Daily Times

It has been three days since a terrorist hopped on an explosives-laden motorcycle and va-voomed near a security convoy in Bannu. Two civilians are said to have lost their battle for life while at least ten people were injured. That Pakistan takes great pride in the gallantry of its armed men who are forever ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the homeland does not need to be said out loud but no man or woman, uniformed or civilian deserves to be massacred as fodder for those whose appetite keeps getting bigger and bigger.

A report published last month sighed how the militant outfits were no longer content with their onslaught on law enforcement agencies. Out of 65 attacks across the country, civilians accounted for an overwhelming 62 per cent of the deaths and 53 per cent of the injured. Meanwhile, the number of security forces personnel that have laid down their lives in this seemingly neverending fight against terrorism is, unfortunately, aiming for new records with every passing day.

Another report noted how casualties of security personnel had reached an eight-year-high in the first nine months of 2023. A high-stake sanitisation operation is underway, which saw at least eight terrorists being killed in South Waziristan on Sunday. But these small wins cannot make do with the growing lethality of our enemies’ designs. Both caretaker administration and army spokespersons have repeatedly attributed the latest wave of terror attacks to the Indian intelligence agency and under-the-table support from Kabul. However, neither of the accused is bothered to even clean the air let alone do something substantial to help eradicate militancy in the region. While Afghan Taliban prefer hollow lipservice and occasional largely exaggerated arrests to a concrete line of action, India finds it better to shrug its shoulders and wag an accusing finger in our direction.

The question that everyone in Islamabad and Rawalpindi should be asking themselves is how was this situation allowed to get out of our hands and what steps should we take to secure the lives of our own people. Headline-worthy pledges or not, Pakistan will need to be seen doing something. Even if it means a ruthless chase of the militia not only inside Pakistan but in Afghanistan as well. *