PERHAPS one of the main reasons why militancy continues to thrive in Pakistan is that the government refuses to emerge from its state of denial where certain extremist outfits are concerned. The remarks made by Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch in the Senate on Tuesday are a reflection of this. Mr Baloch said that as there was no evidence to link Jamaatud Dawa with Lashkar-e-Taiba, it would not be possible to proscribe the former, which he termed a ‘charity’ outfit. The statement seems to echo the ‘good militant, bad militant’ line apparently pursued by Pakistan’s security establishment. While the minister is yet to discover any solid evidence, and while JuD chief Hafiz Saeed may deny all links, the fact is that Jamaatud Dawa and LeT enjoy a symbiotic relationship. After the latter was banned in 2002, it began operating under the JuD moniker — itself a new take on Jamaatud Dawa wal Irshad formed in the 1980s at the height of the Afghan jihad. Hafiz Saeed was a key figure in LeT and it is no coincidence that both groups’ infrastructure and memberships overlap. The minister’s remarks in the Senate point to the persistent problem of militant groups rebranding themselves after proscription and carrying on as usual.

This phenomenon is not limited to JuDeT. Jaish-e-Mohammad, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehreek-i-Jafariya Pakistan — all supposedly banned— have renamed themselves after proscription. Only the names have changed; the leaderships, infrastructure and activities remain the same. The problem is that despite much outrage, especially after the APS Peshawar tragedy, we do not have a comprehensive counterterrorism plan to neutralise militant actors. Confronting the militants on the battlefield is one option, but to crack down on groups active in the cities, the best course is to build cases against leaders and workers of militant groups, freeze their funds and prevent them from carrying out propaganda activities, not merely ‘ban’ them. Unless the National Action Plan is recalibrated towards fully neutralising militant groups our counterterrorism efforts will continue to deliver unsatisfactory results.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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