Classic guerrilla ability keeping terrorism alive in Pak despite Army operation : Editorial

ISLAMABAD - Monday’s series of terror attacks in Pakistan’s Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which left over 45 dead and 100 injured, were a stark reminder of the fact that extremists continue to hold their ground in the country even as people are struggle to cope with devastating floods.

While no group claimed the responsibility for the deadly attacks across the tribal region, it is believed that the attacks were possibly in protest against the administration’s decision to shut down 16 flood relief camps in the region, which were said to have being run by charity wings of terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Hizb-ut-Tehrir.

The catastrophic floods which have inundated nearly one-fifth of the country, have diverted the Pakistan Army’s attention from countering extremists towards relief work, however, an editorial in a Pakistani daily underlined the fact that extremists have shown greater ability to protect themselves even when the military has been in full flow against them.

“Even if there was no such crisis, when faced with a military onslaught in a particular area, militants have shown the classic guerrilla ability to melt away, rehabilitate themselves and shift the epicentre of militancy to other areas or return after the military changes from an offensive to a relatively defensive posture,” The Daily Times editorial said.

The editorial stressed that the Pakistan Army needs to be vigilant over the terror threat despite the distraction caused by the floods.

“The military operations cannot be weakened to an extent that all the gains made so far are wasted,” it went on to add. (ANI)