Pakistan is notorious for creating monsters. While all the terror groups it created were directly only at India, the situation is fast changing in Pakistan.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) a terror group that Pakistan had created has turned out to be its biggest nightmare. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025, the TTP is emerging as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world. The report says that the four terror groups responsible for the most deaths globally in 2024 were the Islamic State, Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam was Muslimeen, TTP and al-Shabaab.
According to the report the 80 per cent of terror related deaths have been attributed to these four terror groups. Data shows that these terror groups in 2024 had taken the lives of 4,204 people. This is quite a stark difference as in the year 2014, deaths by these terror groups accounted for just 40 per cent of the deaths.
Pakistan’s proxies turn against them
Pakistan has over the years created and nurtured several terror outfits. While terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have remained largely loyal, Islamabad has not had much luck with a few others. For instance the Al-Qaeda’s 313 Brigade did turn against the ISI.
However the ISI managed to keep this outfit down. It passed information about its chief Ilyas Kashmiri to the US. The US took him down in a drone strike.
However the ISI found no such luck with the TTP. This outfit has been the most brutal and targeted the security forces in Pakistan in the most brutal manner. Further it is also hitting projects being undertaken by China. This has led to the relations getting strained between the two countries.
The TTP also has the backing of the Afghan Taliban and this has made the outfit even more brutal. The might of the TTP can be seen in the fact that it accounted for 558 deaths. In fact 90 per cent of the terror attacks that Pakistan has faced were carried out by the TTP. Pakistan had in fact created the TTP by pulling out disgruntled elements from the Afghan Taliban. While this was done to keep the Taliban under check, the TTP was quick to turn around and attack Pakistan instead.
TTP’s reign of terror
Pakistan recorded the second largest increase in terrorism deaths in 2024. The toll in fact was at 1,081, which means this is an increase by 45 per cent when compared the earlier years.
Out of the 1,081 deaths the TTP was responsible for 558 deaths in Pakistan. It carried out 482 attacks. There has been a massive resurgence in the activities of the TTP since the Taliban took over Afghanistan.In fact the TTP was quite a weak outfit in the years 2017 and 2021. However with the backing of the Taliban, its strength has grown multi-fold.
Further the TTP has largely focused on Khyber Pakthunkhwa which is at the northern border with Afghanistan. 96 per cent of the attacks carried out by the TTP are in this region.
The activities in this region has doubled in the last one year. In 2023 there were 182 attacks while in 2024 it was 462. The death toll for 2023 and 2024 stood at 265 and 545 respectively. One of the deadliest attacks it carried out when the TTP killed 16 Pakistani soldiers at an army outpost. This was in retaliation to the killing of the TTP commanders.
51 per cent of the attacks was on the police while 16 per cent was on the military. The civilians accounted for 16 per cent of the attacks.
Formed in 2007, the TTP’s primary agenda of late has been to overthrow the Pakistan government through acts of terror. The group operates along the Pakistan border with Afghanistan.
