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An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar has granted bail to a suspect allegedly involved in generating funds for the so-called Islamic State in Pakistan's northwestern region.

Earlier this month security forces arrested Zahid Ullah, a resident of Peshawar on suspicion of raising money and recruiting for Islamic State.

The security forces also retrieved a notebook from the suspect that had details of people who donated to the IS, Pakistani media reported.

Political analyst A. Z. Hilali said this case is another example of how people hesitate to become a witness and testify against the terror culprits for fear of their safety.

The government should provide witness protection to people so that terror suspects could be brought to justice, A. Z. Hilali, head of Political Science Department at the Peshawar University told VOA.

When the terrorists or their facilitators are let go due to lack of evidence, they resume terror activities and prove to be even more fatal than before, Hilali added.

A report published by the daily Express Tribune last month showed how 116 suspected hardcore militants arrested by the security forces in Pakistan's Sindh province last year were either exonerated or granted bail by the courts due to lack of evidence, increasing their chances to resume their activities. In 2016, a group of women was also arrested in Karachi for raising funds for IS.

Many security and political analysts have repeatedly emphasized the need to amend the existing laws and introduce fresh legislation at the federal and provincial level in the wake of continuous terrorism in the country.

"There's a dire need for new legislation. The terrorists or their facilitators should be punished at any cost, even if there are no witnesses or there is a lack of evidence," Hilali said.

But Pervez Khattak, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province that shares border with Afghanistan, does not agree. We already have an effective system in place � police, inquiry system and courts are working hand in hand.

I am not aware of the details of this particular case, but I have faith in our judiciary system, Khattak told VOA.

Terror financing remains a challenge for the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province despite its ongoing efforts against terrorism. The government recently warned its departments to be watchful and make every effort to cut the money supply of banned terror groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Islamic State in the region.

Some analysts say many terror groups are able to generate hefty amounts through individuals and groups collecting money from masses under the guise of religious and charity purposes.

Khattak, however, has a different stance and told VOA, There are no terror outfits active in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and they are not raising funds. This is totally wrong information.

Experts say Islamic State does not hold a stronghold or any organized presence in Pakistan, but is trying to pave its way through several affiliates such as Tehreek-e-Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who have pledged allegiance to the terror outfit and are conducting attacks on its behalf.

To eradicate Islamic State militants from the semi-autonomous tribal region, Pakistan's army launched Operation Khyber 4 in July in the Rajgal Valley area of the Khyber Agency. Later in July, Pakistan's Army claimed the first phase of the operation was completed successfully.

In a recent address to a group of youngsters, Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa warned them to stay vigilant and cautious of terror groups such as IS that are trying to reach them through modern techniques and cyberspace.

The educated youth is the prime target of the ISIS and its affiliates, be extra cautious, Bajwa said.

Last year, Pakistan Intelligence Bureau Chief Aftab Sultan also warned of the emerging threat of the Islamic State that was particularly targeting youth. Sultan further said scores of people from Pakistan had traveled to Syria to join the IS ranks.

Two alleged IS leaders were killed by the security forces in Peshawar in June. In May, Pakistani security forces arrested five suspected IS militants from Karachi who had plans to carry out terror attacks.

In April, a young woman was captured in Lahore, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and was planning an attack on the Christian community on Easter eve.

Source: Voice of America

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Recent terror attacks claimed by the Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan indicate an increase in the atrocities it's committing against civilians and a deliberate attempt to wreak havoc and spread fear among noncombatants in the country.

Since its emergence in 2015, the extremist group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks across Afghanistan and has been accused of indiscriminately attacking civilians in general and the Shi'ite minority in particular.

On Monday, the terror group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack that occurred last week in Afghanistan's northern Sar-e-Pul province, killing about 54 Shi'ite Muslims, including children and elderly, in the Mirza Olang region.

Afghan officials said Wednesday that local police had discovered several mass graves in Sar-e-Pul province, containing the bodies of the Mirza Olang massacre.

In early August, the group attacked a Shi'ite mosque in western Herat province, killing and injuring dozens of worshippers.

In July 2016, IS claimed responsibility for attacking a rally of peaceful protesters in Kabul, killing more than 80 and injuring dozens more.

IS weakening?

Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan policy forum in Washington, said the increase in IS attacks in Afghanistan and the terror group's targeting of civilians illustrate weakness rather than strength.

"[IS] is intent to show that it's still relevant and dangerous in Afghanistan, even as its fighters are targeted by airstrikes, and even as its brutalities discredit it in the eyes of Afghans," Kugleman said. "On the contrary, we should read it as an effort on the part of an insecure IS to show that it still has clout."

Farooq Bashar, an Afghan analyst in Kabul, agreed with Kugleman's analysis and added that part of the increase in IS attacks is related to continuing White House deliberations about what course of action the U.S. will take in Afghanistan.

Bashar said he thought IS wanted to pose itself as a relevant group with which to to be reckoned.

"Islamic State is a new phenomenon in Afghanistan and by targeting Afghan civilians, it wants to demonstrate to the U.S. and the world that it has a strong presence in Afghanistan and the region," Bashar said.

Increasing pressure

Initially based in southern parts of eastern Nangarhar province, IS's Khorasan branch, also known as ISIS-K, emerged in early 2015 in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover those nations and "other nearby territories." The group is trying to expand to mountainous parts of the adjacent Kunar and Nuristan provinces, which share a border with Pakistan.

In addition, the terror group recently has made inroads in the country's northern Jawzjan and Sar-e-Pul provinces.

Most of the IS fighters are former members of the Pakistani Taliban group (TTP), many of whom belong to the Orokzai tribe in Pakistan, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

A number of Central Asian militants in Afghanistan, who previously were associated with al-Qaida and Taliban, have joined the IS cause. Some Afghan militants also have joined the terror group for financial incentives.

In recent months, U.S. and Afghan forces have been engaged in joint counterterrorism operations against IS in eastern Afghanistan, killing hundreds of its fighters, including several of its senior commanders.

American and Afghan military forces have promised to eliminate IS in Afghanistan in 2017.

Atrocities in Nangarhar

Initially emerging in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province, IS has attacked villages in several other districts there, targeting local residents and elders deemed repugnant to its extremist ideology, local Afghan officials told VOA.

An IS video in 2015 showed horrific killing of a dozen local men from the Shinwari tribe in Nangarhar, who were blindfolded by IS fighters before being blown up by bombs buried underneath them.

Last summer, IS militants launched a massive assault on various parts of Kot district in Nangarhar province, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of villagers.

Niaz Bibi, a mother of 12 in the remote village of Qalajaat, watched as IS fighters invaded her home and killed five of her nine sons because they were affiliated with the local police force.

"They first shot my sons and then beheaded them in front of me," Bibi told VOA in a telephone interview at the time.

In October 2016, the group overran several checkpoints operated by militias in Nangarhar's Pachiragam district, killing dozens of local militia members and civilians in the region, local tribesmen and authorities told VOA.

The terror group on many occasions also has abducted local villagers.

A group of women who were captured by IS fighters in Nangarhar in early 2016 � they were held captive for more than four months before they were released as part of a prisoner-swap deal negotiated by tribal elders in the region � told VOA that IS starved them in dark cells.

"They kept beating us and telling us that they would kill us because we had become Kaafir [non-Muslim]," one of the women told VOA.

Keeping schools shuttered

The group also has forbidden state-run and private schools from operating in areas under its control, depriving tens of thousands of students from school.

The terror group reportedly has warned girls in northern Jawzjan province, who make up 40 percent of the 18,000 enrolled students, not to attend schools. It requires schools in areas under its control to adopt IS curriculum, and it forces parents to send their children to a growing network of religious seminaries run by IS.

"IS fighters use local madrassas [seminaries] as military centers where they teach militancy, conduct military training and plan their activities," Abdul Zahir Haqqani, director of religious affairs in Nangarhar, told VOA in November 2016.

Source: Voice of America

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