The recent incidents, which have left more than 50 dead on both sides, show that militancy is far from under control.
The worst incident in Dera Ismail Khan took place in Daraban, where six militants attacked a military checkpost with an explosives-laden truck. All six militants were killed, but so were 23 soldiers. Two more soldiers were killed in the Kulachi area, while four militants were killed, while 17 militants were killed in the Darazinda area in an intelligence-based operation. Significantly, the Foreign Office then called in the Afghan chargé to issue a démarche. Considering that responsibility for the Daraban attack was claimed by the Tehrik Jihad Pakistan, though it is affiliated to the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan, this is a doubly major development, implicitly blaming the Afghan Taliban for giving the TTP a safe haven, and representing the first time that Pakistan has so overtly accused the Taliban of complicity in the increase in militancy.
The Taliban taking over once again in Kabul has not brought down the militancy in Pakistan. An operation against militancy was conducted, a multi-division operation commanded by lieutenant general. It was claimed that the militants had been uprooted, but that seems not to have been the case. The next step would be that of the spread of terror throughout the country, rather than the relatively limited portion of KP to which it seems confined for the time being. Are we heading towards another large-scale Army operation, perhaps corps-level, like the last one. However, before there is any such exercise, it needs to asked whether that exercise will lead to the elimination of militancy, or is the country to be condemned to resurgences of militancy and periodic operations to beat it back?
With elections around the corner, it would be advisable if the new government is allowed not just participation, but to take actual ownership and implement a policy backed by the nation, rather than fobbed off with a pat on the head by those who claim to be experts, but whose monopoly over policymaking does not seem to have solved the national interest. It cannot escape notice that the militant attacks have coincided with the caretaker government’s efforts to send Afghan refugees back home. This is not just a human issue, but economic interests, in foreign currency and other smuggling, and the drug trade, are also involved. All of this demands more commitment from both federal and provincial governments, more than is possible from caretakers who have overstayed their constitutional tenure.
