Why Peshawar was different

Since the attack I have been thinking that it was not just any other attack, of course the brutality, sickness, impotency and disregard for even the harmless and purest lives of children makes it different from all other attacks, but I was thinking there was more to it, not just that.

The thought slipped away somewhere in my mind. The recent attacks in France on Charlie hebdo made me rethink about the Peshawar attack. Attack on Charlie Hebdo was a desperate act by Al-Qaeda against the alleged disrespectful cartoon of Muhammad which is blasphemy for some fanatics, had another angle of competition, a competition against another terrorist organization ISIS which is becoming more notorious than them. This was in a way other than the killings and making a point, a message to the fellow Al-Qaeda fanatics and also to the world that we are still in play and it’s not only ISIS. There are several other analysis about freedom of expression, intolerance of Religions, the political and social angles of France, social seclusion and all but this is also prominent I think.

The Peshawar school attack was undertaken by the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) that is the Pakistani Taliban. There is an Afghanistan Taliban and Pakistan Taliban. The same Pakistan Taliban which was “Good Taliban” for the United States, the same which was responsible for attack on Malala. This attack similar to the Al-Qaeda’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo office was a response to the competition between the Afghanistan Taliban who was gaining popularity to be more brutal and notorious, so they came back in action with this. Also they were feeling less important or less covered by Media because of the rise of ISIS. The tactical aim of attack at the school being showing that they were more ruthless and brutal than the other Taliban and strategic aim being that it was an Army school, sending a message to the armed forces that let them operate freely till recently and now had started resisting them, that they have more power than them, and won’t accept the resistance.  

This was I guess the wake-up call for USA to realize that there is no “Good Taliban” left, or never was and on Tuesday 13^th January Us declared Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah a "global terrorist".

So now the bad state of the world fight against terrorism is that it is not just that the terrorists are fighting against the one they consider Infidels, but also are in competition among themselves. This makes them more dangerous and more unpredictable as their response is not solely dependent on the enemy but also the competition with similar terrorist organizations which is a dangerous development.