- Fight against terror
There have now been at least six major terrorist attacks on election rallies and meetings so far, which have caused well over a hundred deaths, many injuries, and two targeted assassinations. Despite marked improvement in the security situation since 2014, and assurances that security services were up to the task of securing the election, this campaign is still turning out even more violent, at least in terms of casualties, than 2013. Granted, it is never possible to completely rule out the chances of success for terrorists, even in the best case scenario. But it seems that some aspects outlined in the National Action Plan – like improving agency-to-agency intel sharing, etc – still need some work.
This sudden, unexpected wave of violence shows that we need to re-think, if not re-orient, our war effort. From the successes of Zarb-e-Azb and Rudd-ul-Fasaad – which smashed the terrorist infrastructure and busted sleeper cells up and down the country – to intel-based and combing operations, it took big sacrifices in men and money to make our cities and villages safe again. There can be no questioning of the military’s commitment in this long war. Yet it is also important to note that even beaten and on the run the enemy has been able to evolve and strike back, sometimes with devastating effect.
In moving forward, it is essential to understand why certain areas, and trends, continue to prove difficult. Quetta, for example, is still a big problem despite being a relatively small city with military presence for decades. And the enemy continues to find ways of confounding law enforcement agencies to smuggle different parts of suicide bombs into different cities. Now that the biggest obstacles in the war effort have been overcome – like removing the enemy’s command and control ability – it appears that it can still cause considerable damage even through desperate, sporadic attacks. All attention, then, must come to focus on sweeping away whatever presence and ability the enemy has managed to retain.