The militant presence in the critical Tirah valley has become a source of instability and fear. The military’s response has been to intensify operations in the area. The Tirah valley has a strategic importance for both the military and militant groups.
Located in Khyber, part of the semi-autonomous tribal region, it is the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country. The army has launched scores of operations against the Taliban in the tribal region in recent years, but certain areas like the Tirah valley have remained outside its control. Securing the Tirah valley would be an important victory for the military in terms of reasserting its control on the rebellious northern regions. The current military’s campaign is therefore meant to cleanse the strategically important area of the malign presence of militants, and aims at the greater goal of securing the areas once and for all. The control of the military over the strategic heights is a good omen, which will make monitoring easier and manageable. For the militants, the Tirah valley is an important hideout that has strategic significance. On one side, it shares a border with Afghanistan while on the other side it leads to the plains of Bara, which connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar. The Khyber Agency also links several tribal districts to each other, serving as a north-south route within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the TTP, the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-e-Islam, all of whom see it as an important base for their activities. Khyber is among seven semi-autonomous tribal districts of Pakistan near the Afghan border and is rife with home-grown insurgents and home to religious extremist organizations.
The facts on the ground are that the Pakistan army has sacrificed too many personnel without any decisive action taken against militant groups that inhabit the area. It is hoped that the current operation shall be able to cleanse the area of militants. The area still remains a base for militants for attacks on Peshawar. The recent killings of army personnel should have served to strengthen the resolve of the security apparatus of ridding us of the threat in a decisive manner. While victory is not guaranteed by the current operation, the Pakistan Army needs to take control of it once again to get a moral victory and provide a promise of peace. The only viable solution however is to cleanse FATA as a whole from the militants. *