EDITORIAL: As the security forces carry out intelligence-based counter terrorism operations in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), terrorists are increasingly using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Some soldiers were on way to Kaichi Kumar area in Lakki Marwat on Sunday when an IED exploded near their vehicle.
A statement by the military’s media wing, ISPR, said a captain and six personnel embraced martyrdom in the blast, adding that “sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists present in the area, and perpetrators of this heinous act.” This is the second such attack in the current month. On June 1, three soldiers lost their lives and four others were injured in an IED blast in a Bannu area bordering the North Waziristan tribal district.
Counter-insurgency operations are achieving major successes against the faceless enemy. But the terrorists and their handlers in Afghanistan remain a clear and persistent threat to peace security in this country. Their host and sympathizer, the interim Afghan government, refuses to listen to Islamabad’s repeated requests to take action against TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and all other terrorist groups, deny them the use of Afghan soil for launching cross-border attacks or hand them over to Pakistan.
Where all our efforts have failed China, with which the Kabul government is eagerly developing economic and diplomatic relations, may be able to persuade the Afghan Taliban to rein in their TTP ideological brothers. Meanwhile, hundreds of TTP militants who were allowed to return under a dubious agreement, brokered by the Afghan Taliban, are causing trouble.
They were supposed to lay down their arms and integrate into this society. Instead, they started fighting the state. Affirming that nasty reality, a report the UN Monitoring Team recently submitted to the UN Security Council said the TTP had established a new base in KP in mid-2023.
These terrorists have also activated their local sleeper cells and other adherents. Little surprise then that attacks on the security forces as well as the police have escalated. These terrorists can prolong the conflict, but are no match for the state power. It may take some time, but ultimately they will be defeated.
Kinetic operations are not a long-term solution, though. Militant groups also attract young unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds with chances of earning a livelihood. Here is an example. Last month, after uncovering a nexus between militants and drug smugglers in Jamrud area of Khyber district, a police officer disclosed that to generate funds for itself the TTP had recruited 250 men (in just that one area) for distribution of drugs smuggled in from Afghanistan as well as to extort money from people. Those young men were trained to kill those obstructing the activity. They could also be used to plant IEDs. For sustainable peace, socio-economic development schemes must get serious attention.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024