Last Sunday's two horrific back-to-back terrorist attacks in Dera Ismail Khan that left eight people dead and nearly 30 injured underscore the bitter reality that despite the significant success of military operations in the adjoining tribal belt there is more work to be done. According to details, at first gunmen riding four motorcycles opened fire on a police checkpost, killing two policemen. As their bodies were being shifted to the local hospital a burqa-clad suicide bomber - believed to be a woman - waiting near the hospital's trauma centre struck, claiming the lives of two cops and four others, including a minor girl. The explosion was so powerful that it damaged the casualty section's building as well as several cars and motorcycles parked inside the hospital. Had it not been a holiday many more innocent lives would have been lost.
A TTP faction, the Khorasani group, has claimed credit for the atrocity, saying the suicide bombing was a revenge attack for the killing of two TTP commanders by the counter-terrorism police about two months ago. It may well be a desperate attempt by these terrorists to show that they retain the capability to create mayhem. Indeed, they have facilitators in the tribal areas; and more importantly, safe havens in the border provinces of Afghanistan. There they are also aided and abetted by certain anti-Pakistan elements for staging acts of violence in this country. The Army has completed the fencing of Pak-Afghan border in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area, installing security cameras and detectors to prevent cross-border movement of militants. But as long as they have safe havens on the other side, they can come and go by mingling with thousands of people who travel either way through legal crossing points. They cannot carry out their evil acts, however, without the support of local facilitators and sympathizers. To confront this challenge, the government has decided to fully implement the political consensus-based National Action Plan. Militant groups with extra-territorial agendas are also being targeted in a new crackdown. These measures should help. But the threat will not go away unless its external dimension is effectively addressed.
It seems no coincidence that the attack happened a day before Prime Minister Imran Khan was to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss a range of issues, including Pakistan's efforts to counter terrorism. It is quite likely that those sheltering and helping the TTP chose this time to show to Khan's hosts that terrorists remain alive and well in his country. That though should be a good opportunity for the PM to turnaround that argument based on evidential reasoning, and impress upon President Trump the need to ensure that the Kabul government and the US troops on the other side of the border take necessary steps to eliminate TTP sanctuaries from the Afghan soil.