Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan calls on jihadis to attack Indian security forces
New Delhi: At a time when India is trying to isolate Pakistan on global platforms for sponsoring terror, one of the most notorious outfit that operates from its soil, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), has given a fresh call for attack on Indian security forces.
According to a report in DNA, the Pakistan Taliban wants to spread jihad in Kashmir and has sounded a clarion call for more attacks on the Indian army. The move comes just days after the recent Uri attack where many jawans lost their lives fighting terrorists, leading to souring of ties between India and Pakistan.
Only last month, the TTP had declared in a public statement that it was not interested in stepping into the Kashmir conflict and was focussing on fighting the Pakistan military, which it believes to be a bigger enemy for their role against the mujaheedins.
The TTP is an alliance of militant groups formed in 2007 to unify groups fighting against the Pakistani military in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan.
The main targets of the terror group have always been the Pakistani military and the US, which is why the new call for jihad in Kashmir as come as a big surprise for many.
US-based Arif Jamal, a scholar on Islamic extremist group, in the report explains that this new shift in strategy only shows that the TTP and Pakistan Army are hand-in-glove, despite public proclamations of bitter enmity.
“It also shows that Pakistan Army is again activating TTP and other Deobandi groups in Kashmir and India for jihad,’’ he said, adding how the Pakistani army currently supports the Afghan Taliban.
“On the one hand, bringing Deobandi TTP and Jaish-e-Mohammad to Kashmir will divert their jihadi activities outside Pakistan and, on the other hand, it will please Afghan Taliban whose support is crucial to Pakistan Army. From the TTP viewpoint, it is a good strategy to get support from Pakistan Army and lower its pressure on the group TTP. Behind the smokescreen of jihad in Kashmir and India, they will expand their jihadist infrastructure inside Pakistan,’’ Jamal said.
