Pak military replaces one terror group with its own with an eye on India

In a strategic move aimed at securing uninterrupted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations with a focus on India, the Pakistani military has begun systematically replacing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) cadres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Dir district.

According to a Times of India report, this “clean-up drive,” launched in June, is intended to create safe zones for LeT’s training and regrouping in a new terrain bordering Afghanistan.

The operation has already claimed the lives of over two dozen TTP operatives and cleared the path for LeT to begin constructing a new terror hub — just weeks after the campaign began. A recent aerial strike on a suspected TTP facility in Tirah Valley on September 22 was part of this broader offensive, added the report, citing an intelligence dossier.

While Pakistan historically backed the Taliban — aiding their rise in Afghanistan against the Soviets and later the Americans — the TTP has proven far less compliant with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI. This growing friction has posed challenges to Islamabad’s renewed attempts to embed LeT in the Taliban heartland of KPK as it recalibrates its anti-India proxy infrastructure.

In a parallel effort, the ISI has also sought to tap local recruits in Lower Dir for anti-India jihad through the group Al Badr. However, LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen had virtually no presence in the area prior to the military’s Operation Sindoor in May, highlighting the military’s active role in clearing the field for its preferred proxies.

“Due to sectarian differences — TTP being Deobandi and anti-Pakistan and LeT following the Ahle Hadith ideology and being pro-Pakistan — there have been targeted killings of LeT commanders in Lower Dir by TTP operatives,” according to the dossier.

In 2011, the LeT had tried to establish a temporary training centre in Lower Dir, but a suicide bomb attack carried out by TTP at the funeral of an LeT commander had led to the deaths of dozens of LeT members, ToI quoted a source as saying.

Since June, Pakistani army and air force operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have killed over 40 civilians in airstrikes, which Islamabad claims are meant to make the region “terror free.” However, sources say the real objective is more selective.

“These operations are in reality focused on removing terrorists hostile to the Pakistani state while simultaneously facilitating the establishment of anti-India terror groups in the region, reflecting Pakistan’s long-term state strategy of endorsing ‘good terrorism’ while eliminating ‘bad terrorism’,” ToI quoted a source as saying.

LeT, one of Pakistan’s preferred proxies, has reportedly been instructed by the ISI to share its training infrastructure with Hizbul Mujahideen.

“Operationally, the LeT’s new training centre expected to be completed by Dec 2025 poses a long-term threat. While still under construction, it is already emerging as a fresh hub for terrorist training,” the source added.

With inputs from agencies