Mohammad Khurasani, TTP spokesperson, distanced from the bombing, saying it was not their policy to target mosques and other religious sites, adding that those taking part in such acts could face punitive action under Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan policy. His statement did not address why the TTP commander had claimed responsibility for the bombing, according to Arab News.
The TTP’s denial came after the Afghan Foreign Ministry condemned attacks on worshippers as contrary to the teachings of Islam. Relations are already strained between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who are sheltering the TTP leadership and fighters.
Why TTP indulge in insurgency?
Angered by Pakistan’s ties with Washington in the war on terrorism, the TTP was officially set up by Pakistani militants in 2007 when different outlawed militant groups agreed to work together against Pakistan and support the Afghan Taliban, who were fighting the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces.
The TTP seeks the release of its members in government custody, stricter enforcement of Islamic laws, and a reduction in Pakistani military presence in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the province bordering Afghanistan that it has long used as a base.
The TTP had stepped up attacks on the Pakistani army and police since November last when it unilaterally ended the ceasefire with the Pakistan government after the failure of talks hosted by Afghanistan’s government in Kabul. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has repeatedly warned police not to take part in operations against its fighters in the main city of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is separate from, but a close ally of, the Afghan Taliban, and that group’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 emboldened the TTP, which shares the group’s ideology.
TTP militants used to hide in Pakistan’s tribal northwest areas and also had sanctuary in Afghanistan, but they mostly lived a fugitive existence.
The Afghan Taliban started openly sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan when they came to power. The Afghan government also released TTP leaders and fighters who previous administrations had arrested in Kabul.
The Taliban have repeatedly said they could not allow anyone, including the TTP, to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan. But Pakistani officials say that there is a disconnect between the actions and words of the Afghan government, who could stop the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan from launching attacks inside Pakistan but fail to do so.
The Pakistani Taliban have showed their allegiance to the head of the Afghan Taliban, said Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. He added, however, they have their own strategy and agenda.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s operations have largely been aimed at targeting Pakistani security forces, quite similar to the Afghan Taliban’s strategy for ousting foreign forces from the country.
Pakistan has experienced innumerable militant attacks in the recent two decades, but there has been an uptick since November 2022. The Pakistani Taliban regularly carry out bombings or shooting, especially in the rugged and remote northwestern Pakistan, also a former TTP stronghold.
The recent wave of violence has raised fears among the residents of a possible military operation in the former tribal regions of North and South Waziristan, now two districts in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Hours after Monday’s bombing, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said that Afghan rulers must stand by their commitment to the international community to not allow anyone to use their soil for attacks against any other country.
