In the line of duty

The recent upsurge in terrorist activity continues taking its toll, with six soldiers martyred on Wednesday in an incident that the ISPR described as an attack on a military compound in Tank district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Three terrorists were attempting to enter a military compound but were encircled and killed. According to some earlier reports attributed to the district police officer, the terrorists were targeting a Frontier Constabulary fort. At the time of those reports, three soldiers had been martyred and 18 injured.

The same day, the ISPR said two soldiers, including an officer, were martyred and four terrorists killed in a shootout in Makin, South Waziristan. Last week, four soldiers were martyred in Hassan Khel, North Waziristan, in a gunbattle that caused “heavy casualties” to the terrorists. A month earlier, a terrorist also tried to enter a military checkpoint in North Waziristan district but was shot and killed after firing at soldiers and attempting to lob a grenade at them. Other similar lesser incidents, where no loss of life was recorded on the military side, have also been occurring with worrying frequency. But these attacks, which often get downplayed because of the avoidance of military losses, still matter.

The frequency of attacks should be an absolute concern for policymakers. Even if we were able to eliminate every attacker before they had had the opportunity to inflict any losses on our soldiers, the fact of the matter is that the best use of military force is not needing to use it. We know that while the parents, siblings, wives and children of thousands of soldiers and other security officials martyred in the long-running conflicts against the fundamentalist and separatist terrorists may be proud of their sacrifices, at the same time, many would rather hear that their loved ones returned home safe and sound, having never seen battle, because true peace had been achieved.

And while peace as an absolute state may only exist in an idyllic dream, the reality is that we do not seem anywhere near reducing the chances of martyrdom for any frontline security officials in much of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2022.

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