WITH no let up in incidents of terrorism in KP, President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed to eliminate terrorism from the country, saying the blood of martyrs will not go in vain. Vowing to avenge the deaths, he asserted that Pakistan would not hesitate to strike back if attacked by anyone at borders or inside its territory. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has also vowed that the enemy would get a befitting response to its cowardly acts while KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gundapur has said a comprehensive plan has been prepared for restoration of law and order in the province.
An intelligence-based operation is already underway which has prevented countless tragedies and the credit for this surely goes to the defence forces and law enforcing agencies. However, the scale and intensity of the threat calls for an all out campaign to wipe out the menace of terrorism once for all, with or without cooperation from neighbouring Afghanistan which is assumed a status of hotbed of terrorism against Pakistan. This requires complete and effective coordination between the federal and the provincial government of KP and full national ownership of the anti-terrorism strategies of the defence forces. There can be no laxity on this account as the country can no more afford to wait in vain for a change of thinking on the other side of the Durand Line. The threat is assuming alarming proportions as perpetrators of dastardly acts and their backers are continuing their nefarious activities even during the holy month of Ramzan. Apart from the Mir Ali incident involving martyrdom of seven brave troops including two officers, there have been numerous other acts of terrorism in different parts of KP during the weekend. Militants targeted a police check post with hand grenades in Ambar Dub Chowk, a tehsil of Mohmand district leading to injury of two police personnel. In Bannu, a team of police and security forces were attacked in the jurisdiction of Otmanzai police station, on Sunday. Likewise, the Counter-Terrorism Department was approached by the Motorway Police with a complaint that their patrolling team was attacked near Kund, Nowshera on Saturday night. The new Government is gearing up to launch policies and programmes to bring the economy back on track but their success is deeply linked to a peaceful environment. Our armed forces have the demonstrated capability of producing the desired results and what we need is a political decision to go the whole hog against killers of innocent people. Unlike the past, the country is not expected to get the required cooperation of the influential countries of the globe, especially the United States in its war against terrorism after the disengagement of Washington from active military operation in the neighbouring country. Therefore, resources of the federal and KP governments will have to be used to make the operation an enduring success. The province is getting additional one percent of national resources under the NFC award to meet additional expenses on the war against terrorism. According to some estimates, it received Rs. 455 billion since then on this account but there was no corroborating evidence that the funds were utilized to boost capacity of its law enforcing agencies. During his tenure as Prime Minister of the coalition government, Shehbaz Sharif pointed out where the huge amount was spent in the last thirteen years as both the provincial CTD and Police were complaining to be ill-equipped to fight the menace. This issue needs to be sorted out besides the allegations that the TTP elements, which were brought back from Afghanistan under the garb of national reconciliation, are still being backed by some circles in the province. Similarly, the operation launched by the interim Government to repatriate illegal Afghan nationals was welcomed by people of Pakistan. However, the intended results are unlikely to be achieved until and unless all Afghans including those having valid documents are sent back to their homeland because of their questionable activities and linkages. Pakistan cannot afford the luxury of hosting millions of refugees for an indefinite period at the cost of its economy and security. The Taliban’s preference for a free for all borders is understandable but there should be zero tolerance for illegal crossings and movement of goods on the Western border.
