Bannu attack

A devastating suicide attack on a police station in Bannu town of K-P simply reminds that terror nexus is intact. It also comes as a reality check that all efforts to exterminate it through use of force, as well as a dialogue, have ended half-heartedly. These unscrupulous elements have an agenda to nurse, and are surely associated with geopolitical crosscurrents of the day. The car bomb blast that killed four members of a family, in a total of 13 civilians and a policeman, should be read in a series of attacks as the fragile district has been in the eye of the storm.

While Bannu sits at the crossroads of North Waziristan, Lakki Marwat and Karak, it has been a theatre of terrorist activities with the merchants of death making their way in and out via the western frontier. The fact that the Domel Police Station was hit so badly that it stands demolished beyond recognition hints at a mega-plot to terrorise the residents, weaken the civil society's resolve to fight terrorism, and derail the law-enforcement from its inviolable task of going after these faceless people.

Bannu's mayhem has come just a day after peace talks were held in Urumqi with Afghan authorities under the Chinese mediation. This indicates that Kabul has little or no control over these elements. It is also a foregone conclusion that all terror activities emanate from across the borders in Afghanistan, and the evil acts are implemented inside Pakistan by the terrorists' abettors.

TTP, BLA, Majeed Brigade, Al Qaeda remnants and other religio-political elements enjoy patronage from the Afghan government which uses them as tools to foment death and destruction in Pakistan. This is where the problem becomes complex, and Pakistan's sincerity to have a level-playing field with its western neighbour and talk out the irritants are taken for granted, and abused to the core. That all leaves Pakistan with no option but to exhibit zero-tolerance with all those operating in the shadows and benefiting from relaxations based on ethno-lingual considerations.