Pakistan today is very different from ten years ago. Due to brave military operations, extremism and terrorism have almost been rooted out, and the streets of the country are not as unsafe as they were in the past. However, as recent events have shown, the issue of militancy still exists, still costs the lives of many in our country, and thus still needs to be tackled on an urgent basis.
This unpleasant but evident fact was brought up in the recent National Assembly session. The government, and indeed the country, was forced to face the reality that militancy is still alive, and may be regrouping because of the killing of four women vocational trainers in North Waziristan on February 22. Just a day earlier, a night attack in the Shewa area ended with the driver of a vehicle killed and 10 people taken away.
These are dangerous signs that militancy is returning or at least finding new ways to grow in North Waziristan. 375,000 intelligence-based operations over four years may have temporarily halted terrorist groups but it is clear the advantage of a border to an unstable state gives such factions room to hide and then appear again when the dust settles. Despite fencing the border, it is clear that more critical steps need to be taken.
Terrorist factions, while having suffered losses, are still alive, still terrorise the local populace, as evidenced by the threat to music shop owners, barbers and most importantly women, and now that Pakistan is at a critical juncture, facilitating peace between the US and Afghanistan, are becoming bolder with their attacks. The government needs to take the security situation very seriously by working hand in hand with security forces through setting up effective policing.