After Operation Sar Bakaf, It's Operation Zarb-e-Haider Against Afghan-Sponsored Terrorism in Pakistan

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 12 September 2025 Terrorists Enter Pakistan Daily To Carry Out Terror Acts. Main Points: 1. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has seen a rise in terrorism of late. 2. IG pf Pakhtunkhwa said 8000 Afghan operatives are active in the state. 3. State and federal governments are divided on how to deal with militants. 4. 19 Afghan militants were killed while sneaking into Waziristan. 5. Government will not talk to the TTP. ----- As Pakistan has launched another much-hyped limited operation named Zarb-e-Haider against Afghan-backed TTP and other militant organisations active in North and South Waziristan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after the failure of Operation Sar Bakaf in July, a debate is raging in Pakistan on how to deal with the militancy that is on the rise in the border districts between Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Imran Khan's party, PTI has called for a dialogue with the Afghan Taliban government to solve the issue of militancy, the League government has announced that it would not hold any talks with the outlawed outfit. During 2014, Pakistan army had conducted a full-fledged operation called Zarb-e-Azb. During that operation about 40,000 militants had crossed over to Afghanistan. The Imran Khan government had released 102 hard core leaders of the TTP and rehabilitated most of the TTP militants who returned from Afghanistan after 2018 but still majority of the TTP militants remained in Afghanistan. Imran Khan's party has been sympathetic to the TTP and therefore, the TTP is the de facto ruler in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where Imran Khan's PTI won and formed the government in the last rigged elections. That's why, while the federal government of PML-N has been carrying out military operations in the most-militancy infested districts of North and South Waziristan, KP chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur wants an end to the military operations against the TTP and dialogue with the Afghan Taliban government of Afghanistan. Ali Amin Gandapur even decided to visit Afghanistan to meet Afghan Taliban leadership and find a solution to the nagging problem of cross border terrorism but the Pakistan government has not unblocked his passport since May 9 civil unrest which the government blamed on PTI. Political analysts have said that the provincial government does not have the authority to decide or take initiative on national policy. Imran Khan has suggested that a delegation should be sent to Afghanistan to discuss the issue of TTP militancy from across Afghanistan. Interestingly, the Afghan Home Minister Mulla Yaqub has denied any hand in militancy in Pakistan and the presence of TTP militants and their hideouts in Afghanistan. He blamed the failure of security forces of Afghanistan for the insurgency. On the other hand, the Pak government claims to have presented proofs of the presence of TTP militants in Afghanistan, particularly in the states of Nangarhar, Paktika, Paktia and Khost. In fact, last month Pakistan had attacked TTP hideouts in Afghanistan. Almost every day, militants from Afghanistan enter Pakistan through Mahmund, Bajaur, Dir and Sambada borders and are killed in clashes with Pakistan's security forces. Lately, 18 Afghan militants were reportedly killed in North Waziristan. Though, all the limited and full-fledged operations of the Pak security forces failed to curb militancy and insurgency in the country, and the ongoing operation Zarb-Haider seems to be no different from them, the Pakistan government does not want to hold dialogue with the Afghanistan government. Afghanistan's Taliban government has not shown any eagerness to prevent the TTP militants from using their land to carry out militancy in Pakistan. In fact, the TTP militants use weapons and munitions left by the NATO forces in Afghanistan. The militants use drones and sophisticated weapons. Pakistan claims that the Afghan Taliban provide the TTP militants training and technical knowhow of guerrilla warfare. Recently, the Russian ambassador in Pakistan said that 23000 foreign militants were present in Afghanistan. The UN says that 6500 militants are present in the country. Therefore, the rise in insurgency in Pakistan and the presence of foreign militants, probably, ISIS militants point to a bigger international conspiracy. Though the US helped Taliban to come to power in Afghanistan, Russia is the only country that has recognised the Taliban government. Afghanistan has long been a battlefield of Russian and the American interests. It is an open secret that the ISIS and other militant outfits active in the Middle East are patronised and used by the US. The militants involved in the Russia concert hall attack were from IS-Khorasan based in Afghanistan. Now that the TTP has posed a serious threat to the unity and stability of Pakistan, the Islamic clerics of Pakistan are calling them Kharijites and 'Fitnatul Hindustan' whereas earlier they called these militant outfits 'holy warriors'(Mujahideen) and their act of terrorism an act of jihad (legitimate war). Pakistani cleric Mufti Abdur Rahim who had close rapport with Taliban leader Mullah Umar reminds Taliban leaders of the fatwas of their elders who had said that revolt against established and elected governments was 'Kharooj'(cause of expulsion from Islam) and the revolting groups the Kharijites (expelled groups).In an interview on his own YouTube channel, Mufti Abdur Rahim said that once three ulema from Arab world and three from Pakistan and Afghanistan (including Taliban ulema Mulla Umar, Ayman Al Zawahiri etc.) had discussion on the topic for a week and agreed on the fact that obedience to the state was obligatory to all Muslims and that participating in any war without the permission of the state was not jihad and therefore, not permissible. He said that according to the Doha agreement, Taliban will not allow its land to be used against any other country but they have violated this agreement and have allowed the TTP and other militant organisations to wage war against Pakistan from Afghanistan. This is the double standards of the Islamic clerics of Pakistan and Taliban. Though their top leadership accepted that according to Sariah, rebellion against a popular government was not jihad but still Mulla Umar and his group rebelled against the Afghan government and after a lot of bloodshed captured power. When the Pak government used the land of Bangladesh to carry out terrorist activities in India and infiltrated terrorists in Kashmir, they called it jihad. These ulema welcomed and congratulated Taliban when the toppled an elected government in Afghanistan, they said that Taliban were right but when the same Taliban are sending militants to carry out militancy in Pakistan, Mufti Abdur Rahim is reminding the Taliban of Shariah and of the fatwas of their elders. The truth is that this hypocrisy and double standards of Pakistani ulema has brought the Islamic world to this juncture. During the civil war in Syria in 2014-15, these clerics had said that the ISIS was committing the bloodshed to establish Caliphate and a little bloodshed was permissible to achieve a greater objective. Therefore, terrorism in Pakistan is the result of the hypocrisy and double standards of the political leaders, so-called intellectuals and Islamic clerics of Pakistan. They have popularised a culture of violence and are reaping the crops of their violent ideology. URl: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/sar-bakaf-zarb-e-haider-afghan-terrorism-pakistan/d/136812 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism