One step forward: two steps back. On one hand, there was a seven per cent reduction in militant attacks and a 56 per cent drop in fatalities last month, as noted by a security analyses. However, an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan also claimed the lives of six soldiers over the weekend. Things have come to a point that despite doubling down on its resolve to overcome the forces of terrorism, Pakistan is nowhere close to the finishing line. Returning with a greater bang and as a much-dreaded challenge to national security, terrorist outfits continue to hit us where it hurts–collecting points even on their bad days. The sanitisation operations being carried out to wipe their presence are constantly fuelled by the blood of our courageous men standing in the line of fire, something Islamabad needs to pay a little more attention to. Can letting their sacrifices go to waste as the civilian leadership offers hollow buzzwords serve any purpose? There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done by Islamabad to focus on implementing the National Action Plan. For years on end, we have been informed about plans in the pipeline to strengthen civilian-led counterterrorism departments. Can a hotchpotch of operational strategies actually help them emerge as a formidable force? It was only recently when a chief minister created a tempest in a teacup with offers of opening a direct channel with Kabul in a bid to tackle the sharp uptick in the number of attacks. Although the foreign office as well as the federation were constitutionally correct in shooting down his double Dutch arrangement, we have yet to see any progress in bringing Aghan Taliban on board to eliminate TTP and Baloch separatists operating from across the border. Greater clarity is needed regarding the state’s objectives in the latest effort to decisively disrupt the connection between terrorism and organized crime. Making promises is all well and good (the state must unleash the wrath of its force wherever needed), but to sit back and see its soldiers become collateral damage does not resemble a well-thought-out roadmap. *