Of weapons and carriers

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A pertinent aspect of threat to security was raised by Pakistan at the UN forum, calling upon member states to intercept clandestine flows of arms to terror outfits. This is what ails Pakistan and other strife-torn countries as small and modern weapons are in plenty and, unfortunately, easily accessible.

This is so because wars and revulsion do not keep a math of armament, and warring states walk away after attaining their flimsy objectives by leaving behind victim entities in a state of lurch. That is what has happened in Afghanistan after decades of foreign occupation, and is now having a spillover impact on Pakistan as unscrupulous elements are digging their heels in the restive provinces of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to further their nefarious designs.

Pakistan's representative at an Arria-Formua meeting of the UN Security Council rightly pointed out names of entities such as the fugitive TTP, now holed up and operating from Afghanistan, as well as its new-found compatriots — BLA and Majeed Brigade — which have unleashed a reign of terror and are out to derail geo-economics and foreign relations, apart from sowing the seeds of dissent in Pakistan.

This phenomenon can only be checked by obstructing the oxygen of weapons that is accessible to them, and by making Kabul act against a plethora of non-state actors who have made safe havens in the southwest Asian state. The volatility in Balochistan is too serious to be left for Pakistan to handle it alone, and necessitates a coordinated effort for the collective peace and security of the region.

Apart from calling upon international actors to help check the growing weaponisation, it is incumbent upon authorities to do some rapid introspection. While Pakistan has widely relied on kinetic options, the fact that terror groups were still able to regroup and successfully further their objectives is a worrisome proposition.

Likewise, the inflow of men and material despite stringent monitoring hints at some inherent lacunas and without checking them nothing can be fixed. It's time for a two-pronged quick-fix at home and abroad.