Bombing in Bajaur

The spreading stains of blood, the screams, the pandemonium are all now familiar to us. This time the suicide bomber struck in Khar, the principal town of the Bajaur Agency. The target had initially appeared to be a World Food Programme distribution point, handing out rations to IDPs and others in need. But while the WFP may be forced to curtail operations in the area, it has clarified that the target seemed to be a cluster of government buildings in the vicinity of the attack. To some degree at least, these details are academic. The fact is that at least 43 people are dead and another 60 injured. The toll could yet climb. Limited medical facilities in Bajaur make this more likely. As has happened before, the security situation could further affect humanitarian efforts in the country. It is people most in need of help who will suffer. This has already happened in other places as the spate of bombings, target killings and abductions forces both local and international relief agencies to pull out rather than risk violence against employees. The fallout of terrorism on ordinary people, in terms of lost jobs due to economic disarray, the growing sense of insecurity and threats to school-going children, has yet to be properly understood or assessed.
We have heard over the past few months assertions that the militant threat is now a thing of the past. The events of the past few days indicate this is not the case at all. On Friday night in Hangu, another bombing, perhaps aimed at a sectarian target, killed 11 people. This was of course not the first sectarian attack in the district. We have also seen suicide bombers strike in Mohmand where 40 died less than a week ago. Can we afford that this violence continues? The answer of course is ‘no’. Whenever a new bombing takes place, it creates a growing sense of insecurity among people and reduces faith that the terrorists are on their way out. As a result, confidence in the state inevitably declines. This has many negative connotations. Until people are convinced that militancy is a thing of the past, their loyalties will remain torn between the state and the Taliban. For the sake of survival, they cannot afford to back the wrong side. But, in turn, this makes the task of defeating the militants all the more difficult. For now, they remain capable of carrying out their missions and inflict death and destruction at will.