Elusive words

This refers to the article, ‘Bloody learning’ (January 25) by Syed Talat Hussain. The writer has rightly suggested that notions like ‘breaking the back of terrorists’, and ‘dismantling their infrastructure’ need to be revisited. He has also suggested putting an end to the vicious cycle of the official narrative and grandiose claims of ‘elimination of terrorism’. Furthermore, the debate over ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ targets needs to be revised too.

It could, however, be argued that the army action has almost eliminated terrorists’ safe havens. The majority of them have now fled to Afghanistan to carry out their nefarious activities. In Charsadda, the terrorists could not inflict enormous damage due to the courageous response by security forces. Yet, there is a lot to be done to protect the lives of people as suggested by the writer. The word ‘foolproof security’ is elusive as well and needs to be replaced by the word ‘adequate security’.

Dr Najeeb A Khan

Islamabad