Two years ago, widespread protests broke out in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP] province against the growing presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] terrorists in Swat Valley. However, rather than addressing this grave security related concern being expressed by the public with the seriousness that it deserved, the Pakistan army inexplicably chose to downplay this serious development by stating “a misperception about the alleged presence of large number of proscribed organisation TTP’s armed members in Swat Valley has been created on social media,” calling it “grossly exaggerated and misleading.”

This issue even came up in Pakistan’s National Assembly and since the burgeoning presence of armed TTP terrorists in Swat Valley was so conspicuous, ISPR had no choice but to accept that “Presence of a small number of armed men on few mountain tops between Swat and Dir has been observed.” But it tried to soft-pedal this disturbing occurrence by adding that the armed TTP terrorists were “located far away from population.” To further allay public fear, ISPR even claimed that “A close watch is being maintained on their limited presence and movement in mountains,” but seeing the way things have since panned out, it’s amply evident that Rawalpindi has failed to deliver on this promise.

The prevailing situation then was that while locals in KP were demanding military action against TTP terrorists, both the government and Pakistan army refused to act. However, fast forward to the present and we find that the situation has reversed. While Government of Pakistan has announced its decision to launch ‘Operation Azm-e-Istehkam’ [Resolve for stability] to “integrate and synergise multiple lines of effort to combat........

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