Pakistan Reader# 440, 2 December 2022
Bhoomika Sesharaj
On 1 December, Interior Minister Rana Sanalluah said that the government was unable to reach a settlement with the TTP and that it had not initiated any sort of formal discussion with the group previously. This statement comes a day after an attack claimed by the TTP resulted in the deaths of four people in Quetta, with Sanaullah saying that previous dialogues were held “even in a state of war.” He expressed the contrasting factions of the TTP, and said that there were some factions who wanted reconciliation and others who “wanted to fight the Pakistani state.”
He held that there were forums available for those who are interested in peace and a formal cessation of force and terrorism and that military operations were underway to curb the further escalation of terror in the country. Sanaullah also raised concerns over the TTP suicide attack in Quetta and said that this “should be a cause for alarm” for the Afghan government. He reiterated the necessity of provincial governments and security agencies in KP and Balochistan to deal with the issue of rising militancy in a decisive manner, and that the government would assist them “without any delay.”
US announces TTP militant leaders as ‘terrorists’, promises action against terrorism
On 1 December, the United States named one of the leaders of the TTP, Mufti Hazrat Deroji, also known as Qari Amjad as a terrorist, along with the targeted militants from Al-Qaeda in South Asia. The US designated these names as a part of their “relentless efforts” to assure the curbing of terrorism and decreed that Afghanistan should not be used as a “platform for international terrorism.” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that they would continue to make use of “tools” to maintain their commitments to bar international terrorism and that these terror outfits would not be able “to operate with impunity in Afghanistan.” The US State Department listed the four of these militants as “global terrorists”, making it a criminal offence in the United States to engage in any transactions with them and the blocking of any assets they possess in the country. (Iftikhar A Khan, “No formal talks or agreement with TTP, says Rana Sanaullah,” Dawn, 2 December 2022; “US brands South Asian Al-Qaeda, TTP militants as global terrorists,” Dawn, 2 December 2022)
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