Islamabad blast raises ISKP betrayal angle as Pakistan sidesteps Intelligence lapses, targets India

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Within 24 hours of the deadly Islamabad blast that killed over 30 people and injured 160, Pakistan was quick to blame Afghanistan and India.

Pakistan, however, did not blame its own Intelligence factor and the fact that it has nurtured terror groups for long, which have now turned against it.

An assessment by the Indian agencies suggested that it could be the handiwork of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

However, both groups have not claimed credit for the attack.

Indian agencies also do not rule out the possibility of this attack being a diversionary tactic by the establishment to turn attention from the losses the Pakistan security forces have faced in Balochistan.

Unknown terrorists targeted devotees at the Khadja Tul Kubra Mosque in Islamabad's Tarlai Kalan area, when they were offering Friday prayers.

The pattern in which the attack was carried out and the fact that the Shias were targeted suggest that it could be the handiwork of either the TTP or ISKP.

Another question that Indian officials ask is why Pakistan was quick to blame India and Afghanistan. They are not speaking about the Intelligence failure, and one has to understand if this miss was deliberate or not, the official said.

The Pakistan establishment, whose de facto head is Field Marshal Asim Munir, has been left red-faced on several occasions in recent months.

It began with India's Operation Sindoor, and since then, Pakistan has been in a battle with multiple players.

It has been battling the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the TTP and also the Afghan Taliban. Further, there are protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) against the establishment and Intelligence Bureau officials say that the region is all set to blow up very soon. If this attack was carried out by the ISKP, then it is a clear sign that the ISI's strategy has blown up in its face.

The ISKP never trusted the Pakistan establishment, and like the TTP, wants the country to be ruled under Sharia law.

The ISI briefly roped in the ISKP to fight alongside the Lashkar-e-Taiba against the Afghan Taliban and TTP. However, this strategy blew up in the face of the ISI as the ISKP has yet again shown that it cannot be trusted, an official said.

The ISKP briefly agreed to battle alongside the Lashkar-e-Taiba due to its enmity with the Afghan Taliban.

It had hoped that Pakistan would have helped it in its fight against the Afghan Taliban, but then the ISI failed to live up to its commitment. Moreover, not all in the Islamic State, especially those part of the Syria and Iraq branches, wanted any alliance with the Pakistan establishment. They felt that the issues that the ISKP has been raising regarding Pakistan becoming an Islamic State run by the Sharia were being diluted due to this alliance.

An official said that it is too early to conclude whether it was the ISKP which carried out the attack. However, it bears all the signatures of the ISKP, the official said.

Before even a preliminary probe could begin, Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khwaja Asif, blamed the Afghan Taliban and India for the strike.

Analysts said that this knee-jerk reaction by Munir is a clear sign that he wants to divert attention from a variety of issues. He sought to divert the Balochistan issue and sought to set a narrative against India and the Taliban. Such a statement and the attack come at a time when Pakistan is drumming up a huge narrative against India.

It has allowed the Jaish-e-Mohammad to carry out radical rallies, while also trying to provoke the people in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The idea is to create unrest and then blame India for the same. In doing so, Pakistan forgot to assess its own internal security, and the blast in an urban area is proof of that, the experts say.