Ahead of the spring season, Swat, the scenic valley of Pakistan, is beginning to blossom. The land of roses and white layers of snow, however, turned red with the blood of 11 heroes, all security officials, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Pakistan Army camp in Kabal area on Saturday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, 13 other soldiers were injured in the bombing that was carried out at the sports area of an army unit, the military's media. Their state of injured people was not stated by the military’s media wing. We will never come to know that of them, how many survived the blast injuries.
We wish them a speedy recovery.
The blast scene is a sports area where the jawans were playing volleyball. Once a terrorists-ruled valley in 2007-2009 is now under the constant watch of the military. The blast shows that there were some security loopholes that allowed the bomber to blow himself up near the volleyball net. This fatal negligence, which claimed the precious lives of 11 jawans, must be investigated and the people responsible punished. The army which has been fighting a war for the last 16 years, should not allow such leakages in its working.
Swat, which had once become the headquarters of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, was reclaimed by the brave army back in 2009 after a hectic and intense operation. During their 2007-2009 rule, the merciless terrorists would chop off the heads of the peace-loving people and hang them on a tree. They would flog women on their butts publically, as a display of their self-styled Sharia. They would loot properties of the residents. Their rule brought back the memories of the Afghan Taliban, whose acts shuddered the whole world.
After the terrorists were flushed out of the valley, the area had fast returned to normalcy, becoming the hub of the domestic tourism. Side by side, the area has seen sporadic militant attacks since, including assassinations of local leaders who cooperate with the government. Saturday’s bombing is the first major attack in over three years in the valley. The blast shows that the valley has the elements who can wreak havoc anytime and the elements have certain facilitators who help them carry out the gory acts. The area is still dotted with checkpoints, which are manned by police and armed forces personnel. There are approximately 6,000 policemen in Swat and most of them are deployed on checkpoints. These checkpoints should remain there for the time now. A few days ago, Swat police claimed to have arrested two militants, in the same area, allegedly involved in anti-state activities during spillover of militancy to the Swat valley.
According to Kabal police, following a tipoff, they along with the CTD police raided a house in Kabal where they found a wanted militant, Siraj Khan, and arrested him. In the meantime, the CTD police carried out another raid at Shawar area in Matta tehsil and arrested a militant commander, Mohammad Ali Shah, who was allegedly involved in attacks on security forces.
These isolated incidences point to the presence of lawless elements in the country. This demand a well-planned strategy from us to fight terrorism.
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