Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

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  • Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan: Unravelling Pakistan’s Enduring Threat

    The 4 November 2023 attack on the Pakistan Air Force base by an affiliate of the TTP highlights the threat posed by the group to the Pakistani state.

    November 16, 2023

    TTP’s Political Violence and Jihad

    The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims that the Pakistani state does not practice true Islam and therefore it can wage a legitimate Jihad against it.

    February 14, 2023

    Saurav Pandey asked: How does the current political and security turmoil in Pakistan affect India’s security?

    Nazir Ahmad Mir replies: Pakistan has perennially faced domestic political crises and internal security challenges. In the ongoing political and economic crisis, politicians are entirely focused on safeguarding their personal and party interests. This is negatively impacting the economically weaker sections the most. To deal with the economic challenges, Islamabad has been seeking the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ‘friendly countries’ like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China.

    Emerging Fault Lines between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban

    Given the ideological convergence the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has with the Taliban, the latter may not be able or willing to fulfil Pakistan’s demand that its activities be curbed.

    December 09, 2022

    Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan: Origin, Evolution and Future Portents

    • Publisher: KW Publishers
      2021
    This volume is a result of an abiding interest in the phenomenon of radical Islamist terror that haunts Pakistan today. The research questions that it seeks to answer are: Why do the tribal areas remain a problem for rulers and administrators throughout history? How and why did radical Islam embed itself in the terrain?

    Was it influenced by the overall emphasis on Islam in Pakistani state politics? What is the role of history and politics in fuelling religious passions in the area? What has led to the survival of TTP despite humongous efforts of the Pakistan Army to decimate it? What are the future portents of such a movement? What impact is it likely to have on Pakistani society and politics?

    The volume makes an attempt to understand the context in which Pakistani Taliban or TTP, as it is called now, came into being, the enabling factors that made the growth of TTP possible, the formation and growth of TTP as a militant organisation, its leadership and its activities over the years, its ideological orientation and its worldview, its aims and objectives, its relationship with other militant groups in and outside Pakistan and the efforts of the Pakistani establishment to come to terms with such a phenomenon. There is an attempt to analyse the process and study its implications for Pakistan and the region.

    • ISBN: 978-93-91490-02-7 ,
    • Price: ₹. 880/-
    • E-copy available
    2021

    Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and its Relations with Afghan Taliban

    The relationship between TTP, or Pakistani Taliban, and Afghan Taliban will continue to be dictated by religious-ideological convergence, ethnic-fraternal linkages and the close camaraderie that emerged while they were fighting together against the foreign ‘occupying’ forces in Afghanistan.

    September 16, 2021

    Utkarsh Dwivedi asked: What is the fundamental difference between the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban?

    Ashok Kumar Behuria replies: Disparate Taliban (plural) groups, operating inside Pakistan, came together towards the close of 2007 to form Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    TTP is a radical conglomerate, wedded to the idea of bringing Sharia rule to Pakistan. They are close to the Haqqani group, an important constituent of the Afghan Taliban. Haqqanis are known to be ideologically intolerant and Wahabi in their outlook.

    Pakistan Is Headed For a Dangerous Denouement

    Pakistan Is Headed For a Dangerous Denouement

    If the Pakistan Army fails to conclusively eliminate the scourge in the north-west, it will soon reach Punjab, which has been relatively free of major incidents of violence.

    December 22, 2014

    Peshawar Massacre and the Afghan Endgame

    Peshawar Massacre and the Afghan Endgame

    The Peshawar school massacre does not appear to be a simple tit-for-tat game; it has an intricate link to the Afghan endgame in which Pakistan wants to be the victor.

    December 22, 2014

    Neha asked : How did Taliban rise in Pakistan? Is Pakistan Government's endeavour to hold peace talks a right step to end the violence?

    Ashok Kumar Behuria replies: I presume the question pertains to the rise of the Pakistani Taliban.

    The Pakistani Taliban's rise is both due to acts of omission and commission on the part of the government in Pakistan. When the US launched its war on terror, Pakistan willingly joined it as a partner and pledged to sever its links with the Afghan Taliban. However, in reality it provided these elements sanctuary in both Quetta (Balochistan) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Afghan Taliban had sympathisers among the local population, some of whom had even fought along with them during their rise as a political force in Afghanistan. As Pakistan hobnobbed with these forces even after joining the war on terror in Afghanistan against them, the Pakistani sympathisers of the Afghan Taliban in the tribal areas slowly metamorphosed into a coalition of radical Islamist forces calling itself Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, better known in its acronymic form as TTP.

    While the groups consisting of TTP grew in stature and influence, the Pakistani state ignored them. Initially it sought to handle them either through talks or half hearted and episodic military thrusts that lacked both strategy and conviction. Pakistan's policy of treating the Afghan Taliban as a strategic asset forced it to turn a blind eye to the umbilical cord that brought the two groups together. When finally it decided to take on the TTP, the Afghan Taliban chose to remain neutral. However, even then, Pakistani security forces have found it difficult to deal with such an ideological group, which seeks to impose Sharia and reverse the entire process of democratic state formation in Pakistan.

    Talks, that are being attempted now to reconcile the TTP with the state of Pakistan, are a legitimate option which any government worth the name would like to exercise to bring peace to its population. However, in the case of Pakistan and the TTP, such efforts may not succeed. This is mainly because of the irreconcilable positions from which they are approaching the whole issue of reconciliation. Moreover, Pakistan state has had several talks with the TTP since 2004 (the agreements of Shakai, Sararogha, Swat, etc.), which have ended in failure earlier. The talks are not going to work unless one of the parties sheds its ideological orientation and succumbs to the position of the other. Even if the strategy may look right, any desperate attempt to placate the TTP to have a positive outcome from the talks will be disastrous for Pakistan. Remember the old saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions!!

    Posted on April 4, 2014

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