If news reports and analyses are an indicator, the Pakistan Army seems to have pulled up its socks to start a full-scale military operation in North Waziristan. Only a couple of weeks ago, the armed forces carried out aerial strikes against militant hideouts in North Waziristan, killing 60 insurgents, according to one estimate.

The development occurs at a time when the much-hyped peace talks between the Pakistan government and Taliban have been put at the back-burner, for the time being. This gives an impression that the option of talks has either been ignored or abandoned altogether.

While the government has, in the past reiterated, its commitment to continue talks with the Taliban, the latter have not responded positively to the government’s offers. This is perhaps because there is disagreement within the Taliban groups on whether to give talks another chance or take the confrontational route. The recent split in the ranks of Pakistani Taliban is the proof.

As for the army, two major happenings have apparently convinced the military that it is about time to take the extremists in North Waziristan head on: completion of military operation in South Waziristan where the state now extends its writ and development projects are underway, and, more recently, the incidence of a shocking wave of terrorism in China’s Xinjiang province, where at least 43 people were killed and many more wounded. That was one of the worst terror strikes in China. Understandably, Beijing takes the matter very seriously and would like to see where the terror on its homeland comes from or is it in any way linked to the terrorists’ safe havens in Pakistan.

Back home, military operation in North Waziristan will pose challenges as before -- backlash in the shape of suicide attacks and IDPs’ settlement. Experience tells us that it is very difficult to stop a suicide attacker once he is in the field, unless intelligence agencies work efficiently and apprehend him before he sets out on his mission.

It is a good sign though that, as Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif put it, the nation has realised that, whether through talks or military action, our country has to get rid of the menace of terrorism that has kept this nation hostage.