Bloodshed in peace
IN Pakistan, it seems as if the enemies have made a ruckus from all sides. On the one hand, Pakistan is being paralyzed economically and on the other hand, the wave of terrorism has suddenly accelerated but incidents of terrorism are happening at such a time when the international financial institutions have taken advantage of Pakistan’s weak economic situation and forced the country to accept such conditions which do not seem to have a beneficious result in any case. In such a situation, the suicide bombing inside the mosque of Police Lines Peshawar could be part of a plan to further destabilize Pakistan.
Pakistan has fought a long war against terrorism in which the Pakistan army, police and civilians have sacrificed their lives in thousands. A resurgence in terrorist activity has started partly due to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ending the ceasefire and resuming attacks across the country by its militants. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, there has been a 55% increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. This shows that where the Taliban government seems to be unable to fulfil its promises, there is also a lapse of security agencies with our government due to which there is an increase in the incidents of terrorism even in sensitive places.
There are fears that Pakistan’s achievements against terrorism will be lost due to the resurgence of terrorism. Afghan policy has also enabled the TTP to be reorganized and the TTP itself is carrying out terrorist activities both across the border and within the country while the Afghan government seems unable to stop them. The Afghan Taliban government has not been able to help the Pakistani government except for the negotiations with the TTP, about six agreements of the Pakistan government with the TTP and other local militant factions have failed to achieve peace.
There are some unpleasant issues going on between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan whereas the TTP, under the auspices of India, is not stopping from its operations across the border. By colluding with the Pakistani government and the security agencies to resolve the issues with the Afghan Taliban, they have also recognized the role of the re-activating terrorists and their facilitators inside and outside the country because peace can be ensured only by combating terrorism in this region.
There are remnants of terrorists and their facilitators in our society. We will have to keep an eye on such suspicious persons and report them to the relevant institutions. By working on this approach at the level of the society, the work of the security institutions will become easier and it will also be possible to control terrorism. In this regard, all sections of the society should play their role. This is the time for shunning political division and blame game. In this difficult time, only through national unity can the scourge of terrorism be eradicated.
Undoubtedly, the stability of the country is linked to the end of terrorism. Sacrifices rendered by military personnel, police as well as civilians should not be wasted in power politics, instead the security lapses should be identified along with the investigation of the terrorist incident because the resurgence of terrorism has also affected the reputation of Pakistan and only by overcoming the institutions possible shortcomings, the security agencies can completely eliminate terrorism and restore Pakistan’s reputation.
—The writer is a regular columnist, based in Lahore.
