An operation in North Waziristan as a cure for terrorism within the country has stirred the imagination of ordinary Pakistanis for a long time now. Elimination of Haqqani network, said to be active on the other side of the Durand Line, has been another demand from the state of Pakistan, made both by the locals as well as the Afghans and the Americans.

So what is happening in North Waziristan? Will the Operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched with full military might, address the above concerns? More importantly, how was this decision to finally venture into the dreaded territory taken? Was the Karachi airport attack a catalyst or was it the Americans who have eventually made their demand met? If the latter is the case then what exactly is the quid pro quo?

Despite the apparent consensus that has been immediately forged in its favour, the Operation certainly has raised more questions than it appears to answer. For the moment, some of these questions escape the ordinary people’s thoughts.

Like in all previous military operations, there will be no independent mechanism to ascertain facts other than the ISPR version. Journalists have no access in the ‘conflict zone’. That means people can not raise their voice against all human rights violations that take place and are justified in the name of ‘just war’. Then there will be hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose lives are literally destroyed for any number of years. Meanwhile, we choose to identify them with the cold senseless term IDPs.

The other uneasy consequence of this Operation might be in the form of a backlash in big cities. Are the cities prepared for that, considering that each has sleeper cells of militant organisations with the capacity to wreak immense damage?

Finally, we switched to Operation Zarb-e-Azb without formally announcing the death of the negotiation process which was started with much fanfare. Will this be a fight to the finish, we don’t yet know.