WHEN Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or members of his government speak about terrorism- and militancy-related issues, it often only serves to expose their lack of understanding of the matter or their wilful denial of the facts, or perhaps both. Addressing parliamentarians in Sarajevo, Mr Sharif claimed not only that all sanctuaries of Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have been eliminated in Pakistan, but that there is no presence of the militant Islamic State group either in the country. He went on to claim credit, as has become his practice, for the multiple successes in the fight against militancy. Perhaps on all counts, Mr Sharif is wrong. To begin with, while military operations have cleared Fata of the strongholds of the banned TTP, the steady pace of militant attacks in tribal areas and the provinces suggests the continued existence of terrorist hideouts in the country. Indeed, that is the reason the military leadership has demanded greater action in Punjab — a vast jihadist infrastructure there operates undamaged and in plain sight. On Al Qaeda, while there have been great successes and the global attraction of its so-called brand has diminished, can the prime minister or indeed any official here realistically claim that every last strand of the group in Pakistan has been found and eliminated? What is the likelihood that Ayman al-Zawahiri is hiding on Pakistani soil?

It is, however, Mr Sharif’s careless words about IS that rankle most. For several reasons, IS has not emerged yet as the biggest militancy threat in the country — but it could if the state is not vigilant. In neighbouring Afghanistan, its growth is often linked to the mass arrival of the TTP and anti-Pakistan militants in eastern Afghanistan. While there are certainly domestic reasons for the expansion of IS in Afghanistan, the very existence of a Pak-Afghan nexus should be alarming for Pakistan. Moreover, in recent times, several of the biggest terrorist attacks in Pakistan have been claimed by IS. While those claims have been contested, the existence of IS propaganda cells here cannot be denied. So while Mr Sharif may be right that several successes have been won in the fight against militancy, the principal lesson has been that success is hard-fought and hard-earned. Politicians claiming credit for things they have not done is routine. But in the fight against militancy, it is the continuing lack of seriousness of the political leadership that is alarming.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2016