Pakistan: Recent reports claim Greece apprehended eight individuals from Pakistan for allegedly planning terrorist attacks. This incident has once again raised concerns about Pakistan’s reputation as a significant source of jihadist terrorism worldwide.
Jihadist terrorism first appeared in Europe during the 1990s, but it took time for many European countries to become aware of this new development. Unfortunately, the threat posed by jihadist terrorism was frequently underestimated, overlooked, and misunderstood.
Transnational jihadist terrorism is the most concerning form of political-religious terrorism for Western values, interests, and societies. It results from a combination of Islamist ideology and the concept of jihad.
In this regard, Pakistan-origin terrorists have been at the forefront of executing this terrorism. In September 2020, Europe felt a sudden jolt when arrest warrants were issued for fourteen Pakistanis in Italy concerning the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.
It confirmed the growing presence of Pakistani radicals in Europe.
Three years back in December, French authorities arrested four Pakistani nationals who already knew about the attack. Since that, Pakistani terror supporters have been under watch in Europe, the UK, Spain, France, and Italy.
In another incident of Pakistan-origin terrorists planning a terror attack on European soil, Greek police arrested two Pakistani nationals in March 2023 who allegedly planned mass-casualty terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in the country.
As per the media there, the primary target was Chabad House, which also includes a Kosher restaurant and hosts other religious services. Their aim was not only to harm locals but also to undermine the sense of security in the country.
An analysis of the seized information and digital data revealed and confirmed that the network members had already chosen a building of particular importance as the target of the attack, carried out the area’s surveillance and received final instructions to carry out the attack.
In June 2023, sources confirmed that eight more Pakistani nationals had been arrested. All of them supposedly belong to the Sargodha area of Pakistan.
These arrests underline that the spike in illegal migration of radical Pakistanis to Greece has only undermined the country’s security concerns.
