Five terrorists were killed in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as security forces raided their location, the Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) said on Saturday. It was an intelligence-based operation, military’s media wing said, adding that they also seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition from their hideout. The dead terrorists were involved in attacks on security forces as well as acts of extortion and targeted killings of civilians, the ISPR said. Pakistan, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorism since the PTI government entered into talks with the Taliban and tried to appease them by relocating them back in erstwhile tribal region – a fact admitted by the PTI founding chairman in public. The PTI former chairman as the country’s prime minister had decided to hold dialogue as he has always been against taking military action against the terrorists and had once even advocated for opening the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) offices in Pakistan.

Apart from the military personnel and installations, the terrorists have been specifically targeting the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to damage their morale, as they are the frontline force to maintain law and order. It is Kabul which has been unable to rein in the TTP terrorists who have been operating against Pakistan while using Afghanistan as a base despite the repeated a demand made by Islamabad and the reminders issued at the highest level by the country’s leadership. Meanwhile, the destructive policy followed by the PTI has been questioned and negated not only by the rival parties but also the government. It is important to note that the decision for holding talks with the TTP was in complete contrast to the National Action Plan (NAP) – a document inked after developing a consensus among all political forces after the Army Public School attack on December 16, 2014 to eliminate the scourge of terrorism. However, the PTI didn’t make any progress on different points listed in NAP after coming into power and thus reversed the gains made during the years-long struggle to eliminate terrorism from Pakistan.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)