Militancy Growing in Southern Punjab

 by Mehlaqa Samdani

After a horrific bomb attack in Peshawar’s central Khyber Bazaar that killed almost fifty people and wounded countless others, Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, once again claimed that “all roads to lead to Waziristan”.

Over the past few weeks, the Pakistani government has made clear its intentions to launch a major offensive in South Waziristan and ‘target the Taliban epicenter’ .

And yet, in the absence of an overall strategy to combat extremism in the country, it is unclear how these operations alone will rein in militancy over the long-term. 

While attention is focused on the tribal belt, militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad are allowed to thrive as they "quietly (expand) their influence and win recruits in the country's heartland".

According to security analyst, Ayesha Siddiqa, there are “about 5000 to 9000 youth from South Punjab fighting in Afghanistan and Wazirstan” .

Similarly, Pakistani parliamentarians have for some time now been sounding the alarm against the militant sectarian outfit, Sipah-e-Sahaba (with ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaida), which has planned a major comeback in southern Punjab due to “a lack of action on the part of the government and its law-enforcement institutions”.