Remnants of terrorists need to be wiped out

ISLAMABAD: The devastating terrorist attack in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, the first-ever in the new year, is a stark reminder that the remnants of terrorists still have the capability and capacity to strike though not very frequently and need to be decimated through an intensified campaign to wipe out the scourge from Pakistan once and for all.

It is the primary responsibility and obligation of the premier intelligence agencies to track down the perpetrators and bring justice to them in the same way their cohorts have been dealt with. They ought to move fast so that the criminals are not encouraged to repeat their despicable action.

It so happened that this was the first major terrorist onslaught since Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa assumed office of the chief of army staff on Nov 29 last. Even before he came in place, terrorism had been controlled to a large extent through powerful measures as part of the Zarb-e-Azb and other operations carried out by police and other law enforcement agencies across Pakistan, but fears always remain that there are still elements that can rock some parts of the homeland, mostly remote areas where security measures are perhaps not very tight and stringent.

The last main terrorist hit occurred at the police training college in Quetta on October 24, 2016, in which more than sixty recruits and others were martyred. Before that, fourteen persons were killed in another strike at the Mardan district courts complex on September 2, 2016. Also, in Quetta seventy lawyers embraced martyrdom in an incident on August 8. The last episode has been inquired into by a one-man judicial commission comprising Qazi Faez Isa, which has submitted its report to the Supreme Court. As a whole, there has been marked peace because of the counterterrorism campaigns.

Gen Bajwa has declared that there will be no letup in the operations against terrorists and these will continue till the elimination of the last criminal from Pakistan. More than once, he has visited the troops engaged in the drive to encourage and buck them up. It is thus clear that there is no change in this strategy even after the change of command in the army. During his address to the Sindh Rangers and Karachi businessmen, he has also made it clear that the operations against target killers, extortionists and mafias would continue unabated in the mega city. Same is the policy of the Nawaz Sharif government.

The relentless efforts of the Counter Terrorism Departments (CTDs) of Punjab and Sindh have also produced satisfactory results as they keep conducting operations almost on daily basis. It is frequently heard that some hardcore terrorists, who had been involved in many strikes in various regions of Pakistan, had either been killed or captured during the raids by the CTDs.

The situation has remarkably improved not only in Punjab and Sindh but even in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which had been the principal target of terrorists because of being contiguous to the tribal areas and Afghanistan from where such operations emanate, there has been noticeable change.

The Afghan regime, which is playing in the hands of India and the United States, has been unable to put a stop to terrorism inside Pakistan through the elements living there despite Pakistan’s countless protests. Instead of acting against them decisively, it has been obsessed with making counter allegations against Islamabad. Its policy has been the main contributor to even a small number of terrorist incidents that are taking place in Pakistan.

The military courts, which had been given powers to try civilian terrorists for two years, which expired on January 7, had imposed heavy penalty on them they deserved. This served as a forceful deterrent to the terrorists who received a clear-cut message that they would be dealt with under the law very severely and quickly.

Meek efforts have been made to evolve a consensus on the extension of these powers of the military courts but there are little chances that these will be revived due to the stubbornness of some political parties for pure political reasons.

However, the government is going to make a last-ditch effort as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns from his foreign visit. If in any case this authority was not revived, the government plans to introduce a mechanism which will provide for speedy trial of terrorists.