Islamabad

Advertisment

With a rogue Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) increasing its intensity of terrorist attacks across the country, the Pakistani government is mulling launching a military offensive, according to Pakistani media reports. Close-door discussions have taken place over TTP and government officials are prepared to take counter-measures against an organisation that was allowed to grow and develop under their wings. 

“The situation in certain areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in the tribal districts, has deteriorated to the extent that a major military offensive is not ruled out,” an anonymous official was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune. 

Advertisment

“The talks with the TTP are no longer taking place and the return of militants as part of an earlier understanding will have to be reversed.”

The officials conceded that engaging in talks with the terror outfit was a big mistake and that all avenues of diplomacy had been exhausted. 

WATCH | Gravitas: Has Pakistan become a 'suicide state'?

Advertisment

×

Last month, TTP announced via a letter that it was calling off the ceasefire agreed upon with the Pakistani government. Since then, a series of gruesome, coordinated terrorist attacks have taken place across Pakistan with TTP claiming the responsibility for the majority. 

The talks between the government and TTP had collapsed in August as the former attempted to rein in the homegrown monster. 

During the talks, TTP refused to budge on its demand for the reversal of the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. 

Read more: Pakistan Taliban call off ceasefire with Pakistan government

What is TTP?

TTP, once considered an ally by the Pakistani government, has fashioned itself on the lines of the Afghan Taliban. 

Unlike what the officials sitting in Islamabad believed, TTP since its inception has been anti-Pakistan in its stance. The outfit has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the Durand Line as well.

Taliban, which the Pakistani government supports in one way or another, has been secretly supporting TTP terrorists as well. 

Experts are of the view that by allowing the Taliban and TTP to grow, Pakistan is effectively setting itself up for the same fate as Afghanistan.

The military offensive is perhaps the last roll of the dice by the Pakistani government to stop the TTP before it grows into an even more sinister threat. 

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: