Major terrorist groups that focused on conducting attacks in Pakistan included Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and ISIS-K, the US Bureau of Counterterrorism’s report said. “Pakistan reviewed and revised its 2015 National Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism, reducing the NAP from a 20-point plan to 14 key points, but made meager progress on the most difficult aspects — specifically its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination,” the report read.

Terrorist attacks were conducted against varied targets in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Sindh provinces by separatist militant groups. The terrorists used a range of tactics to attack varied targets, including IEDs, VBIEDs, suicide bombings, and targeted assassinations.

Pakistan was in 2018, designated a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. It was redesignated as a CPC in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

In 2018, FATF identified Pakistan as a jurisdiction with strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT system. Pakistan remained on the FATF grey list in 2021.

In 2021, members of religious minorities in Pakistan faced significant threats from terrorist groups. On January 3, ISIS-K militants claimed responsibility for the murders of 11 Shia Hazara coalminers in the Kachi district of Balochistan. On April 21, five persons were killed in a VBIED suicide attack in the parking lot of the Serena hotel in Quetta, Balochistan. According to details of the investigation, the attack targeted local and foreign officials. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, also claiming the targets were police and law enforcement, according to the Bureau of Counterterrorism’s report on terrorism in Pakistan.

A prominent journalist in Pakistan was on October 10, 2021, killed in an explosion in Hub, Balochistan. According to law enforcement, the bomb was attached to his vehicle. The BLA claimed responsibility for the attack.

On December 30, attackers ambushed security officials in North Waziristan. Four security personnel were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.

As per the ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2021: Pakistan’, the Pakistani government continued to implement the Antiterrorism Act of 1997, the National Counterterrorism Authority Act, the 2014 Investigation for Fair Trial Act, and major 2014 and 2020 amendments to the Antiterrorism Act, all of which give law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts enhanced powers in terrorism cases.

Military, paramilitary, and civilian security forces conducted CT operations throughout Pakistan against anti-state militants. Pakistani law allows for preventive detention, permits the death penalty for terrorism offences, and creates specialized courts to try terrorism cases, as per the official report.

The extremist doctrine was being taught by some madrassas in Pakistan.

While the government continued efforts to increase madrassa regulation, some analysts and madrassa reform proponents observed that many madrassas failed to register with the government, provide documentation of their sources of funding, or comply with laws governing acceptance of foreign students, according to the official report.

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The officials also exposed the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 2008 Mumbai attacks before the CTC by playing an audio clip of top LeT operative Sajid Mir, in which he can be heard giving instructions to the attackers at Chabad House, a Jewish outreach centre where several Israeli citizens were killed.

The officials were briefing the members of the CTC during an informal session held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the main targets of the attacks carried out in November 2008 by a 10-member LeT team.

Mir was arrested by Pakistani authorities and convicted of terror financing earlier this year, just ahead of a plenary meeting of the FATF. This followed years of claims by Pakistan that Mir was dead, an issue highlighted by one of the two intelligence officials who made the briefings. The terror-financing watchdog removed Pakistan from its grey list last week after more than four years.

In his presentation before the CTC, senior Intelligence Bureau officer Safi Rizvi said without naming Pakistan: “The FATF grey-listing of a troublesome jurisdiction and UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad [in 2001] and Lashkar-e-Taiba [in 2005] as well as nine India focused terrorist individuals have been able to create an impact by bringing down attacks on hard targets in Kashmir, reduction of terror bases across the border, open raising of funds and open terror activity between 2018 and mid-2021.”

He specifically mentioned the FATF listing of Pakistan, saying it provided India “a window of relative peace”.

“The FATF, in the last 10 years, has been a very effective tool to implement those very [UN] designations. While there were intelligence-led counter-terrorism operations, Balakot airstrikes [after the Pulwama attack of 2019] and removal of Article 370 from Kashmir which pushed the terror infrastructure in a troublesome jurisdiction [Pakistan], a large portion of the credit goes to FATF grey listing and the UN designation,” Rizvi said.

“In the mid of 2018, there were 600 terror bases across the border, which went down by 75% during FATF listing. This, we think, is the most important success, on account of which the counter-terrorism community should take a deeper look at as to how effective designations are,” he added.

He, however, expressed concerns that Pakistan’s removal from the grey list has already led to an increase in terrorist activity in India. “The moment talks started that grey listing [of Pakistan] is about to end, things have started to slide back. There is an increase in terror bases by 50% and we are expecting more scalable attacks on hard targets, and much more trouble,” Rizvi said.

By hard targets, the officer meant well-defended government establishments and military camps in Kashmir.

Earlier, in a presentation on terrorism, Pankaj Thakur, joint secretary in the home ministry, said the Mumbai attackers were trained in Muzaffarabad in June-August 2008 and were given motivational speeches by LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The attackers were also trained at Muridke near Lahore for two months in matters such as hostage-taking. In September 2008, they received marine training, including GPS-based navigation. When they infiltrated Mumbai, the attackers remained in constant touch with their LeT handlers through VoIP phone. Among the key conspirators was an ISI official identified only as Major Iqbal, Thakur said.

Thakur played the audio of Sajid Mir, in which the LeT operative responsible for surveillance of the targets in Mumbai, can be heard giving instructions to terrorists who were at Chabad House. He said a proposal for sanctioning Mir at the UN Security Council was on hold.

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