Thursday, 28 March 2024, 01:42:24 pm

Analysts urge political leadership of the country to be united against terrorism
February 01, 2023

Brig (Retd) Said Nazir (Defense Expert):The unfortunate Peshawar incident happened at a time when Pakistan is already facing several challenges including economic degradation, political polarization and governance issues.  In this time of despair, this new wave of terrorism is very alarming. This security challenge of Pakistan is directly linked to our western border and beyond situation in Afghanistan. Pakistan has facilitated US withdrawal from Afghanistan while expecting a peaceful future of Afghan people and of course a calm western border. Unfortunately, this didn’t happened and Afghan soil is being used against Pakistan and Taliban regime in Kabul has failed to stop across border terrorism.  In the current situation, Pakistan needs a multipronged strategy to effectively combat this scourge of terrorism. This strategy should cover different aspects including political ownership, diplomatic angle and above all a well-coordinated military action against terrorists.  Secondly, it is high time to give a strong message to interim Afghan government in Kabul to ensure their soil not to be used against Pakistan. For this a joint political-cum-militarily strategy in collaboration with Afghan government must be devised to achieve the dream of peace in the whole region. 

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ejaz Awan (Defense Analyst): It is a hard truth that terrorism is again surging in Pakistan. It is one of basic responsibilities of state to protect the life and properties of its citizens. The state of Pakistan is strong enough to effectively handle these terrorists and we have done it in past also. It is the responsibility of our security institutions to ensure peace and order within our territorial borders. The writ of state has to be implemented at any cost. It is a test case for our political leadership to show some maturity and instead of political scoring should sit together and devise a well-coordinated strategy to deal with this menace of terrorism. Secondly, state institutions of the country need to bring clarity in Afghan policy and same is to be conveyed to Afghan interim government. Thirdly, the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan need to be regularised strictly and their movement should be limited and monitored round the clock. In the current situation, a strong military action should be launched against terrorist s and their facilitators to implement writ of the state.