Competition inundates every field. The sphere of terrorism offers no exception. The drift of terrorism surfaced in the ongoing month of November is a telling reminder that competition has crept in the field of terrorism.
In November, two incidents of note are relevant so far. First, an attack on the Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan, on November 10. Reportedly, the Tehreke Taliban Pakistan (TTP) carried out the attack. Second, a suicide bombing incident near a police van parked adjacent to the district courts Islamabad on November 11. In this case, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JUA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The JUA is considered a faction of the TTP, which departed the TTP in August 2014 and rejoined it in August 2020. The factor common between the two gruesome incidents was that attackers were on a suicide mission. They were ready to die for the cause of terrorism promoted by their respective clusters.
The question is simple: if the JUA has been merged into the TTP, why does the JUA feel a need to claim a separate responsibility for an attack? Omens are many that the JUA has been trying to establish itself once again detached from the TTP. The reason could be that the leadership of the TTP is under pressure to mend its ways, whereas the JUA emerges as a rebellious group trying to present itself as an alternative doer, and hence attracting a pool of willing fighters to its fold.
It is known that, under the purported leadership of Omar Mukaram Khurasani, the JUA tried to make its........

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