In the line of duty

Four soldiers were martyred in a counterterrorism operation in North Waziristan — another reminder of the sacrifices that are being made to help keep the country secure. The soldiers were part of an intelligence-based operation in the Vezhda Sar area near Miranshah, where the army was clearing a terrorist hideout, says an ISPR statement on Sunday. The military said that troops had cordoned off the area when the terrorists opened fire. The ensuing gunbattle saw four terrorists killed and four sepoys martyred. Sepoys Ismail Khan, Shahbaz Yasin, Rizwan Khan, and Raja Waheed Ahmed made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the country. Unfortunately, they will be the last ones who have to do so.

While we must credit the armed forces’ resolve to continue taking the battle to the terrorists and keeping them as far removed as possible from populated areas, we must also ask why deadly attacks continue to happen every few weeks. Just as previous surges by the military pushed the terrorists from settled areas to the fringes, we need another concerted effort to completely eliminate them. Targeted killings and kidnappings continue in North Waziristan, with some reports suggesting the numbers are actually rising. Whether in the tribal agency or down-country, the parties behind these crimes almost always end up being members of terrorist groups or terrorist-adjacent groups.

Few countries have been able to develop while their police forces have been actively and heavily involved in security operations within national borders. The mere fact that we need the army to be actively involved shows that our security problems are still worse than most, and even that comes after the massive counterterrorism and cleanup operations of the past few years. While we must again honour our soldiers’ sacrifices, not just this week, but in the months, years and decades past, we must wonder what it would take to make the death of a soldier a rarity rather than a regularity.

The poet Horace wrote, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” meaning “It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland.” We believe it is also sweet to live for the homeland, and hope a lasting solution allows our soldiers to do so.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2020.

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