Militants once again seem to have sprung into action in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Just a day after a bloody clash in Mohmand Agency which left 24 insurgents and 12 security personnel dead, 45 people were killed and more than 60 wounded when a suicide bomber ripped through a crowd at a distribution point of the World Food Programme in Khar, the main town of Bajaur, on Saturday morning. The bombing was the latest in a string of attacks in the troubled region. Militants started targeting other areas after being flushed out of South Waziristan where the paramilitary forces are now overseeing the resettlement of the displaced population. There is no doubt that repatriation of the internally displaced persons to their homes, coming on the heels of a successful military operation, will re-establish stability in the area. But somehow the security agencies lacked coordinated efforts to prevent insurgents escaping offensives in one tribal agency from taking sanctuary in the other. The increased mobility of militants can further compound the problem. The terrorist attack on five military checkposts in Mohmand Agency on Thursday which sparked a bloody clash in the midnight is a case in point. All of this is happening at a time when the Obama Administration is turning up the pressure on Pakistan to launch a major offensive in North Waziristan where the Haqqani network has been the focus of its attention. There are news reports indicating that Jalaluddin Haqqanis son and the groups key fundraiser and financial operative in the Middle East, Nasiruddin, was recently arrested along with four fellow militants in Peshawar.
One thing is clear that the fight against terrorism is going to be long drawn out. The government and its security apparatus need to remember that it can be won with a renewed sense of resolve and commitment to eliminate the scourge that continues to take innocent lives and threatens our sovereignty. Political expediency and leniency have no place in this equation.