The rising graph of fatalities in attacks carried out by these extremists since the establishment of the ICT has become a matter of immediate concern. At least 435 people - 255 civilians, 27 SF personnel and 153 terrorists - have been killed in such violence between March 15, 2010 and March 30, 2014. This has resulted in a measure of neglect as far as other terrorist formations in the country are concerned, primarily including JMB, which also has proven links with the JeI....

It goes beyond saying that the ruling party has not yet overcome its old and traditional hostile attitude towards Mr. Musharraf and this is precisely why it does not disfavour many sectarian factions including Taliban and Al-Qaida, because “hatred for Musharraf” is what both the government and the terror outfits share in common. The extremists have gone a step further and have unravelled its anti-state ideology making it explicitly clear that they can go to any extent and will employ any means to achieve its nefarious ends.....

Our resurgent jihad factory seems to be working overtime, supplying well-trained and highly motivated fighters for the Syrian and Afghan war theatres. There’s no dearth of radicalised volunteers to take part both on the internal and external front. Though theoretically still proscribed, the militant groups are back in business exploring new frontiers for jihad.....

“I take pride,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a June 2005 interview, “in the fact that, although we have 150 million Muslims in our country as citizens, not one has been found to have joined the ranks of al-Qaeda or participated in the activities of [the] Taliban.” Nine years on, there is growing doubt over that claim: the Internet is bringing the global jihad home for a new generation of educated radical Islamists in India…..

The worst case scenario in Syria for Turkey was both the continuation of the Bashar al-Assad regime and Syria becoming a quagmire where ethnic and sectarian terror organizations run wild, like Afghanistan. Well, this has happened…..

The perception prevailing in Islamabad is that the possibility for any kind of successful talks is distant. But the Muslim League, despite knowing of its rare possibility, is all set to make it happen in a bid to perpetuate its regime. Surprisingly enough, the civil government has terribly failed to understand the reason behind the army’s declining from participating in the talks, while on the other hand, efforts are being made to convince the military leadership too. Sources reveal that the secret funds are being used as bribe to the potential extremists to pacify them for a certain period. All this news is indicative of the great distress and chaos that has wracked the country and is the stumbling block in the way of its national peace and security......

More worryingly, civilians continued to face the brunt, with civilian fatalities increasing by 7.44 percent in 2013. According to United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the number of civilians killed through 2013 surpassed civilian fatalities in all the previous years since the beginning of war in 2001, barring 2011, when the civilian fatalities stood at 3,021. UNAMA, however, started compiling data only from 2007, in which year 1,523 civilian deaths were documented across Afghanistan....

Would I send my brother to blow himself up and kill my sisters and brothers, children and grandparents? Would I willingly pay taxes to send drones to kill my daughters and granddaughters? I am no scholar, no expert on any religion, but if I maintained an attitude of fatherly responsibility about all of God’s children, how would it be? Would I really send my 21-year-old son to risk arrest in the name of promoting a video I clearly didn’t even take that much time to make?....

It is a basic tenet in politics that severing links with political actors is an extreme step that many countries should avoid. When these actors function in neighbouring countries, ignoring this tenet becomes an act of stupidity and comes at a high cost. By comparison, Iran has maintained its links with Hamas despite the latter's outrageous position, from Tehran's perspective, regarding the Syrian revolution against Bashar al-Assad, Iran's vital ally in the region.....

The nefarious series of deadly attacks, wanton killing and suicide bombing of Sufi-minded Ulema and spiritually-inclined Islamic scholars, at the hands of the neo-Kharijites, Salafists, Wahhabis and other religious goons of radicalised ideological strains, continues today unabated. To my horror, Maulana Usaid-ul-Haq Qadri Badayuni, who many of us adored as a source of intellectual and spiritual inspiration, was targeted and martyred on the 4th March of this year in a terrorist attack during his visit to the Sufi shrines in Baghdad, Iraq. He went there to visit particularly the shrine of the most revered Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani (r.a)....

This extremist neo-Islamist group represents one of two nihilistic worldviews that dominated the 21st century political discourse - global (dysfunctional) jihadism and global war on terrorism. Both, due to their applied mantra - with hammer, all problems are solvable - are destined to self-destruct....

The decade of instability, including blasts, drone attacks and targeted killings, has thrown Pakistani people deep into a grave sense of insecurity as nearly one hundred thousand people, including security personnel and terrorists, have so far been killed. The growing sense of insecurity has generated a strange kind of sadism and numbness among the people; they have become desensitized to the everyday killings as if it is some kind of routine affair in the country......

The consequences of former U.S. President George W. Bush’s war on terror may be responsible somehow, albeit not directly, for the emergence of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It may be an exaggeration to say that the situation is out of control and that it has become difficult, if not impossible, to contain the danger or overcome the consequences of the jihadist phenomenon, with those involved competing to see who can be the most violent…..

There is nothing to worry about the Taliban, the majority of whom are not anti-state; the minister assured a nation still reeling from the latest killing spree in the heart of the capital. He even sought the TTP’s help to track down the attackers who may well have come from the banned group’s own ranks. What an excellent example of bonhomie even though the newfound ‘patriots’ never falter when it comes to blowing up soldiers on the frontline and killing innocent civilians in the country’s heartland.....

The first Saudi who ought to go to prison is Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, former head of Saudi Intelligence. "Bandar Bush," as he is affectionately known in American organized crime circles, ran the main conduit of arms to the terrorists until he was relieved of his Syria duties two weeks ago. Bandar should be arrested and charged in connection with the false-flag chemical weapons attack in al-Ghouta last August. The whole Obama Administration, along with several top Israeli leaders, should be also arrested as suspected accessories. But the Saudi government is hardly in a position to prosecute terrorists. If laws against terrorism were enforced in the kingdom, the whole Saudi elite would have to go to jail…..

With no one to hold them to account, these radicalized forces find fertile grounds in Punjab, creating an escalating threat of destabilizing across the entire region. With little realistic expectations from the peace talks, several of the Army's self-created terrorist proxies have turned against their masters......

“But whoever deliberately slays another believer, his requital shall be hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him, and will reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering.” These timeless words should be included in the opening statement of the empowered government committee of negotiators when they establish the first direct contact with the TTP central Shura in the coming days.....

“Israel is technically at war with Lebanon and Syria.” Well, blow me down! Back to borders. There were, many decades ago, several villages in Lebanon which the French handed over to the Brits – when the Brits ran “Palestine” and the French controlled Lebanon and Syria….

It is these young ones who are in the right as they do not just represent peaceful resistance but also a way of existence which consists of education and progress. And this is why their future is the one that the TTP aims to destroy. May more of our young, mighty ones survive to tell the tale so future generations can learn and may our dead ones’ sacrifice never be forgotten....

As Taliban leaders go, Baitullah Mehsud was “flexible” enough to oblige the deep state in Islamabad by striking at proposed targets. Later, Hakimullah was a prickly customer and preferred a less-murky relationship with his victims. Now, the shift of Taliban headquarters to Kunar has moved the “Emirship” from the Mehsud tribe to a man from Swat. But he appears more pathologically focused on killing than even Hakimullah.....

For months, as the government, political parties and media all dithered over the pros and cons of a military operation against the murderous Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan flatly rejected the idea of a ceasefire prior to negotiations, instead setting up impossible preconditions for talks. Indeed, the more Pakistani politicians like Maulana Fazal ur Rahman and Imran Khan, demanded All Parties Conferences to cement a consensus about talking instead of fighting, the more the TTP was liable to launch attacks on military and civilians alike across the country…..

Can anyone question him on how a sovereign state could allow foreigners the use of its territory for purposes like terrorism, jihad or freedom struggle?....