ISLAMABAD / LAKKI MARWAT: As the military on Wednesday confirmed the martyrdom of 12 personnel in a terrorist attack in Bannu a day earlier, sources in the Interior Ministry said the federal government has decided to hold a multi-party conference (MPC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on law and order.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while paying tribute to the fallen soldiers said that the terrorists posing threats to the lives and properties of people will have to pay a heavy price for their acts and the fight against terrorism will continue till the elimination of this scourge.

Sources in the Ministry of Interior told Dawn that the matter about the MPC came under discussion during a meeting of the National Action Plan’s (NAP) apex committee on Tuesday.

While the committee decided to launch a military operation in Balochistan to deal with security issues there, a similar action in KP was ruled out not only by political parties in the Centre but also because of the provincial government’s reservations on it.

A senior official of JUI-F while talking to Dawn on Wednesday also expressed concerns over the idea of military operation in KP. He said the government should take all political parties as well as influential non-political gro­ups in confidence before launching the operation.

The sources said MPC would be called by KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi in the first week of December and all the political and several non-political groups in KP would be invited. “The MPC is likely to be held in Governor House Peshawar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is expected to participate in it,” they added.

The governor has proceeded to perform Umrah, while the federal government is right now busy tackling the situation arising out of the PTI’s Nov 24 march on Islamabad.

Around 60 personnel of army and police have lost their lives in terrorist attacks over the past ten days with many more injured.

Experts say counter-terror operations can only succeed when people at large associate themselves with security forces.

“At the moment this is missing because of the circumstances since March 2022, as undoubtedly the local population acts as both social shield as well as eyes and ears for the security apparatus especially in case of any operation,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of Centre for Research and Security Studies think tank.

Earlier, an ISPR statement said that 10 soldiers and two personnel from Frontier Constabulary were martyred while six terrorists were killed in an attack on a joint check post in Bannu district on Tuesday.

Locals said they saw smoke billowing out of the post after the blast and then an intense exchange of fire took place between security forces and terrorists.

The ISPR said six terrorists were killed as their attempt to enter the check post was thwarted by security personnel, adding that the effective response forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of the post.

The portion of the parameter wall collapsed due to the impact of the explosion and damaged the adjoining infrastructure which led to the martyrdom of 12 personnel.

Kalbe Ali in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024