Shutting the door on ISIS

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Firmly!

The FO says one thing one day and an opposite thing the next day. On Thursday it said no ISIS footprints were found in Pakistan. Speaking to the Senate Foreign Affairs committee in February, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry had admitted that the ISIS posed a “serious threat” to the country. He had assured that the government would take all steps necessary to counter the threat, which has not been done. What worries one is the logic of the FO spokesperson. He has ruled out ISIS gathering support in Pakistan on the supposed ground that the “people of Pakistan have no ideological, ethnic or linguistic affinities with IS and its members.”Do the European volunteers who have joined the throng of murderers in hundreds share the mentioned affinities with ISIS?

There are warnings from outside. Gen John F Campbell, NATO’s commander in Afghanistan, has said ISIS is recruiting in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan though the organisation is not yet operational. From recruitment to making the group operational may not require a long period. Last year there were reports of over 300 Pakistanis fighting under the banner of ISIS abroad. In case the organisation, which has grown at a much faster rate than any other terrorist group, was to decide to turn its attention towards Pakistan, there will be a deadly addition to a toxic mix of terrorist groups operating inside the country.

Even if ISIS is not presently operating inside Pakistan there is a dire need to block all sources of nourishment to the deadly network. ISIS has a strong sectarian bias shared by a number of terrorist groups and banned organisations in Pakistan. These have provided ISIS volunteers in Iraq and Syria and will do so in Pakistan. There is an urgent need to eliminate such terrorist groups and banned organisations working under new names. Seminaries known to propagate sectarian hatred have to be watched and their funds regulated. These tasks need to be carried out urgently to shut the door firmly on ISIS.

1 COMMENT

  1. Israelies were eating popcorn and watching the fun when Al Nusrah front funded by Saudies were fighting the Syrian army..Now that Iranian Saudi tensions escalated to a point were the ISIS is killing Shias in Saudi arabia and Pakistan, the game has became wider. Was the attack on Nawaz helicopter ordered by Saudies for not joining Yemen operation? Paskistan is desperately trying to divert atttention to Kashmir through OIC and local agents but then , India is watching and waiting for a chance to bomb the terrorist bases operating in Pakistan at Mudrike.

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