The country’s civil and military leadership on Friday held the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) responsible for the Peshawar carnage, deciding to take up the matter at the highest level with the interim Afghan government with a clear message that Pakistan will no longer tolerate cross-border terrorism.
Although the TTP denied its involvement, the briefing given to the civil and military leadership at the apex committee meeting suggested that the banned outfit indeed was the mastermind.
It was therefore decided to take up the issue with the highest Afghan leadership, according to official sources familiar with the committee meeting proceedings. The high-powered meeting was held at the Governor House in Peshawar on Friday in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack at a mosque in the Police Lines area.
The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, DG ISI Lt General Nadeem Anjum, Corps Commander Peshawar, DG MO and other military officials as well as senior cabinet members, chief ministers of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was invited to the all-important meeting, but it did not attend.
The marathon meeting discussed in detail how the suicide bomber managed to enter the high security zone, who was the perpetrator, and how the government was going to respond to the renewed threat posed by the TTP.
Insiders told The Express Tribune that Pakistan would seek the intervention of Afghan Taliban chief Haibuttallah Akhundzada to control the banned TTP. Though the TTP publicly denied its involvement, the participants of the meeting were informed that it was indeed the TTP which carried out the attack but because of backlash from the Afghan Taliban, it did not publicly own it.
The meeting noted that despite the resurgence of terrorism in the country, terrorists do not hold any specific area, therefore there was no need for a full scale military operations. Rather, interior minister Rana Sanaullah, who attended the meeting, told a private news channel that intelligence-based operations would continue.
The minister said that it was possible that the Peshawar attack masterminds were in Afghanistan and the government would raise the issue with the neighbouring country.
The meeting was informed that the Afghan Taliban expressed their inability to take on the TTP. However, Pakistan was not convinced and decided to convey to the Afghan leadership at the highest level that TTP sanctuaries must be eliminated.
The decision of the previous government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan to negotiate with the TTP and allow its members to resettle also came up for debate. It was acknowledged that the decision to negotiate with the TTP was taken in haste. It was a miscalculation and misjudgment, the meeting was told.
Army chief Gen Asim also addressed the apex committee meeting and some participants found him “very clear-headed” on security issues. He said the army would act according to the direction of the civilian government on the fight against terrorism.
