ISLAMABAD: The locals of hilly areas of Malakand Division have started mulling over migrating to safer places amid possibility of a targeted and intelligence-based operation against the militants associated with outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following the recent surge in attacks in the areas, it was learnt reliably.
Local officials told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that a targeted and intelligence-based operation is likely to clear the areas from the militants who have once again started threatening peace in this locality.
A few hundred TTP militants have reportedly arrived in recent months, mostly in the mountainous areas in Matta area of Swat and Dir of Malakand division, threatening peace in these areas.
The resurgence of the militants has forced the locals to think of moving to safer places in case of a possible targeted operation against the militants.
A member of the peace committee in Swat, who wished not to be named, said that the government needs to take swift steps before it is too late. He said that the local population, located close to the hilly areas where the terrorists are hiding, are now considering migrating to safer places.
According to the local officials, the militants are also believed to have support of the local facilitators as they have begun extorting money and are carrying out targeted attacks against notables and members of the peace committees.
The militants have expanded their operations from Swat to parts of Dir district through launching terrorist attacks in recent weeks.
A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly MPA Malik Liaqat Khan was targeted in an attack that left four people dead in Lower Dir in August.
On September 15, a former member of the peace committee was shot dead by suspected militants in Charbagh tehsil in Swat. Earlier eight persons, including two security personnel and a former peace committee member, were also killed in an explosion in Kabul on September 13.
These back to back terror attacks in the last two months have prompted the locals in Swat and Dir to stage protest demonstrations against the presence of the militants in the mountainous areas. They have urged the government to restore peace and take steps to prevent resurgence of the militants.
On September 16, Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Hassan Azhar Hayat visited Swat and met tribal elders and notables of Malakand, Buner, Shangla and Mardan, according to an ISPR statement.
It stated that the Corps Commander assured the locals that army will do everything possible to ensure that no one takes the law in his own hands, disturbing the hard-earned peace and economic activities vital for livelihood of local population.
After months of peace talks between the government of Pakistan and the TTP facilitated by the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan, the militant group ended the “indefinite” ceasefire agreement on September 4 and resumed militant activities by targeting police personnel in Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar the same day.
Since then, the TTP has launched a number of terror attacks in several parts of the country against the security forces and local elders.
According to the official data of the Ministry of Interior, the militants carried out a total of 434 terror attacks from January to June 2022, killing a total of 323 – 188 law enforcement agencies’ personnel and 135 civilians.
During the year, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remained at the top of the terrorists’ hit list with a total of 247 terror attacks with 223 fatalities followed by Balochistan where 171 terror attacks were carried out by the militants and 87 fatalities during the period.
The terrorists also carried out 12 attacks in Sindh with a total of eight fatalities, three attacks in Islamabad with two fatalities, and one in Punjab with three fatalities.
The terrorists also carried out eight attacks in July and four in August, killing one and six, respectively.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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