This refers to your editorial, ‘Who commands?’ (June 14), which highlighted the dangerous situation in the tribal areas of the country where the writ of the state has clearly ceased to exist. Our law-enforcement agencies have also seemingly lost their control over the areas. The influence of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Al-Qaeda network is so strong that they ordered the local population, administration, contractors engaged in development projects and non-governmental organisation to vacate the Mehsud-populated areas.
This is a serious threat and challenge to the authority of both the state and the armed forces. What is holding the army leadership back from undertaking a clean-up operation against the militants, insurgents and extremists in this region?
A worried Pakistani
Karachi