Recent media reports revealed that twenty-four Pakistani women along with their forty six children are languishing in Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul. These women had been arrested by the Afghan Intelligence Agency, NDS on charges of having affiliation with Daesh. Pakistani Diplomats from Embassy of Pakistan Kabul had visited the Pul-e-Charkhi jail two weeks back and had detailed interviews with those women. Later, their credentials had been sent to the Ministry of Interior by Pakistan Embassy Kabul for necessary verification through NARDA and relevant Departments. Further details revealed that out of these twenty-four ladies, six of them are from Punjab, one from Sindh, one from Balochistan and the rest of them are mostly from Orakzai agency. Most of these women have completed their sentences, whereas few are waiting for their trails. The reports suggest that most of these ladies are in jail because of the activities of their husbands who seem to be mostly from Afghanistan and were supposedly affiliated with ISIS. As reported, one lady accepted being a supporter of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a designated terrorist organization by the government of Pakistan. Two women accepted being Daesh supporters out of which one was sentenced to seventeen years and the other one is still under trial. The revelation of the arrest of 24 Pakistani women by Afghan Intelligence came at a crucial time, when the both counties are witnessing tense diplomatic relations. The Afghan authorities intentionally did not disclose these cases in the hope of a better opportunity to punch their neighboring Pakistan and this was the ripe time to malign Pakistan at international level. However, the Pakistan government must not rush to conclude the results of the cases portrayed by the Afghan authorities, rather a comprehensive probe must be carried out to find out the details of these reported Pakistani women and most importantly their spouses. It would be important to highlight that hundreds of thousands of Afghans had procured Pakistani National ID Cards and Passports through illegal means. Therefore, it is suggested that besides carrying out their background checks from their native towns, the DNA tests of those ladies and their children must be conducted to ascertain their true origin. BLA enjoys full freedom and support of NDS and RAW at Afghan soil. As far as the IS-K is concerned it may have some presence in Pakistan particularly in Ex. FATA and Southern Punjab.
In fact, IS-K is an emerging threat to the whole region including Pakistan and Afghanistan and both nations must cooperate with each other against this common enemy. Simple denial statements of Pakistani authorities would not serve the national interests. Presently, IS-K is targeting Pakistani youth particularly disadvantaged communities of our society through its jihadist ideology.
The jihadists elements and already radicalized a specific section of our society have great attraction in the IS-K manifesto and ongoing unemployment, injustice and other social illness are the factors which strengthen the IS-K propaganda. Therefore, Pakistan needs to formulate a comprehensive strategy against the threat posed by the IS-K at this early stage otherwise it will pose a bigger challenge to the country in the coming days.
