Counterterrorism,also known as anti-terrorism,relates to the practices,military tactics,techniques,and strategies that governments,law enforcement,businesses,and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.
Chaudhry Parvez Elahi Warraich is a Pakistani politician who is the former Chief Minister of Punjab. He was a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023,when he,as chief minister,dissolved the assembly. In 2023,he left the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) along with his son,Moonis Elahi,and 10 other former PML(Q) MPAs over political rifts with the party president and cousin,Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. He was appointed president of the PTI. He was the former president of the Punjab Division of the PML(Q).
The Sipah-e-Sahaba (SS),also known as the Millat-e-Islamiyya (MI),is a Sunni Islamist banned Deobandi organisation in Pakistan. Founded by Pakistani cleric Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1989 after breaking away from Sunni Deobandi party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F),it was based in Jhang,Punjab,but had offices in all of Pakistan's provinces and territories. It operated as a federal and provincial political party until it was banned and outlawed as a terrorist organization by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf in 2002. Even though it has been banned by the Pakistani government on numerous occasions,the Sipah-e-Sahaba has continued to operate under a different name throughout the country;it has significant underground support in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The organization was also banned by the United Kingdom,where there is a significant Pakistani diaspora population,in 2001.
Law enforcement in Pakistan is one of the three main components of the criminal justice system of Pakistan,alongside the judiciary and the prisons. The country has a mix of federal,provincial and territorial police forces with both general and specialised functions,but the senior ranks of all the provincial forces and most of the federal ones are manned by members of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP). The PSP is one of the most prestigious part of the Central Superior Services,Pakistan's main civil service organisation. Federal law enforcement agencies are generally overseen by the Ministry of Interior of the Government of Pakistan,while provincial police forces are overseen by a department of the government of that province.
The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror,is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),Jundallah,Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI),TNSM,al-Qaeda,and their Central Asian allies such as the ISIL–Khorasan (ISIL),Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,East Turkistan Movement,Emirate of Caucasus,and elements of organized crime. Formerly a war,it is now a low-level insurgency as of 2017.
Ijaz Ahmed Shah is a Pakistani politician,former officer of the Pakistan Army,and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer. He was serving as the Federal Minister for Narcotics Control,was in office since 11 December 2020. Previously,he served as the Federal Minister for interior from April 2019 to 11 December 2020 and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from March 2019 to April 2019. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 2018 till July 2022.
After the Central Intelligence Agency lost its role as the coordinator of the entire United States Intelligence Community (IC),special coordinating structures were created by each president to fit his administrative style and the perceived level of threat from terrorists during his term.
The Pakistani intelligence community comprises the various intelligence agencies of Pakistan that work internally and externally to manage,research and collect intelligence necessary for national security. Consolidated intelligence organizations include the personnel and members of the intelligence agencies,military intelligence,and civilian intelligence and analysis directorates operationalized under the executive ministries of the government of Pakistan.
Abdul Rehman Malik NI was a Pakistani politician and a Federal Investigation Agency officer,having served as the Interior Minister from being appointed on 25 March 2008 until 16 March 2013.
The Federal Investigation Agency is a border control,criminal investigation,counter-intelligence and security agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan,tasked with investigative jurisdiction on undertaking operations against terrorism,espionage,federal crimes,smuggling as well as infringement and other specific crimes.
The July 2010 Lahore bombings occurred on 1 July 2010 in Lahore,Punjab,Pakistan. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Sufi shrine,Data Darbar Complex. At least 50 people were killed and 200 others were hurt in the blasts. It was the biggest attack on a Sufi shrine in Pakistan since 2001.
Chaudhary Aslam Khan Swati was a Pakistani police officer. From 2005 to 2014 Aslam arrested and killed terrorists,gangwar-criminals,target killers and extortionists belonging to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA),TMP,Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ),Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). On 9 January 2014,he was killed in a bomb blast carried out by the TTP.
On 2 November 2014,a suicide bombing took place at Wagah border following the daily border ceremony in Pakistan. The attack was claimed by three rival militant groups.
The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) (Urdu: قومیمقتدرہِانسدادِدہشتگردی),commonly called Nacta,is a Pakistani internal security organization responsible for making counter terrorism and counter extremism policies and strategies. It also develops action plans against terrorism and extremism and reviews their implementation. It is mandated to devise a counter-terrorism strategy that should address short,medium and long-term goals and devise action plans for their implementation. It formulates threat assessments with periodic reviews. It advises the Federal Government on making adequate and timely efforts to counter terrorism and extremism.
The Counter Terrorism Department (Urdu:سررشتہِتحقیقاتِجرائم،پاکستان;CTD) formerly known as the Crime Investigation Department (CID),are crime scene investigation,interrogation,anti-terrorism,and intelligence bureaus of the provincial police services of Pakistan.
On 13 February 2017,a suicide bombing took place on the Mall Road in Lahore,Pakistan,where a group of chemists and pharmacists were holding a protest at Charing Cross in front of the Punjab provincial assembly. According to Punjab Police sources,18 people were killed,including several police officials,and at least 87 were injured.
On 13 July 2018,ahead of Pakistan's general election,two bombings took place at election rallies in Bannu and Mastung.
On 22 July 2018,3 days before general elections,a suicide bomber blew himself near the vehicle of former KPK provincial minister of Agriculture Ikramullah Khan Gandapur in Kulachi,Dera Ismail Khan District,Pakistan. The prime target of attack,Gandapur was brought to Dera Ismail Khan in critical condition where he succumbed to his wounds. Apart from Gandapur,his driver and one of his guards was also killed and three more people were injured. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assault describing Gandapur's killing of their colleague militants as the motive. The attack was widely condemned across Pakistan.
The 2019 Lahore bombing was a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday 8 May 2019,one day after the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,outside Data Darbar in Lahore,Pakistan. CCTV footage of the blast showed that at 8:45 am,an explosion occurred outside Data Darbar’s second gate (Bukhari). According to the Punjab chief minister's spokesperson,Shahbaz Gill- the suicide bomber- was a 15 year old boy (Imran). The boy came out of a nearby fruit shop,walked to a police van,and detonated the bomb. The blast immediately killed 6 police officers,4 civilians,and injured circa 26. Once the explosion registered,the area went into panic causing emergency response forces to be delayed due to the large number of visitors. This led to three more people dying after the explosion,one civilian and a police officer outside the Data Darbar from wounds,and one civilian while aid was being administered (Imran). Soon after an evacuation was finished,security forces swept across the nearby area to establish a perimeter around the site,setting up checkpoints and alerting hospitals and other shrines(Riaz). Officials released the following statement:"Police were the prime target in this attack. We are collecting forensic evidence to ascertain the nature of the blast," said Ashfaq Khan,deputy inspector general of police operations in Lahore. After the perimeter had been set up,an initial probe taken by a heavy contingent of police,counter-terrorism units,and forensic officials showed that the bomb contained 7 kilograms of explosive material and was stored in the teenager’s jacket (Imran). The attack was claimed by the Hizbul Ahrar,a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban,a movement that has been fighting the government for years. In a statement,the group said the attack targeted police and had been timed to avoid civilian casualties. However,police said a general security alert was in force but there had been no specific warning about a threat to the Data Darbar,which was protected by heavy layers of security(U.S Bureau of Counterterrorism).
Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is a counter-insurgency operation launched by the government of Pakistan in June 2024. The operation was approved by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The operation will include not only military action,but also socio-economic uplift to deter extremism.
