The volatile tribal district of Kurram witnessed another scene of carnage, death and destruction on 21 November 2024. On this fateful day, a convoy of about 200 vehicles was travelling from Parachinar to Peshawar when at about 1:20 PM, gunmen jumped out of their vehicles and poured deadly gunfire on the travelling vehicles on the road, to extinguish the lives of 40 innocent residents of Parachinar including women and children. The attacked convoy consisted of mostly Shia Muslim members of the community.
According to local sources, this attack was in retaliation for a 12 October attack that had left 15 people dead, including two women and a child. No group has so far claimed responsibility, but it is very likely that the banned TTP is behind this atrocity, because it has been quite active in this region in the recent past. State security agencies are either responsible for criminal negligence or have made no efforts to curb the acts of violence in this sensitive area. Since July this year, over 80 people have been killed while travelling by road and the people of the region have protested, demanding peace and security. But the state agencies have so far failed miserably to provide relief to the people of the area.
The government now must make it priority number one to secure this region, or else this scourge will most likely spill over and then sectarian outfits could exploit the situation to create tensions across the country
Quite oblivious of the plight of these communities, today the federal government and the provincial authorities of KP province are embroiled in a bitter dispute because of the 24th November protest day announced by the PTI. Due to their infighting, both the federal and provincial authorities are least bothered about the security conditions in Kurram or other parts of KP. Government sources tend to express their indignation and condemnation of the acts of terrorism, and promises are made to deal with the terrorists with an iron hand and bring them to justice. But in practice, the poor residents of the areas are left to their own devices when bloodthirsty militants rule the roost.
Kurram district is extremely sensitive because of the sectarian divide and its proximity to Afghanistan along with the presence of obscurantist militants of the TTP. So far the government has not been able to control militancy or to settle tribal disputes that explode into tribal vendettas. The government now must make it priority number one to secure this region, or else this scourge will most likely spill over to other areas of the province and then sectarian outfits could exploit the situation to create tensions across the length and breadth of the country. Elements responsible for the latest atrocity must be tracked down and punished and our state agencies must come up with practical plans for the security and safety of the people of Kurram or this violence could engulf the entire country.
The resurgence of violence has escalated since the TTP ended a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to intensify its attacks. The group's activity has added another layer of insecurity in a region already plagued by sectarian and tribal conflicts.
The latest atrocity in Kurram is a stark reminder that the country is now at war with itself. Our brave soldiers are losing lives every day, and the enemy is not across the border but within the national boundaries. The hurried departure of the US forces from Afghanistan resulted in the Taliban control of Afghanistan and the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was the only world leader who openly welcomed the Taliban regime in Kabul and rejoiced at their victory declaring “The Taliban have broken the shackles of slavery.” Subsequently the then PTI-led federal government decided to release about 5,000 terrorists and militants of the TTP who had been languishing n Pakistani jails, and allowed them to settle down in the areas of their choice.
An outdated and wrong concept of ‘strategic depth’ seems to be guiding our policy planners even today. The attitude and behaviour of the Talban regime in Kabul should be a lesson to scrap the old policies of seeking such ‘strategic depth’ and start with a clean slate regarding our policy towards the Afghan Taliban.
The province of KP in the direct line of fire, and facing the brunt of the attacks by the militant forces of obscurantism and sectarianism. Far from the miscalculations of policy-makers, our soldiers on the ground are facing this danger with great courage and determination and almost everyday lives are being lost. So, far the total loss of lives at the hands of the militant forces of the Taliban has been more than the total loss of lives suffered in all the wars with the country’s traditional arch-nemesis India.
It is now time to take the war to the enemy, hit them in their safe sanctuaries and nip the evil in the bud – before further damage is done to our state institutions and social fabric. According to the army chief, the army is now paying a price in blood because of the incompetence of political forces. This unfortunate state of affairs since 2021 has not been settled.
In fact, the blame rests not just on the security establishment and federal governments. The provincial government of KP leaves much to be desired. The Chief Minister of the volatile province is neck deep in promoting the party agenda while criminally neglecting his role as an administrator of the province that is under threat by a bloody insurgency. When he devotes all his time to planning agitations against the federal authorities instead of fighting and curbing militancy and terrorism in his own province, the Chief Minister also becomes guilty of gross neglect.