Militancy is on the rise in the Gilgit-Baltistan as is evident from the continued incidents of terrorism in the area during the last many months. Last month, some of the most wanted militants blocked one of the major roads connecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan near Chilas due to which a number of tourists and citizens including a senior minister were stranded is the latest manifestation of the worsening law and order situation across the country.

And now unknown miscreants have set a girls school on fire in Diamer area. The school was completely torched, which is an "upsetting" augury. Till now, no group has claimed the responsibility for this terrorists act, but it definitely the work of hardened militants and terrorists. It may be recalled here that the incidents of girls school torching have also occurred in the Diamer in the past and in 2018, a dozen schools were torched in Diamer.

The banned TTP had accepted the responsibility for that mass torching incident. Earlier, a number of schools were set on fire by extremists, in 2004 and then seven years later in 2011. It may be mentioned here that Diamer district is known to be having the lowest literacy rates for both boys and girls.

There are around two hundred and fifty government schools in the Diamer district, but majority are primary schools and only 10 per cent are middle schools and another 5 per cent are high schools. Unfortunately, there is not a single higher secondary in the entire Diamer district. 

It is high time, the security apparatus must take action extremists and terrorists, who are on the rampage across the country. It is very unfortunate that militants have not only resurfaced and regrouped but they have also started challenging the Writ of the State across the country, mainly the KP and Balochistan provinces and also GB.

It may be recalled here that it was GB's most wanted terrorists Habibur Rahman who had blocked the highway last month. He has been accused of killing as many as10 foreigners in Nanga Parbat  and he was also lodged in prison and is facing a military trial but he somehow escaped from the jail few years back and has now resurfaced again with his militant activities, challenging the writ of the  state so openly, demanding the release of his accomplices who are involved in a heinous act of murdering foreign tourists in Nanga Parbat in a gruesome manner.  

The militant has given the local Jirga few days' time to see their accomplices out of jail, otherwise, they have warned of serious consequences. This is the height of their extreme activism and boldness to be challenging the Writ of the State at will.  

The militants and extremists groups have also demanded imposition of 'Islamic Law' in GB and also a total ban on women's sports in the mountainous region. Not only GB, Swat has also reported resurfacing of militants in the area, carrying out their nefarious activities in full swing since August. The residents are perturbed over the rise in terrorists' activities in Swat and have demanded of the Centre to initiate decisive action against the militants or they themselves will take arms to tackle the militants in case the Govt fails to come to their rescue.

The Swat residents have been holding continuous protests against the re-emergence of terrorists in the Valley and till now they have organized as many as six major protests attended by a large number of Swat residents mainly youth and also the supporters and workers of all political parties except the PTI which did not turn at these protests. 

The activists of the outlawed TTP  were not only seen in several parts of the valley but one incident they also clashed with security personnel in August last. Similarly, their activities have also been rising steadily in not North and South Waziristan tribal area where the incidents of attacks on security personnel, killings and kidnappings of the citizens have risen sharply in recent months. Every now and then, we hear about the attacks on security personnel and on security check posts in KP and Balochistan provinces in which a number of security personnel are also martyred.

A number of blasts and attacks on the civilians have also been noticed across the country, mainly the KP province where the terrorists seems to have regrouped after the Taliban take-over in Afghanistan. It may be recalled here that the interior ministry had already alerted the LEAs and security agencies about the impending threat and danger of terrorist acts by the outlawed TTP and its related factions after the failure of talks with the TTP  recently. 

Meanwhile, the lawmakers are seriously perturbed over the TTP activists taking the law into their hands at will. Speaking at the Senate session, the Senators from both the ruling and the opposition side said sounded alarm over the surge in the outlawed outfit TTP activities. The PPP senator Raza Rabbani has also sought a detailed briefing in the Parliament's upper house about the recent threat alert issued by the interior ministry about the heightened risk of terrorist attacks by the banned outfit.

PPP Senator Raza Rabbani, on a point of public concern, asked Chairman Senate to issue directives to the interior minister to brief the Senate and take the parliament and the public at large into confidence about the details regarding peace talks with the outlawed militants' outfit TTP. As a matter of fact, the time has come to deal the militancy and terrorism with an iron-hand before it is too late.  Their activities are increasing at a very fast pace across the country mainly after the taking over of the Taliban in Afghanistan as it was after the Taliban Govt in Afghanistan that the militants' outfits like the IS, the TTP, and BLF have not only regrouped but also started striking at will across the country.  

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 10 2022

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