Terrorist outrage

There are some things that appear never to change. In yet another incident of terrorism, on May 24 in K-P, at least six policemen were killed and four others, including the district police officer (DPO), Kohat, injured when militants ambushed their vehicles on the Indus Highway near Mattani. The DPO, Dilawar Bangash, was on his way to Kohat from Peshawar when the convoy was ambushed near Ghaziabad check post. According to reports, the militants who completely destroyed one vehicle, were equipped with RPG-7 rockets and other sophisticated weapons. As the DPO was taken to Kohat by his driver, who had also been injured, the militants — said to be dozens in number — attacked another police mobile, triggering a gunfight between the two parties that lasted for some hours and resulted in still more injuries.

It is clear this was a well-planned and meticulously executed attack. The militants were not only well prepared and trained, but also armed with good intelligence. It would appear they were familiar with the travel plans of the DPO and his convoy. Investigations are on to determine if Bangash was a specific target or whether this was yet another of the attacks so regularly carried out against security personnel in many parts of the country, but perhaps most frequently in K-P. We also see that even now, the militants remain organised, efficient and quite capable of continuing the reign of death they have inflicted. Scores of security personnel have, over the years, died as a result. Their graves stand in many places.

Tackling this tragedy should be a priority for the incoming government. It has to be. There is really no choice in the matter. The new K-P government will, almost certainly, be led by Imran Khan’s PTI. The challenges before it are quite enormous. We can only hope that ways can be found to meet them and bring down the almost daily toll of death, which has already taken far too many lives and left behind a landscape spattered with the ugly stain of blood.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2013.