SINCE August 2021, the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have been enduring horrific days, and the region has been in the grip of terror and fear. Recently, in Lakki Marwat, a vehicle of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was set on fire, and more than a dozen employees were taken by militants to some unknown location. This was certainly not an isolated incident, and may not be the last one.

A few days ago, I was travelling through Jani Khel, a far-flung and war-torn area of Bannu district, where the KP’s apex committee meeting had decided to launch a military operation. The journey was tense, to say the least. The main road leading from Bannu city to Jani Khel had been closed for almost a month due to a deadly terrorist attack on a military checkpoint in Mali Khel in mid-November last year.

Bannu has become a hotspot for terrorist activities in the recent wave of terrorism. The military operation was launched in Jani Khel in June 2009. Area residents were displaced for almost six months. Even today, a heavy military presence marks life in the area.

In March 2021, the people of Jani Khel staged a sit-in for a month. When the peaceful protest was ignored by the authorities, they started marching towards the capital. These people were baton-charged and teargas shells were fired by the police.

Given the current situation in the area, living in Jani Khel is like living in some war zone. Even worse, it is like living in a death zone. One cannot leave one’s home after sunset, as militants take control of the area.

Recreational activities are becoming extinct, children are rarely seen going to school, and the healthcare system is in dire straits.

People are gradually fleeing the area. In short, Jani Khel has become unliveable.

Urgent and serious attention must be given to Bannu, in general, and Jani Khel, in particular, as multiple banned terrorist outfits operate freely in the area. The solution, however, is not merely another military operation, but a comprehensive approach in which local people, along with all stakeholders, are taken into confide-nce about the fight against the menace of terrorism.

People must be able to live there without fear. Avenues for recreational activities must be reopened to them.

Protecting people in a manner that causes sufferings to the very people who are being protected is not the way to manage a situation. The people of Bannu and Jani Khel, currently caught between a rock and a hard place, are vital elements in the fight against terrorists.

They should be treated as partners in the campaign. No counterterrorism operation will ever be fruitful without taking the people of the area on board.

Farman Jan
Bannu

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025