This week began with two terrorist attacks, claiming the lives of three Frontier Corps personnel. The first attack took place in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area and the other in Balochistan’s Chaman region near the Pak-Afghan border. The Peshawar attack has since been claimed by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The attack in Chaman was the second in a few days — an earlier one claiming the life of district’s police chief on the 10th of July. As the politico-legal wrangling and theatrical media coverage of the Prime Minister’s troubles and Panamagate continues this week, the deadly attacks serve as a reminder that the country’s existential war against religious terrorism continues. That the fight for survival appears to be mere background noise to the Panama issue — at least going by the Pakistani media’s apparent priorities — is a sad commentary on the state of our public discussion. Furthermore, that these attacks targeted the FC and police force underscores the more difficult battles of this war yet to come. Unfortunately, not enough progress has been made when it comes to strengthening the capacity of provincial-level law enforcement forces or enhancing coordination amongst provincial and federal law enforcement agencies. The sharing and joint use of intelligence in particular remains a deeply fraught process — to the advantage of the terrorists, of course. This is not to say that no progress at all was made, or that none is possible. Indeed, Counter-Terrorism Departments have been set up with at least some efficiency in Punjab and Sindh provinces. But law enforcement in most of the two Western provinces remains under the de facto control of the military. It cannot be emphasized enough that the war on terrorism will ultimately be won or lost depending on how effective civilian institutions — particularly law enforcement agencies and the police — are at countering the waves of terrorism. This is not to mention the continued reliance on the paramilitary Rangers to maintain a semblance of order in Karachi. It is understandable for military forces to take over such a responsibility in exceptional situations but the exception has to be prevented from becoming a norm, at all costs. It is, of course, understood that the internal security situation in western provinces is marked by presence of different types of militant groups — religious as well as ethnic. This situation may not be conducive for an immediate and full transfer of law enforcement responsibilities to civilian-led institutions. However, such a transfer has to be the principle that guides operations of the Armed Forces — in all areas of Pakistan. Moreover, at least when it comes to dealing with ethno-nationalist armed groups, negotiations and a peace process will be immensely important. Those who have taken up arms against the state under ethnic banners, particularly in Balochistan, are not motivated by millenarian ideological concerns such as those of religious fundamentalists who turn to terrorism. Instead they are driven by very real and historically-grounded material grievances that have already been recognised at the national level with the passage of the 18th amendment to the Constitution and the announcement of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package. * Published in Daily Times, July 18th, 2017.