PESHAWAR: The letter issued by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) South Zone leadership has surfaced on encrypted messaging platforms, directing its commanders in the Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and Lakki districts to return to Afghanistan through designated safe routes.
The message was circulated across encrypted TTP WhatsApp and Telegram groups earlier this week.
The letter, signed by the head of the group’s South Zone network, states that he has safely reached Bermal, a district located in Afghanistan’s Paktika province near the Pakistani border.
The letter urges all regional commanders to follow suit and relocate to Bermal using previously established and secure travel routes.
It further focuses strict operational security measures, instructing members not to use mobile phones or any other form of communication device while traveling.
Furthermore, the directive indicates ongoing efforts by the TTP to consolidate its presence across the border amid increased counter-terrorism pressure in Pakistan’s southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.
In this regard, the recent security operations in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and Lakki Marwat have reportedly disrupted several militant hideouts, prompting many TTP operatives to seek refuge in Afghanistan.
In this sense, the group’s instruction to avoid electronic communication is seen as a precaution against surveillance and tracking by security agencies, who have intensified monitoring of militant movements in the border areas.
Pakistan has expressed concern over the regrouping of TTP elements in Afghanistan, calling on the interim Afghan authorities to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism.
The Afghan administration has denied providing sanctuary to the group but has acknowledged the presence of some TTP fighters who fled across the border in recent years.
