As the outcome of the high-voltage hostage-taking situation in Bannu shows the resolve of the security forces to effectively move against the militants, the recent incidents reinforce the fact that the spectre of militancy has been clandestinely raising its head in recent months to challenge the peace achieved following unmatched sacrifices rendered by the security forces and the people.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the entire country for that matter, has been grappling with multiple security challenges since the Taliban’s emergence in Afghanistan in the 1990s. In recent months, however, these challenges have grown in frequency and intensity, which have been vitiating the peaceful atmosphere and spreading terror across the region.
In the KP, it is commendable on the part of security forces to conduct intelligence based search and strike operations to stamp out the rising threat of terrorism. However, this security threat needs to be managed in a realistic manner. The political differences between the federal government and the KP government must not be come in the way to suppress the action against militant outfits.
In Bannu, a joint operation carried out by the provincial police and the army was a great example of the security forces’ coordination and determination to eliminate the ominous threat to peace. The timely action by the security forces in Bannu, as elsewhere in the province, frustrated the nefarious designs of the militants to get a safe passage out of the country.
Although the security situation has improved a great deal in significant parts of the province, the government has so far not been able to exert its authority and prevail on the militants either to lay down their arms and join the mainstream or leave the country.
Though TTP continues its attacks under the garb of retaliation against the government and the security forces since the suspension of peace talks in July, the recent Bannu compound attack marks new phase of terrorism in the province. The Bannu incident and other isolated violent activities show that the militants mainly target police and security installations. However, the victims also include their political opponents, representatives of the media, and religious minorities.
Thus far, the TTP’s attacks mainly remained confined to the erstwhile FATA region and some other parts of KP, but in the recent months it has adopted a more offensive strategy.
As such, the situation demands a fresh military operation to clean up the areas infested by the militant network in the merged tribal districts, parts of KP and Balochistan, which have suffered immensely due to the rise of militancy in the past two decades.
The Bannu operation shows the resolve the security forces to eliminate terror and restore peace to the country. It is now for the governments in the center and all the provinces to join hands to effectively implement anti-terror measures and drive out militants from the country.
