Kurram bleeds

On Thursday, Kurram district saw one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years when at least 42 people, including women and children, were martyred after assailants opened fire on passenger vehicles. Police said the convoy travelling from Parachinar to Peshawar was targeted in the attack, leaving multiple people injured in addition to the fatalities. This latest attack comes just days after other deadly attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and after an important meeting of the apex committee of the National Action Plan (NAP) was held recently. Kurram’s history of deadly and bloody sectarian clashes adds the possibility of a sectarian angle to this attack, which has yet to be ruled out. We have also seen violence in various areas of Kurram since July this year when clashes between rival tribes due to a land dispute left at least 60 dead and many injured. At that time, Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif that the violence was due to a land dispute and thus should not be termed terrorism or sectarianism. However, many had pointed out that the sectarian angle could not be ruled out as there has been a history of sectarian violence in the Kurram district for over a decade.

Thursday’s massacre in Kurram should have made our rulers angry, it should have made them weep. Our rulers should have gone to visit the families of those slain in the attack and those injured. From the prime minister to the federal interior minister to the KP chief minister and cabinet members, there should have been press conferences and urgent emergency meetings on the situation with the security forces. It should have made headlines. It should have been discussed in each and every talk show. Instead, the debate on electronic media was not in proportion to the enormity of the tragedy in Kurram. It is quite shocking that our rulers are busy fighting with each other over political issues when innocent blood is being spilled in terrorist attacks across the country.

The power struggle between the PTI and the PDM parties can wait. Fighting terrorism should be our topmost priority. Everything else should be put on hold and a proper political consensus where all parties and institutions are on the same page should be forged so that the hydra of terrorism can be eliminated. We have seen sectarian clashes in the past, especially in the 80s and 90s. We don’t want a repeat of that deadly violence. We have also crushed terrorist outfits in the recent past but now we are seeing their resurgence. There are new terrorist outfits on the block as well. It is time for the institutions and politicians to put aside their differences and realise how critical it is to be united in the face of a common enemy who does not care whether you belong to one political party or another. It is time to eliminate terrorism from our soil once again. Politics can wait.