Days of terror

The latest suicide attack in Peshawar highlights that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) is firmly in the grips of terror. At least 15 people were killed and 22 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside an imambargah at the time of Friday prayers on June 21. The country’s Shia community has repeatedly been the target of violence in the past and has borne the brunt of sectarian bloodshed. This brutal attack on the imambargah, coming as it does in the midst of Friday prayers, is condemnable. Following the May 11 elections, which ushered the Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) into power, there still has been no let-up in the number of terror incidents taking place in K-P. Militants have targeted polio workers, destroyed military targets and killed innocent civilians. Over the past three weeks, the K-P provincial assembly lost two lawmakers in quick succession when they were killed in separate attacks.



The PTI government faces an extraordinary challenge in providing peace and security to its citizens. Not only does this violence engender fear and uncertainty in the lives of the people of K-P, its continuation erodes the writ of the government. Those who voted for change in K-P must feel their spirits flagging at this point. One of the major promises made by the PTI in its election manifesto was to bring peace and security to the strife-torn province; now, the party must come good on its promise, otherwise, it will find itself in the unenviable position of failing to deliver on its manifesto.

Moreover, the unabated violence in the province could mean that soon people’s patience will wear thin with the PTI’s philosophy of talking to militants. The PTI should either work out a blueprint of negotiations with the perpetrators of violence in a manner that does not erode the state’s sovereignty or revise its policy of talking to them. Ideally, it needs to coordinate closely with the federal government and work out a strategy to go after militants. The federal government also needs to pay urgent attention to the province and extend all possible support to the provincial government. Meanwhile, the PTI should strengthen law and order in the province and work on improving the conviction rate. Otherwise, the future of K-P looks no better than its plight in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.

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