- More on Operation Ghazi
TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JA) has released a video announcing the launch of “Operation Ghazi” in the honour of Maulvi Ghazi Abdul Rasheed who was killed in July 2007 by Pakistan Army inside Lal Masjid, Islamabad.
The chief of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar also appealed to other religious groups to form a united front, wherein he would be ready to fight as an ordinary fighter, a possible hint of rejoining the main TTP of Fazl Ullah group. The main TTP and Waziristan Mehsud Taliban (Sajna Group) have already merged on Feb 02, 2017.
TTP-JA has already claimed the Chaman (Balochistan) blast on FC jointly with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s (LeJ) Al-Alami; and blast in Kurram Agency on 21 Jan, 2017 claimed by LeJ Al-Alami that they claim was their combined work with Shahryar group of Mehsud Taliban, which means these factions have already joined hands together.
The TTP JA claimed that the previous Operation Saut-al-Raad (Sound of Thunder), which was aimed at hit and run tactics, had achieved its targets and that now it was time to launch big operations. TTP-JA has already started this by launching big scale attacks on three Pakistan Army check posts in Baizai (border area with Afghanistan) simultaneously claiming to have inflicted heavy losses onto the Pakistan Army, while conceding that two of its fighters were killed and three injured.
Police sources, talking to Pakistan Today, revealed that law enforcement agencies are now expecting some large scale attacks in Mohmand Agency, Bajaur Agency and Peshawar on the LEAs while sectarian minorities will be targeted too. Shia community-dominated areas in KP/FATA and Quetta in Balochistan will be likely targets of these attacks.
Targets that have been named by TTP-JA for Operation Ghazi
- All legislative bodies, which means parliament and all provincial assemblies, and possibly local bodies.
- Pakistan Army, intelligence agencies and its supporting institutions, which may be police, Levies, FC, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) etc.
- Judiciary and its supporting institutions i.e., lawyers’ bodies and lawyers’ organisations.
- Interest-based economic institutions i.e., banks and financial institutions. Secular political parties, which has come to mean, more or less, all political parties with exception of only a few (not all) Islamic political parties.
- Anti-Islamic ideology constructive and welfare organisations which the militants believe are involved in spreading vulgarity. Police sources say that this refers to the INGOs/NGOs and Civil Society Organisations involved in advocacy of human rights, women rights and community awareness campaigns.
- Who promote themselves as contenders of blasphemy, which police sources say refers to some liberal writers and liberal political leaders/workers.
- Media persons who propagate for the benefits of our enemies i.e., Pakistan Army, government etc. These are top of the list of the targets. Practically these include most of the media persons and media houses.
- Aman Lashkar (pro government armed militias) and Aman Committees (peace committees).
- Educational institutions providing strength and support to the governments, excluding common educational institutions. Police sources say that this refers to all the English medium private schools, colleges and universities which are running co-educational institutions.
- In the video, the militant organisation has claimed that it will not target crowded places, like market, hospitals, mosques or other processions. It remains to be seen whether they will refrain from attacking the same, because even these targets have hit by the organisation in the past.