Triple trouble
SUDDEN twin problems with the TLP and Afghanistan have ended the post-May lull in crises. The aura of power and progress built on the gains in May and risky foreign deals has vanished to expose the risks that the TTP, BLA and the TLP pose.
The TTP espouses extremism. Its agenda does not arise from the public’s discontent. It shuns legal politics to use force. We erred by talking to it. We now err in how we fight it. Instead of air and land salvos that also hit the local people, we must use precise commando attacks. No faction should be spared and the border must be secured — but only against TTP movement, to allow the local people to carry on with daily business and boost their incomes.
We’ve asked the Afghan Taliban to banish the TTP, but they echo what we used to tell past Afghan rulers about our ex-ally: they aren’t here, it’s your war, we are busy with ours. The US spent billions to crush them but lost after 20 years. Post-2021, however, the Taliban’s erstwhile host is witnessing even more pro-TTP Afghan rulers. They’re now good with all their past foes — Russia, Central Asian states, Iran, India and even the US — but fight their (past) ally. The gods fulfil dreams only to turn them into nightmares.
Cross-border conflicts have legal issues as in the case of Israel and India and may create a precedent that goes against us. UN laws let one hit and stop a state that breaches one’s border. But terrorists often live in and attack from one’s own soil while their planners sit abroad. So, both states share the blame. Hitting planners abroad isn’t self-defence, that too after the attack ends. War, talks, sanctions and a global push may not make the Afghan Taliban curb a ‘jihadi’ ally given the much bigger costs of the civil war it may start. So, we must secure our own soil. As we saw in May, wars boost even unloved rulers. We must endear the Afghans by avoiding war, trade and travel bans and cruel evictions but, along with other states, weaken both Taliban groups by blocking their arms and money flows for our good. Afghans may then end their despotic rule easily like other Saarc states without another long war — for their own good.
We must secure our own soil.
The BLA’s war is rooted in Baloch discontent. The question has often been raised whether or not those who fight states apparently for justice but kill civilians too are terrorists. Justice is an aim and terrorism is perceived by such groups as one tactic to get it. The TTP has both bad aims and tactics. Some groups have just aims but unjust tactics. Should one club them with the TTP? These groups oppose state abuse of citizens, but lose the moral case by killing citizens. They must not muddy their aim via bad tactics. But on our part, we should refrain from abducting or killing people or banning protest, as some then choose arms. If the state shows restraint, talks with the ‘good’ Baloch rebels may bear fruit.
The TLP has extremist aims like the TTP but is a legal party that often uses force. It’s hard to fix blame when bellicose police and angry protesters take on each other in street demonstrations. It’s clearer when the TLP abuses and kills people. Is that TTP-type mass terrorism though? Terrorism is the mass murder of civilians but our loose laws equate verbal threats with it. So, one is wary of a ban on the TLP for terrorism lest rights groups are next in line.
The PPP and MQM once used much more force on Karachiites and each other. Should we have banned them? The TLP ban via terrorism laws is dodgy — parties can only be banned via Supreme Court cases. So, it may just be to fool us that it’s banned when it’s not. To ban it via cases, we must show it harms our sovereignty and integrity — both loose, overused terms. It’s more precise to say that the TTP aims to end our physical freedom and BLA our physical unity. But being unregistered, they can’t be banned and the TLP doesn’t act so. We must curb its extremism socially and punish its heads for murder. But they now oddly elude our usually hard state. So, does the state truly aim to banish them or just tame them to serve its aims again later?
Terrorism is a key concept to study to end it. But it’s not a distinct crime — rather just a motive for crimes like murder, etc. So, its use in the law as a crime is dubious. It only lets states globally abuse rights. In tackling the terror trio’s triple trouble, we must shun state violence that several countries get accused of. ‘USrael’ even committed/ aided genocide in Gaza and other horrendous crimes in many places. Both global warlords must be pacified for long like Germany and Japan after 1945. But who’ll bell such big cats?
The writer has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in political economy and 25 years of grassroots to senior-level experiences across 50 countries.
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2025