A bombing in Swat that targeted a police van guarding a convoy of diplomats traveling to the Malam Jabba resort has renewed focus on a part of Pakistan that successive governments have touted as a tourist destination.
Diplomats of over a dozen countries—including Russia, Iran, Indonesia and Portugal—escaped the detonation unscathed, but one of the police officers guarding them was tragically martyred. While the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has denied any involvement, the incident recalls the security situation arising from their earlier attempts to enforce shariah in the region, when they sought to ban girls’ education, attacking Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012 amidst a full-scale military operation that “successfully” concluded in 2018.
Unfortunately, after a brief respite, terrorism returned to the picturesque valley of Swat after the return to power of the Afghan Taliban in 2021, and the Pakistani state’s now-defunct policy of allowing militants to resettle in the ex-FATA areas as a means of appeasing them. The decision, jointly supported by the civilian government led by then-prime minister Imran Khan and then-Army chief Gen. (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa, has attracted much criticism for returning to Pakistan individuals that disregard every social custom and law of the area. In recent years, the Army has launched various intelligence-based operations to oust the same militants, to varying degrees of success, as demonstrations against terrorism from local populations continue to gain fervor.
Today, attempts to curtail terrorism are hampered by the PTI-led provincial government’s refusal to cooperate with its political opponents, and even the armed forces. Local journalists confirm that even Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s home constituency of Dera Ismail Khan has become a “no-go” area after nightfall, with militants openly patrolling neighborhoods and extorting residents. Ridding the country of this menace requires unity and dialogue, with both provincial and federal governments working with local populations to chart out a way forward. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s prevailing polarization leaves little time for such engagement, with the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, once again, left to fend for themselves on the frontlines of the war on terror.