ISLAMABAD: Defence ministry report submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday feared all kinds of threats in the way of holding elections at present including Cross-border terrorism, instability in the country, threats from the TTP, IS fighters returning to Pakistan from several countries, the ill-designs of the Indian spy agency RAW and even an all-out war with the neighbouring country.

The report, filed in the top court along with an application to withdraw its election-date order, feared a spike in terrorism threats if elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies were held before polls in other assemblies.

The report noted that elections in Punjab would fuel fault lines in Pakistan and might encourage India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to take benefit of ethnic issues, water disputes, and other issues.

A charged environment in Punjab might lead to instability in the country, the report said, highlighting that there were several threat alerts rec­ei­ved against senior leaders of different political parties, mostly in Punjab.

In case terrorist alerts are materialised, it may cause chaos and further deepen the existing political polarisation, which could lead to instability and breakdown like what happened after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the report said.

Against the backdrop of the highly charged political environment in Punjab and other parts of the country in general as well as the element of violence recently introduced in the politics, the possibility of clashes among the political workers of different political parties had risen exponentially and could complicate law and order situation and might be conducive for terrorists, it said.

The report explained that the security situation over the last few years had necessitated the concurrent deployment of many armed forces troops on both the eastern and western borders of the country.

Besides, despite a ceasefire understanding in place, India continued to challenge Pakistan’s response capacity through frequent violations along the Line of Control (LOC) and international borders.

Moreover, the report said that along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, elements like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) persistently attempted infiltration, and several exchanges of fire with the interim Afghan government elements had taken place.

It highlighted 72 cross-border incidents since January in which many Pakistani soldiers were martyred and many of them injured.

Likewise, the cross-border movement and attacks against the security forces by militant organisations in Balochistan, utilising territory of neighbouring countries, were constant challenges along the Pakistan-Iran border, with eight cross-border incidents since January involving the martyrdom of nine soldiers.

Referring to Punjab, the report said a fresh wave of terrorism had emerged in the province, with some 150 threat warnings received from January 2022 to April 2023. Of them, 78 threats had been averted through counterterrorism or intelligence-based operations, but eight had been materialised, it said.

It said sleeper cells of terrorist elements were active in Punjab, especially south Punjab, and even in Islamabad, as evident from the high-profile attacks, the report said.

Besides, several militants belonging to the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group and other outfits were also returning to Pakistan from Syria, Yemen and the Middle East, it said.

The report feared that Pakistan would continue to be a victim of the “global great game”, where India enjoyed primacy.

Pakistan was not only threatened due to insecurity because of external aggression but also by internal instability, it said, adding that both were interlinked “since the internal chaos invites external aggression”.

Moreover, India would continue with strategic coercion, including through terrorism in Pakistan, and exploit any opportunity at operational and tactic levels for limited military action to all-out war, the report feared.