It’s Bisham now

Terror is testing the resilience of the nation. The suicide attack on Chinese engineers in the Bisham area of Shangla district simply reminds us that the footprint of non-state actors, and especially those who want to bleed Pakistan, are around us, and the fight against them is yet to culminate. Attacking Chinese interests has attained a signature proposition from those who don’t want to see geo-economics come full circle, and CPEC is in the eye of the storm. Perhaps, this is why the foreign assets are increasingly under attack in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with the express intention to derail development. It is no rocket-science to identify as to who could be the beneficiaries of such plots, as Pakistan is deeply penetrated with moles and agents from neighbouring countries, as well as extra-territorial characters with an axe to grind.

The ramming of a terrorist vehicle in the difficult terrain of K-P, as engineers were on their way to their camp in Dasu, is the second such incident. In 2021, as many as 13 Chinese staff were killed in upper Kohistan, and similar incidents were reported in Gwadar and elsewhere in the restive province, apart from bombing of Confucius Centre at Karachi University. All these attacks have one thing in common: the enemy is home-grown and foreign funded, out to push Pakistan into the abyss of chaos and confusion. This demands a policy perspective to overcome such a slur, and not merely military muscles to push them back. The tendency in our midst to opt for violence to address political and regional puzzles is at the root cause of revulsion. Exposing such characters and their abettors is a must, and they should stand social retribution in the form of being outcast.

Pakistan is faced with a two-pronged challenge: to stem the inflow of unscrupulous elements from across the borders, and to take out the sleeper cells of TTP and Baloch insurgents. Revitalising the counterterrorism approach on modern lines is the way to go, and must be backed with more cooperation avenues with foreign developers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2024.

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