NEW DELHI: As Pakistan reels under multiple crises—political instability, economic turmoil, high inflation, uncertainty over an IMF bailout package, etc—Monday delivered an explosive blow. A suicide bomber blew himself in a mosque at the Police Lines in Peshawar, killing over 80 people (the toll continues to rise) and leaving many more critically injured. The Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP) that has escalated attacks on the Pakistani military took responsibility for the attack. While Pakistan has tried negotiations with the terrorists (hoping that the Afghan Taliban would ask the group to fall in line) as well a crackdown on the insurgents, nothing seems to have worked. The TTP has regrouped and come back hard at the Pakistani state, says Ramanathan Kumar, former Special Secretary, Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW). Speaking to StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale on ‘The Gist’, Kumar also spoke about why things may not be hunky dory between the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Pakistani deep state. Tune in for more.
