Terrorism In Pakistan

Terrorism in Pakistan is a recent phenomenon, mostly having sprung up around the start of the war on terror and continues to this day. There are many terrorist attacks in Pakistan every year, which have claimed more than 35, 000 lives.

War on Terror

After the 9/11 attacks in the US, Pakistan joined the US-led efforts in the war on terror, which made them target of Islamic terrorists. After the US invaded Afghanistan, many terrorist Al-Qaeda fighters fled to the mountainous region of Waziristan in Pakistan.

When Pakistan conducted operations in the mountainous regions, it had to go into tribal administered areas. At first the tribal leaders agreed to this after long negotiations, but as fighting spread elsewhere around the area, tribes became disgruntled, and a new terrorist group was formed, known as the Taliban of Pakistan, which has close links to Al-Qaeda. The main goal of the Taliban is to resist against the state of Pakistan and enforce Islamic law – called Sharia.

Terrorist Attacks

The Taliban in Pakistan has committed many terrorist attacks and atrocities, and huge numbers of lives have been lost to such acts of senseless violence. The terrorist attacks have been estimated to have cost Pakistan $67.9 billion.

One of the attacks by the Taliban is the school bus shooting of Malala Yousefzai, a 15-year-old activist blogger advocating for education and for women, who lived in a Taliban controlled area. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, citing the fact that sharia did not agree with education for girls, and many areas controlled by the Taliban had banned girls from schools. Yousefzai survived the attack and brought international and national attention to the plight of women in that area of the world.

Another attack, in which many lives were lost, was the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. In the attack, seven Taliban militants stormed a military school in Peshawar and opened fire in an auditorium killing many children. They then took hostages, as the Pakistan’s Special Services Group arrived. There was a standoff but all the terrorists were killed and 960 people were rescued. The attack cost 145 lives, of which 132 were children, and there were 114 non-fatal injuries. The attack is the deadliest terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history, and garnered outrage from the international community.

Terrorism has cost Pakistan dearly, both in lives and money, but it still continues to be a problem, even with support from the US. It is hard for the Pakistani military to combat the terrorists who resort to guerilla warfare, and indiscriminately attack the public, not sparing even children.